Painted cab quality--local custom vs. Diamond

14 years ago

I've gotten two quotes so far for the shaker style white/off-white cabinets I've been dreaming of for years. One from the local custom guy my GC has used for many years and one from Diamond. I'm judging them on two criteria: price and painted finish quality. (Obviously, I can customize the local guy's to the exact size, etc., and cannot with Diamond. A factor to weigh, but it's a given.)

1. Price--For cabs and install, custom guy came in $1000 less than Diamond. Diamond does have a 10% off sale through this weekend so that would make them about even, but I'm not ready to order this week.

2. Painted finish quality--I got a sample painted door from the local guy this weekend and have compared it to the sample Diamond door. GC says his guy uses automotive paint and puts some sort of sealer on it. I prefer the feel of the smoother Diamond cab, but I could live with either.

The real question is....Will the finish hold up over years of usage like the factory baked-on finish of Diamond? Does this type of automotive paint hold up on cabs for a long time?

Can anybody tell me if their custom cab painted finish is holding up well after using for some time? What about Diamond?

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Comments (2)

artemis78
14 years ago
You might ask what kind of automotive paint it is---it may turn out to just be standard oil-based paint. I know in California, you can't buy oil-based for cabinets anymore so you have to buy it for auto/metal use, but it's often the same paint that they sold before for homes (e.g., Benjamin Moore--lots of cabinetmakers seem to use theirs). So it could be similar in your state, in which case you can do a search for people who've used oil-based paints on their cabinets versus factory finishes--I think there are some older threads on that. Some people choose the painted over the factory finish because they like the looks, so it's not necessarily a lesser product---more a matter of personal choice and balancing pros and cons.
breezygirl
Original Author
14 years ago
I'm in Washington state. I don't know about the laws here, but we're pretty environmentally conscious about a lot of things.

I'll ask about the type of automotive paint.

I guess I could go either way on factory vs not for the looks, but it's the long-term durability of the custom paint job I'm worried about.
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