OFWW wrote:

In all of this the end product is to be painted white per the boss,
and Leon did mention a while back two different woods that would show
very little grain when painted.

IMO, your biggest problem is not going to be making the things, it will be
the finishing. I'm assuming, since they are for the kitchen and that you
will want gloss or semi-gloss. I'm also assuming, given the amount of work
to get to that point, that you will want a close to flawless paint job.
Very tough to do.

I have yet to encounter a wood that won't show grain when painted. I have
yet to find a router bit that will leave a paintable surface. In reality,
the wood used doesn't make much difference because you need a flawless
surface on TOP of the wood before you paint and to do that you need a high
build, easy sanding primer, maybe some filler* too. Years ago,when I was
living on my sailboat, Interlux had a (pricy) gem. No longer available,
best I have currently found is this...
http://www.sherwin-williams.com/home...s/&N=759705555

It needs to be sanded PERFECTLY smooth and it is hard to tell when the
sanding is perfect. Fingers and ears** are better than eyes. 3M flexible
sanding sponges help a lot on curvy areas. Once sanded, a color coat which
is then sanded off can help show primed areas that need more work.

When ready for the final topcoats, spray is needed. If you topcoat with an
oil base paint, it can be rubbed out and polished; ditto white lacquer. Not
much oil paint anymore, acrylic sands like bubble gum. Rattle cans will
work.
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*you can make a good filler with shellac and talc

** ears because you can hear the difference (when sanding) between sanded
and unsanded areas. With a mechanical sander, there is a difference in the
way the sander moves.