We just had some new cabinets built (old ones were ONLY 65 years old!). Shaker style, inset doors, clean/simple. The wood is hard rock maple. The issue is the paint job. It is a non-yellowing lacquer tinted to linen white. The doors are dead on, but the edges of the boxes are much lighter and appear to be a different white than what was painted. The cabinet guy said this is common lighting issue and there is nothing he can do about it. He says the board ends paint out differently. My contention is if it is on the same plane (doors are inset) in the same lighting, using a pigmented paint, why aren’t they the same color? Has anyone else had this experience and is the answer to go to a different hue just for the edges to make the match? Just doesn’t sound right.
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Certain paints (and probably lacquers) will sort of "thin out" near the corners and edges, resulting in a color change. And this effect can be heightened based on the nature of the primer coat, and probably, to an extent, the texture of the material.
Usually a light sanding followed by another coat will elimiate the effect, though.
had an issue similar and it turned out that a different species was was used for the rail and stile of a few doors...cabinet guy finally owned up to it addmitting that he didnt think the wood would take the paint so differently...not saying thats what your guy did but could be.
I ran into a similar problem when replacing some window sashes this fall.
Two brand new Andersen all-wood sashes with factory primer. First tried applying Benjamin Moore red alkyd primer, after a light sanding. After 24 hours the primer was just sitting there, still as wet as when it went on, not soaked in a bit.
Wiped off the primer and applied Benjamin Moore dark brown acrylic latex trim paint. You'd spread the paint on and all the pigment near the edges would run and hide. Tried a second coat -- same thing. Wiped it off, sanded, tried again -- same thing.
I noticed that a particular spot on one sash would repel the pigment the same as the edges. Looked kind of like just a lump in the paint, so wiped it off, sanded some more, painted again. The same spot reappeared -- a dark spot in the middle, then no pigment for about 1/8 inch all around. And there were several other smaller spots of similar appearance.
Finally wiped everything off, rubbed it down with what the paint store clamed was "liquid sandpaper", painted again, closed my eyes, and called it good, since we needed to get the sashes in that weekend.
Apparently some sort of electrostatic effect caused the pigment to concentrate in some locations and not others. The chemical characteristics of the material below affect this and "direct" the pigment migration.
And, of course, Andersen's "factory primer" is akin to Teflon.
(Does anyone know of a GOOD "liquid sandpaper"? I used to have a can of the good stuff but it went bad and I tossed it last summer, and I can't remember what brand it was.)
I think the guy is full of it. But anyway, if the board ends paint out differently, then he should have taken steps to modify his process to compensate. I was in the custom woodwork business for a long time. Had I done this job for you, the paint would match.
I'm going to try another coat of the same color on the edges and see if that does the trick. Maybe the edges of maple just need more paint. I've rationalized that the hardness of the wood did not allow enough of the paint to be absorbed and sat on the surface more than got into the wood.