Best paints for kitchen doors cabinets
This is related to the services offered on the main page Hand-painted kitchens.
Which paint for kitchen units?
Not all paints are created equal and I will not specify a paint unless I am confident that it will perform well. The following list is, I believe, a triumph of substance over marketing!
Traditional oil eggshell paints are a favourite finish for the classic traditional look. I highly recommend Little Greene Paint Company‘s English heritage range. Their eco oil-based eggshell is low sheen and suitable for interior AND exterior use. The heritage colours are great, theycan be colour matched to most farrow and ball type colour samples and the trade quality of their whole product range knocks spots off the higher profile retail offerings from Farrow and Ball.
If you need a zero VOC, non toxic almost no odour high performance water-based eco paint, then I would recommend Mythic paints without hesitation.
The primer has very strong adhesion, the eggshell is almost flat but once cured after 7 days, it is very robust. The semi gloss is a lovely lustrous finish just slightly sheenier than acrylic eggshells.
It is not a heavy body paint. It comes in 1200 plus colours and takes some beating.
If you prefer a modern sheenier look in oil, Dulux oil based eggshell is specified by some kitchen painters, however, you can do better.
Sikkens are in the same stable as Dulux paint, and their Rubbol Satura Plus is probably the most technically advanced oil eggshell in town. Their water-borne option, Rubbol Satura BL is also highly recommended by many decorating specialists, saying it comes as close as any water-based egghell to an oil based finish, and flops on really well.
Tikkurila Feelings Furniture paint is specified by one of the country’s leading custom kitchen companies, and master kitchen painter Mark Nash highly recommends this water-based paint from Finland.
Scandinavian paints tend to be ahead of the rest. Alcro from Sweden also do a similar range of high spec paints that kitchen manufacturers specify ahead of the “usual suspects”.
If you are especially hard on your kitchen, I would suggest sticking with clear lacquer on natural timber.
For an industrial strength painted finish, you should contact Lee at 5Bridge. They have a spraying specialist who can deliver a range of 1- and 2-pack acid-cat finishes in all sorts of sheens from 10% on up.
Be aware, this is a factory paint finish, almost like a laminate rather than paint. It’s an option.
Annie Sloan chalk paint is an interesting alternative to traditional paint finishes. If you like the French or Swedish painted furniture style, where character is a premium, this might be for you. It requires minimal preparation on any surface, and once applied, the paint can be sanded smooth, or distressed a la shabby chic, and then sealed with 3 coats of wax, or varnish as a protective coat.
Stockist and master paint finisher, Cait of Carte Blanche is your first port of call for information.
And for what it is worth, Annie Sloan likes how I buff up wax with all my manly power tools.
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What about Farrow and Ball?
Please note: I do not use Farrow and Ball paints on hand-painted kitchens.
F&B are brilliant at marketing, – most enquiries I get start with, I want my kitchen painted in farrow and Ball (insert a name) paint. I do love their colour philosophy, but Farrow and Ball aren’t the only traditional paint company in town. In fact, they are new to the game compared to Little Greene, whose English Heritage colours are also fabulous, and most importantly for kitchen painting projects, Little Greene paint is a totally reliable, trade quality product.
But I want a Farrow and Ball “clunch” or “off white” kitchen. No problem. Whilst colour swatches and trade names are quite rightly copyrighted, colour per se is not!!! And current technology gives us endless possibilities to mix almost any paint to exactly colour match any painted sample, piece of fabric, detail in wallpaper, furniture. We do it all the time. If you have a colour in mind for your kitchen cabinets, it can be matched (both colour and sheen) in the best trade paints for the job.
But I want F&B paint on my kitchen!!
Sorry, but I am not convinced that Farrow and Ball hybrid eggshells are trade quality, and I am the one you will want to hammer if anything goes wrong. And it does! “All” I have to go on is a growing archive of complaints about water-borne Farrow and Ball paints from professionals and DIY:
whatever the marketing department tell you, the eco eggshell is not as good as the oil-based eggshell of old.
- When I say “good”, I have no issue with the actual application or the look of F&B eco eggshell, I can make it look really nice, but there are too many potential issues hanging over you when it is being applied – ie it doesn’t seem reliable.
- The Estate eggshell may not dry properly. This is an issue doing the rounds of several master painters, myself included. Am awaiting feedback about why that may be.
- A lot of painters refer to the flashing and overlap problems. This may be down to technique, but when experienced painters have problems, that doesn’t bode well for the rest.
- You absolutely have to use the F&B primer undercoat before applying the eggshell, even if you have already used a superior high performance primer, and even if your furniture comes factory pre-primed at no little expense!
If it were the only traditional paint in town, then we would deal with it. But I genuinely never hear any bad feedback about Little Greene heritage paints from my trade colleagues. And that is where I get my kitchen paint from when customers want a traditional painted kitchen. Reliable, predictable and traditional, as sold, that’s all we ask for.
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