Hello! Today I am answering some frequently asked questions regarding the best paint brand for different types of projects. If you have an upcoming project that deals with paint and are wondering what brand is the best, then you are in the right place!
The Best Paint Brand for Cabinets?
Over the 11 years I have doing this blog, I have read numerous reviews on the best paint brands. After trying different types of paint on wood cabinets, there is one that I would recommend over any other- Benjamin Moore Advance.
Benjamin Moore Advance:
- It’s alkyd based, which basically means it carries the durability of an oil based paint with the ease and clean up of a latex paint. Our kitchen cabinets in our last home were painted with Benjamin Moore Advance. The paint dried very hard, took a lot of beating and use, and was very durable. (More pictures of our final kitchen reveal here)
- Benjamin Moore Advance levels out great, which means when it dries it provides a smooth finish. When we painted our kitchen cabinets, I was amazed at how fast it leveled out. There weren’t any weird bumps and it covered up the imperfections in the wood incredibly well. I have used other brands for bathroom cabinets, wood doors, and hall cabinets and they didn’t have the smooth look like our kitchen cabinets had.
- It’s easy to clean. With the paint drying hard and smooth, cleaning up messy fingerprints, spills, and caked on food was easy. One cabinet underneath my kitchen sink was used often and needed touch-ups now and then, but that was the only spot that I noticed.
See this previous post for more reasons why I love Benjamin Moore Advance and a super easy method I used to touch up my cabinets when I needed to (which was not very often).
Another brand I love for cabinets is Sherwin-Williams Pro Classic. I use this anytime I paint doors or high traffic areas because it is very tough and durable.
You can see past posts where we painted our bathroom cabinets here and here and see our kitchen cabinets here.
Best Paint Brand For Bathrooms?
Satin or semi-gloss paints are best for high moisture areas like bathrooms. Here are my top 3 suggestions for bathrooms:
- Behr Marquee – this is guaranteed one coat and has great durability. It also blocks out moisture which is a must for bathroom and shower areas.
2. Sherwin-Williams Super Paint is one of my favorites because it is a high quality paint with a primer, and it’s not as expensive as some of the other high end paint brands. It has great coverage, and also blocks out moisture. We used it when we painted our downstairs in our first house and would highly recommend it for a middle of the road brand.
3. Benjamin Moore Aura Bath and Spa – I love this for bathrooms because it has been engineered for high humidity areas. This Aura paint also stands up to scrubbing and cleaning and will maintain its color with it’s Proprietary Color Lock technology so your color won’t fade even when being exposed to moisture. It has incredible coverage and if touch-ups are needed, the paint blends seamlessly with the rest of the wall.
At Lowe’s?
Lowe’s has three major brands to choose from: Valspar, Olympic, and HGTV Sherwin-Williams. I have used all three, and my favorite is by far the Sherwin-Williams Infinity.
The Best Paint at Home Depot?
The brands that are available at Home Depot include Behr, PPG, and Glidden. My very favorite is the Behr Marquee. You can look at this chart and compare all of the brands that Home Depot has to offer. You will see that Behr Marquee is definitely the highest quality. It offers one coat coverage (again, this is a promise made by Behr only if certain conditions are met. I would plan on two coats ;)), excellent durability, is more likely to adhere to your surface, it’s easy to clean, mildew resistant (which is why it is great for bathrooms), and it resists and blocks stains. It also has a low VOC…but if you’re like me, I kind of like the smell of fresh paint.
Behr Premium Plus Ultra comes in a close second. As I mentioned above, you will most likely have to do two coats of paint with Behr Marquee, at least that has been my experience, and for a little less money with many of the same benefits as Marquee, you can go with the Premium Plus Ultra. In my mind you can’t go wrong with either choice.
Exterior Paint?
We have painted the exterior of two homes now, all by ourselves. We have learned a thing or two, which I hope to share with you in another post down the road, but we knew that we did not want to have to paint again in a very long time. So we chose the best of the best. This brand cost a little bit more, but when you’re saving money by not hiring a painter, we knew we could splurge a little and we ended up being so happy with the results.
My very favorite is Emerald by Sherwin-Williams.
My top two reasons for choosing Emerald?
- It has great coverage – when we painted our first home this was my favorite feature because we needed to cover a bright blue (see below) and we were able to do that without multiple coats of paint.
- Emerald is backed by a lifetime guarantee that it will not fade, chip, or peel – which means less work for us down the road.
We have been very happy with Emerald exterior in both homes that we have painted, especially with the way it covered the previous color. It also been great to clean when it gets dirty.
Whew, I know that’s a lot of info, but I’m hoping this helps anyone who is trying to figure out the best paint brand for their upcoming projects. Pin this to save for later if you aren’t quite at the painting stage yet.
If you have any other questions, feel free to comment below or e-mail me at favoritepaintcolors@gmail.com. Happy Painting!