It's surprising to see the yellowing occur that quickly, especially in a room with natural light. Inside a dark closet, it would not be that surprising. Are you absolutely sure that the exact same paint used to paint the boxes was used on the doors? Yellowing doesn't occur evenly, ever, so this issue will just get worse as time goes on, though the doors may catch up with the boxes to some extent. The only real solution is to repaint every surface with an acrylic paint. As a painter, all I can ask is why are people still using oil based paint in 2017? Even if there is a small gain in durability, is getting the color you don't want and having the cabinets look like crap in 2 years worth it?

Our concern is we don't want a yellow color with our white Carrara marble.

You're only option to avoid that is to repaint with acrylic enamel.

Oil based paint is not allowed anymore where we live , but really IMO this should be redone with a proper paint that doesn’t yellow and your cabinet maker should have advised you about the yellowing.

What a bummer.

What are you choosing for a backsplash? Will that help coordinate the creamier cabinets and whiter marble?

Looks like a beautiful kitchen.

I'm also wondering why the heck the cabinet maker used oil?! He must be really old-school? Who made that call?

For cabinetry, a conversion varnish is a standard product any cabinetmaker is going to be using. Any production CV is going to be non-yellowing.

I'm not sure what your options are if the contract with the cabinetmaker specified oil product.

Aside from the paint issue, the cabinets look good :-).

Yeah you definitely need to repaint with acrylic; that yellow won't get any better. The rest of the kitchen is looking great so far though!

The cabinets were installed last December, but the doors just got installed in early September(Long story).

Everything is beautiful! This should be a relatively easy fix. I'd ask for a repaint. It's been less than one year. Any reputable contractor is going to offer a warranty for their work for a minimum of one year.

I can relate to the yellowing. I hate oil based paint. Lived with it for 7 years. Brand new house. Started to notice yellowing within the first 3 years. It was a pain. And frankly, I didn't see the 'hand' or special appearance that everyone waxes poetic about. I've seen a number of waterborne products that look just as good if not better. I really don't understand the attraction to the stuff.

I love oil based paint but have finally gotten tired of the yellowing. I will repaint also, sigh...

Is the cabinet maker willing to repaint? I would ask them to do so.

Trying to answer all the questions:

The cabinet maker is willing to repaint, but he probably thinks he's painting either the doors or the boxes, but not the whole enchilada. I think I can get him to repaint everything. It sounds like an acrylic paint is the most common recommendation. Our order didn't specify the type of paint (oil vs. latex vs. acrylic). Neither the cabinet maker nor I knew about yellowing of oil-based paint. He uses the oil-based paint because of his spraying equipment. The Benjamin Moore paint store claims they checked his remaining paint and is convinced it's the same on both the boxes and doors. Our concern is having the boxes hand-brushed, but I think that's the only real option at this point. He can take the doors back to his shop to spray them. Our general contractor says the cabinet maker has a very nice shop with paint booth, and he thinks we would be crazy to let him paint the doors by hand. Since the countertops are in, the boxes will have to be painted on site. I don't know if spraying the boxes are practical.

The backsplash will be smoke-gray glass tiles, 3"x6". I think she will use some tin behind the stainless stove (Wolf 36"). The tin might come in 6"x6" tiles or a much larger sheet of decorative tin. I'll post a picture of the glass tiles.

Is everyone recommending repainting with acrylic in the desired White Dove? Handbrush on boxes and spray the doors? Anything about prepping for acrylic over oil paint? Thanks for everyone's help!

The wall behind the tiles is not painted. The wall on the left is the cabinet painted White Dove but turned yellow. I don't think the cabinet on the left is as yellow as it looks in this picture on my computer, but it is the same yellowed White Dove on the rest of the cabinet boxes.

Since your doors are flush with the boxes, the difference between the brushed look and the sprayed look will be noticeable IMO. It is possible to spray the boxes on site though. I do it all the time. It won't be that bad on your site either since walls are not yet painted and floors are not installed, the prep should be minimal.

I would not recommend acrylic! That's for repaints in my opinion.

Demand pigmented Conversion Varnish or Catalyzed Lacquer. That's a standard cabinet makers' finish. Kraftmaid, etc The finish system needs to meet the KCMA standards. I don't know of any "standard" acrylic that meets this. There are some waterborne acrylic formulations that pass KCMA criteria, but they are made specifically for cabinetry. General Finishes, ML Campbell, Chemcraft, Mohawk, etc.

https://www.kcma.org/certifications/ansi-kcma-certification

It seems like the cabinet shop is great on the woodworking but not too knowledgeable on finishing.

I hope this makes sense and helps.

Carlos229 I will read up on CV and lacquer. Since these cabinets are already painted in oil-based, wouldn't this be a "repaint"? My general contractor didn't understand why the cabinet maker used oil-based; he said most cabinet makers use lacquer. The cabinet maker is willing to repaint by spraying the cabinet boxes on site and the doors/shelves in his shop. The Sherwin Williams paint shop recommended ProClassic Acrylic Latex (I think I got that right). Sherwin Williams supplied the paint for the walls and trim: White Dove (BM color) mixed using either SW Duration or Cashmere (I can find out which). The Benjamin Moore dealer who supplied the paint for the cabinet maker (not my doing) said it's not really White Dove unless you use BM paint. Since my wife was happy with the SW version of the White Dove, I am thinking of using SW acrylic matched to the existing trim to repaint the cabinets. If not acrylic, I will consider the same paint match in the CV and lacquer. I've posted some more pictures showing the backsplash tile. Additional questions to follow.

Question referencing above pictures of tile backsplash. How would you finish the backsplash above the countertop and below the end cabinet? We've thought of stair-stepping the tiles, continuing the backsplash straight across, or adding some additional border. Thoughts?

I believe the cabinets continue to yellow because they are exposed to direct sunlight. Are they? If yes, you should consider blinds, draperies, or window film to shield your cabinets.

If it were my kitchen, on the BS, I wouldn't put anything above the upper counter (not sure if you were thinking of that or just put those tiles there to show the color with counter). And I would stair step it up to bottom of cabinet.

No, it's not the sunlight that causes the yellowing, it's the lack of sunlight. It's going to happen no matter what though. It will just be more extreme in areas with no light.

I was curious as to how your kitchen turned out? I have a problem with my kitchen cabinets that are suppose to be cream look really yellow to me. I have yet to find a neutral paint color for the walls that will make them appear "less" yellow. And the last thing I want to do is add any more yellow or ivory to the mix. What color of paint did you choose? I would love to see a pic of how it all turned out!

It looks great!

Fantastic. I really love that you were able to fix this paint situation and turn your kitchen into a glorious work of art. YOur hood is much nicer now. And the floors and marble are flawless looking. Great job!

How beautiful! Is the back splash a grey color? Or do you remember the color of it or where you found it? I just love your kitchen! And thanks for the info on the paint colors as well!

Back splash is Giorbello glass subway tile: smoke gray or smoke. I can find out the exact color if you want. I think she ordered directly from Giorbello, but I see she ordered single tile samples from Amazon. The samples were True Gray and Light Gray, but I thought the color she used had "Smoke" in the color name.

https://www.glasstileoasis.com/smoke-grey-3-x-6-glass-glossy-tile.html

That looks like the glass subway tile. When I search email for orders, I can find only two orders for a single sample each. We haven't moved into the house yet, which is why I can't just walk over and look at the box of leftover tiles.

One major thing I would do with a project like this is hire an accountant or other specialist to track everything. It's been over 5 years since we bought the house and almost 4 years under construction. We gutted the house to the studs and replaced all the electrical, plumbing and mechanical. We demolished the 20-year old addition (it was awful anyway) and built a new addition designed by an architect. The project just kept expanding when we realized that there was more to it.

The same thing happened to my cabinets. I also used a Benjamin Moore paint new cabinets freshly painted had a molten yellow hue. After a lot of back and forth and 2 years of waiting for the cabinet maker to resolve the problem he cleaned the cabinet doors with mineral spirits and the yellow came right off.

Mineral spirits? Wow that is excellent!

These are clean already. I wish that was the problem. They are not painted they are thermafoil laminate.