Painting/glazing kitchen cabinets--oil or water based?

My husband has built all new kitchen cabinets. I wanted to paint them off white with a taupe glaze. I want the base color to be oil based, but I am only finding water based glaze????Painting/glazing kitchen cabinets--oil or water based?
Jees, No wonder people get confused.





Benjamin Moore makes a nice glaze base that you can mix your own colors into and control just how much glaze you apply.





Stores do tend to steer people toward Waterbased finishes.


I have almost 30 year of experience in cabinetry and finishes.


And I am a strong advocate of green design and products that low VOC emmission. BUT, To get the look I think you are trying for and a good deal of durability and easy cleaning, stick with the oil based base coat and glaze. (not the green answer but the most durable.)





Benjamin Moore Alkyd Glazing Liquid 409





You may want to consider top coating with a clear finish. Alkyd glaze can yellow slightly over time. You will not notice this unless you look at the inside of a door compared with the outside of the yellowed door.





I would strongly suggest NOT mixing Oil and Latex products.





Good luck.Painting/glazing kitchen cabinets--oil or water based?
We just redid our kitchen and I wanted oilbased but the pro's at the hardware store said we would regret it if we went that route. They never explained why. So we just went by their recommendations.
Gel-stain will give pretty much the same effect that you're looking for. It is sold at paint stores along with the glazes, etc. I believe that it is oil based...not positive. I would check into it though. It may suit your needs.
There is only water based glaze and it works only on latex style paints. If you are wanting to do a glaze I would go to your local craft store and ask them about the glazing effect you are wanting and see if they have any suggestions. We stained ours cherry and used polyurethane to seal them and made borders around them in a lighter stain. Maybe, if your cabinets are flat door facings, you may want to look for trims that you can stain or paint in the taupe color to make a contrast and add brass or antiqued handles to bring it out.


Congrats on the new cabinets!