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Painting built-in shelving and cabinets, Use polyurethane for final coat?

1082 Views 4 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  Jmayspaint
I am finishing up construction of some built-in cabinets and shelving for a dining room. The built-ins consists of lower cabinets, a plywood countertop, and shelving above the countertop. I used maple plywood and poplar 1x2’s for most of the material. The material was mostly pre-sanded when purchased. I plan to do a little bit of fine grit sanding before priming just to clean it up a bit.

I am painting the entire setup white. Using Benjamin Moore Advance paint (waterborne interior alkyd). Primer then two coats of satin top-coat. I have used this paint for other cabinets in the house and it holds up well, but I was thinking about after painting putting a few coats of water-based polyurethane on the surfaces that will get a little more beat-up (counter top, shelves, etc.)

Has anyone had any experience with this approach and possibly these specific products?
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You can do it, but to me it's just an unnecessary added step that will make any future touch-ups or repaints more difficult.
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Use an enamel paint and you would have a harder finish.
Not sure why you would have used maple veener plywood if you knew it was just going to be painted.
Higher the sheen, the easier the clean.
Yea, When I started construction I wasn't 100% sure how we would be finishing, therefore I went with maple. Looks like using sanded pine would have saved me around 25%

Thanks for the feedback
I have used Ben Moore Stays Clear acrylic polyurethane over Advance on cabinets. It worked well. The Stays Clear is very tough stuff.


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