Hi all:

I posted this in al.home.repair, but it was suggested I might have
better luck here.

Can anyone provide some guidance on a problem I'm having. I'm
redoing
basically every cabinet in the house (kitchen, bathrooms, etc.). I
am
going with a high quality maple cabinet, and want it finished in an
antique white paint with perhaps a glaze. Right now, I am attempting
to decide between completely custom, built and painted on site
cabinets, and pre-finished, custom cabinets. The prefinished
cabinets
are dura supreme, which are measured on site, then built in a factory
in Minnesota. I'm in california.


Because we are going to be using a painted finished, which chips and
scratches easily, I am extremely concerned about durability. I am
hearing completely different things from different people. Some say
that pre-finished is the only way to go because they can apply
various
chemicals in minnesota that they can't in California, and these
chemicals protect the finish a lot more. These people also say that
pre-finished cabinets can have a "baked on finish" that you just
cannot get with on-site application no matter what state you are in.


On the other side of the coin, the custom guys say that the whole
"you
can't apply such and such a chemical in California"-thing is an urban
legend, and they are promising that they can make as durable a paint
finish as I can possibly find with a pre-finished model.


Putting aside the entire custom vs. non-custom debates, as far as
finished go, does anyone know the truth? Are there in fact things
that are being done in out-of-state cabinets that can't or aren't
done
on in-state cabinets?