need advice - painting oak cabinets

[Janice Hackett]

I am getting ready to paint some oak kitchen cabinets. Ideally, I'd like to minimize the grain so that it doesn't show through the paint so much. I've read this board as well as others and it seems that everyone has a different opinion about the best products to use for painting kitchen cabinets as well as the best way (if there is one) to minimize grain. The cabinets that I'll be painting are probably 25 years old, honey oak. My plan is to clean them with TSP, sand, prime, paint (probably with SW). I don't have a sprayer so will be brushing everything.

For minimizing grain, I've ready several articles that say to use Seal Coat. So far, I haven't found a store that carries it.

I'd appreciate any advice you can give on Seal Coat as the primer, best paint to use, would a top coat of wipe on poly be a benefit, etc., etc.

I paint furniture regularly so am familiar with different types of paint, waxes, glazes, and I often use wipe on poly. But, I've never used varnishes, stains, etc.

Thanks for any advice. This is a very large kitchen so any mistakes are going to be a big job to correct.

[glenn bradley]

The Seal Coat recommendation probably comes from the fact that it is de-waxed shellac. Shellac will stick to almost anything, seals in stains and sap and almost anything sticks to it as a next coat. It will do little to fill the grain if you are a talking about red oak. The large pores generally require a thicker filler but, I wouldn't want to grain fill an entire kitchen. The shellac may provide some degree of lessening the appearance of the grain but, that's about the best I could expect. Seal Coat is the brand name for Zinsser's de-waxed shellac product. I get it at Lowe's but, oddly enough, no pro paint shops in my area sell it. They all carry another form of sealer that is sprayed.