Were you not told or have to sign a paper by the cabinet manufacturer or installer that included something to this effect?

>b>"hairline cracks are part of the natural process of solid wood movement and therefore any hairline cracks that may develop are not considered a defect, and therefore are not warrantable...

99% of custom wood cabinet installers will advise you that the paint will crack and it is not a defect and there is nothing you can do to prevent it. For all wood regardless of species will expand and contract with changing temperatures. MDF or Thermfoil are the only products used to this day that a cabinet company or installer will warrant against paint cracking.

I agree with fori. That appears to be a paint adherence problem... Keep fighting.

Improper kiln drying or working with wet wood. Micro-checking like that is not a normal occurrence with wood that has been properly prepared for cabinetry. My guess is that wood was resawed before it was dry all the way through, exposing one wetter side to the atmosphere, whence it dried fast and checked, but the planing and finishing disguised it for a while, the checks being so tiny; the dry winter air brought them to the fore. They should not have been there to start.
But, is this solid wood or a wood product? I realize you may have no way of knowing since it's paint...
Casey

This is why God invented MDF.

Is this happening only on a door or two, or is every cabinet showing the same symptoms. What reading does an independent hygrometer not attached to your furnace system read? That's a fairly high reading for the typical winter climate of most of North America, even with supplied humidification, unless you live in a temperate rainy winter climate like CA or coastal OR. At that winter % in a cold exterior environment, you would generally have condensation at the windows and other lightly insulated sections of the home. Is that occurring?

Posted by fori
Those aren't the cracks you sign off on--you sign off on cracks between panels and at seams and joints etc.

Here you sign off on the entire cabinet. Not just the stile, rails, frame, door fronts and all other joints. I ask one cabinet finisher about why they did it. He had a simple answer.

"we can not guarantee the atmosphere in any given home will remain the same as when we finished the cabinets. Having perfect conditions today does not mean it will be perfect next week."

""we can not guarantee the atmosphere in any given home will remain the same as when we finished the cabinets. Having perfect conditions today does not mean it will be perfect next week."

Can you imagine if automobile manufactures tried to get away with such a stunt? If they can paint a car that doesn't crack through winter freeze and summer sun, you'd think these guys could paint an interior cabinet without failure. Geesh.

That disclaimer might allow the company to get out of repairs, but I doubt they would want to if they knew how bad this is. Can you imagine having your cabinets showing up on the web looking like that?

Sue, if the company has seen photos (take lots!) and still refuses to acknowledge the problem, please let us know who they are. And I suppose if you wanted to let them know that you planned to share that information, it wouldn't hurt.

And if they do fix it, let us know that too.

Please email me the company. I am going to buy painted white doors (from a website_ and I'd like to know who NOT to use. I have thermofoil which are old and dated, but except for a bubble caused by a candle they have very very minor problems. I'd hate to end up trading them for what I thought was "better" only to be sorry! I think my profile allows you to email me without me writing it here. If not, then just post the name! Thanks

I agree, not acceptable.

Posted by Trebruchet

Can you imagine if automobile manufactures tried to get away with such a stunt? If they can paint a car that doesn't crack through winter freeze and summer sun, you'd think these guys could paint an interior cabinet without failure. Geesh.

I have yet to see a car made of metal cap, cup, split, swell or shrink due to weather changes either.

Maybe you need to sell Automobile manufacturers on the idea that using wood would save them a wad of cash since you think that atmospheric conditions have no effect on wood.

After you do that you can come back and explain to me why wood flooring companies recommend leaving their products in the area where they will be installed for 24 to 48 hours to adjust to atmospheric conditions before they are installed. Even laminated floor will tell you the same thing and it is made of plastic.

Then tell me. Does Sue do a lot of steam cooking or mostly baking? Does she live in the swamps of LA or the high desert of CA? Does her house have cool moist air or warm dry?

Here is two more for you.
How long does it take for Acrylic or Enamel house paint to CURE??

Not dry. But to cure once applied?
3 hours
24 hours
3 days
20 to 30 days

In MY HOUSE..
What will the wood used to make a new cabinet door do the first six months?

Shrink, swell, cap, cup, Do all or nothing??

Since you seem to be willing to guarantee that cabinets will do nothing in three moths, six moths or even a year.

I want you to build and paint them for me.

No I was not told that there would be any cracking and not asked to sign off on anything. The manufacturer has taken 28 of my doors and is suppose to be repainting but all the boxes are cracking as well and they want to refinish on site and I am afraid that the finish that they can do on site will never be as good as in a shop.

So now the company wants to come out and fix the paint problem on site. I am afraid to let them do this as I can't imagine the finish would be as good as it would be if done in the shop. Does anyone have an opinion on this

Here is a better picture of what the boxes are looking like now

hippy: >

What in the world does that have to do with cabinets? Wood flooring manufacturers are concerned about swelling or shrinkage across dozens of planks. The finish on these cabinets is cracking every quarter of an inch.

fori: >

Exactly.

Sue: >

This is absolutely unacceptable. For whatever reason, the finish has failed. It might be the paint, the primer, too much thinner, bad prep, but it's their problem, not yours. Demand your money back or new cabinets. If they repaint, the finish will crack and fail again.

Wow. Money back and go with another company. Good luck, as this could be a battle with all the repercussions of counter, backsplash, etc., especially since they are blaming you from the get go. You might want to have a construction lawyer write a letter, explaining things to them.

How did you purchase these, independently or through someone else? Did you pay by credit card? What brand is it?

Local ''custom'' guy and oil based paint?

Wow, I didn't read all the comments but going by your pictures, I hope the mfg does something. That looks terrible. I too wanted painted cabinets in my bathroom but my cabinet guy said over and over "wood is not meant to be painted" so I went with maple finish. Funny though, I painted my own kitchen cabinets a couple years ago and they have held up pretty good. I get slight cracks in the seams when it's super cold and dry out. Its nothing like your picture. And once the weather warms up my cracks go away... I would hope the mfg does a better painting process than little ol me...

Let us know how it turns out! Worse case, you can sand them yourself and repaint... It's a lot of work but those cracks would drive me nuts.

I'm trying to wrap my head around what would cause the paint crack like that.

It's obvious it is failing. We know that much. But why so soon?

I have painted cabinets down in my dank basement that haven't seen new paint since decades before lead paint was banned. Yes the old lead oil paint is better.

A thought: The cabinets were painted in relatively warm moist environment. Then shipped in freezing dry weather. The wood rapidly shrunk. Installed in your house. Temperature and humidity rapidly go up and paint begins to crack. But there is no way this could happen in a span of 6 months.

Is the paint alkyd or acrylic?

I think the paint is some sort of a two component mix. One of the components was not mixed correctly and the paint never cured properly, hence why is has failed.

See Casey's post, above.

Was this a conversion varnish finish? If so, they either sprayed too thick of a finish that exceeded the maximum mils thickness or they improperly mixed too much catalyst hardener causing the finish to improperly cure. Too much catalyst can cause the finish to be more brittle than normal.

My cabinets are buckling and cracking in places where there are seams and not. I contacted the contractor and he is dragging his feet. I don't know what to do. I payed a lot of $$ for this. Help!

Let the cabinet manufactur have a chance to correct the problem. They have offered to fix it,so let them.

Update?

Painted cabinets are garbage it's a bad idea. Wood constantly is shifting, it's great when they are bran new but will look like hell in three years for sure. This particular case is different but the joints are going to crack and when that happens the paint will chip but it's a hot trend right now

😭😭😭 I just had my kitchen redone and was not told about any possibility of cracking or chipping. I haven’t even moved back into my kitchen. All the joints have hairline cracks and then this one is the worst. Have no idea how but I saw this after the marble was installed.

Heather, what ended up happening with your cabinets? Did it get fixed? I have bathroom cabinets and I see hair line cracks too. It’s a year old. I agree with above comments that I never saw this on wood cabinets. I’m sorry now that I went with painter cabinets.