Painting - Painting after the "popcorn"

We removed an acoustic ceiling paint in our kitchen. What is the best product to use to get residue off and what is the best primer to use?
We hope not to do a sand finish on the ceiling! We would much prefer a nice flat finish, sans sand. (pun intended!)
Thank you for your help

Use a quality paint from a paint store, not a paint department in a bigger store. They will have recommendations for which primer would be the best choice. Keep in mind that texture hides a lot of imperfections on wall and ceiling surfaces, while paint doesn't hide much and often emphasizes imperfections, so the ceiling needs to be perfectly smooth before you prime and paint or you probably won't like the results.

What is the residue?
Adhesive, or chunks of texture?

I assume the residue is either joint compound or leftover texture. I usually wipe off what I can, sand and then skim coat the ceiling. Once all the drywall finishing is done you are ready for primer and paint :cool:

There are no chunks of texture, we wet it down and scrapped to the drywall. I had a drywall taper come in and he skimmed the existing joints and sanded the ceiling. I wanted him to skim coat the entire ceiling, but he said that the mud would dry out to fast. I now wondered if I cleaned the ceiling with a good cleaning product I could get all residue off and prime the ceiling then paint. Please help me decided if I need to get another contractor to skim coat the ceiling. Perhaps the last one didn't want to do it as it is a large area, or he was correct in saying that the residue won't come off enough to skim coat it all.
Thank you!!!!!!!

Can you explain the 'residue' further?

I'd be a little leary of washing the ceiling. Any thing wet can disolve the joint compound and possibly make things worse.
Can you lightly sand off the residue? Post a pic?

After the joints were re-skimmed the ceiling was sanding. I guess I'm all hung up on the "residue" issue because of the drywall taper saying he couldnt skim coat because it dried out the mud. I guess the residue I am speaking of is the dust from sanding. Thank you so much for cautioning me agaisnt wetting the ceiling - MORE OF A MESS OR WORK I DO NOT NEED!!!!!!!!!!!!
Perhaps I can vacuum the ceiling with a shop vac to get any remaing dust off (of course the sanding of the ceiling was 2 weeks ago and it's been misting dust all this time, maybe by now the dust has dropped off! I can only hope!)
I would REALLY, REALLY, REALLY like a flat finish on the ceiling instead of a sand finish, but hey, I'm estatic that the popcorn is off. I wonder if getting a superior quality of primer, please suggest the best on the market, I could in fact roll that on first and get that flat finish ceiling!

Sweep the ceiling gently with a broom and you should be fine.

Buy your paint and primer at a paint store - they'll guide you to the best coatings for your job.

After the primer, if the ceiling doesn't meet your approval, it isn't too late to mud and/or sand the ceiling further.

If your not happy with how smooth the ceiling is, you will need to sand it with a pole sander and skim coat. Sand again and prime the entire ceiling. Do apply two finish coats of Sherwin Williams Pro mar 200 flat Extra White for great results. <p>It does not sound like you are happy with the way this ceiling looks. More work is needed.