Your painter is suggesting a product that he and others have used for decades to seal the inside of cabinets. Of course you can use latex paint if you prefer, it just won’t hold up as well or look as crisp.

paint them in the garage or some such ... it need not be done in the kitchen ... imo.. thats one reason why drawers are removable ...

you hired a professional.. and now you are second guessing him.. its ok.. but you lose your 'complaining later' card .... as noted by HALLETT

ken

It will all be ok, just make sure you dont let them spray laquer inside your house. It should all be done elsewhere.

this is what he uses, he is not using the low voc version.

I worked in a cabinet shop in 1980. Everything we built was finished with lacquer. Finishes have evolved over the 40 plus years since then.

Unfortunately, many in the trades learn how to do something one way, often from someone older who learned from someone older and so on. They do not understand the concept of continuing education, or the idea that there might be a better, or even a different way.

And if your painter is painting your cabinets with proclassic, there is probably a better choice there too.

what do they use to paint inside drawer in the shop? whats the product name?

@PPF. what product would you recommend to paint inside drawer if i want low voc? whats your opinion on preprite problock?

Why do the insides of the drawers need to be painted?

SW store told me lacquer can dry very quickly, faster than paint. in your experience, how long does it take the lacquer to dry? does VOC offgasing stop as soon as the lacquer gets dry? is there some way to measure the VOC content in the air so i know for sure its safe for us?

A useful guideline is that all VOC’s eventually off gas. SW lacquer has more than 5lbs of VOC per gallon, it is going to come out eventually. In a drawer it is going to be powerful for months, so everything in your drawer is going to smell like that. The Target Coatings lacquer I recommended is about .35 lbs of VOC’s per gallon.

In short, the SW guy is wrong.

@bry911 my paintet said he never used target coating and would not experiment it on my painting job. i need to stick with SW or BM. thank you for your suggestion

Maybe I misunderstood. We are just talking about a coating for drawer interiors… right? If we are, your painter is blowing smoke up your backside. It is the inside of a drawer box…

The reason I recommended the Target Coatings is that it sprays like every other lacquer, it even has full burn in.

No reputable painter is going to use lacquer in a drawer. Even thirty years ago, when lacquer was the go to commercial coating for cabinets, drawer interiors were sprayed with shellac because putting lacquer in a drawer is beyond stupid. Just get a wipe on hardwax oil like Oties or grab a can of shellac and do it yourself…it is quick and easy and at least you won’t have to deal with the painter trying to push something on you.

Yes, its coating of drawer interior. the drawers are newlly custom built.