Specialist hand-painted kitchen painting
This is related to the services offered on the main page Hand-painted kitchens
How I go about painting your kitchen
As a rule of thumb, preparation has to be to the highest standards ie abrade and clean down every surface, vacuum off and tack rag as required. If a primer coat or bonder coat is required, I prime all surfaces with a suitable high performance coating from either Dulux, Zinsser, Classidur or Mythic.
For finishing coats, if you want a traditional hand-painted finish, then 2 coats of Little Greene Oil eggshell finish – sanding between coats is very hard to beat. Any of the kitchen cupboard paints listed have their good points too, of course.
What to expect when I hand-paint your kitchen
Empty kitchen
With the best will (and extraction sander) in the world, dust will find its way inside cupboards. Therefore, before I start work, I ask that all the kitchen cupboards are emptied.
More often than not, homeowners take this opportunity for a really good clear out of pans and dishes that haven’t been used since the kitchen was first installed!
Masking and protecting your kitchen
A beautiful hand-painted kitchen is dependent on meticulous preparation from start to finish – however there is far more to preparation than rubbing down.
The first preparatory step is to protect the flooring and worktops. This approach keeps your kitchen clean and safe from paint spots and other potential accidents – and raises most of my customers’ eyebrows, for all the right reasons.
Dust sheets on steroids
I use sturdy paper and plastic to fully sheet up the floor, worktops, appliances, and any furniture in the kitchen. (If necessary, the coverings to the oven / hob / sink can be removed / taped out the way at the end of the day so you can have access to the basics.)
Labelling
Next stage is to remove doors and drawer fronts. I label doors and cupboards and even hinges, to make sure everything goes back in exactly the same way as I take it out.
Prepare woodwork
I prepare all the end panels, cornice and plinths first, before moving on to the doors and drawer fronts. I do a lot of sanding – but use a combination of wet sanding and vacuum sanding to reduce dust to a minimum.
Priming
This is the most important coat and when it has cured it is a perfect platform for subsequent coats. Once prepared and primed, the surface I am painting becomes almost irrelevant.
This shows the primer and undercoat stages on a lacquered oak kitchen door. That could be laminate, or pine or nw timber. With the correct primer, the finish coats will work fine!
Clean up
Once everything has been painted to completion, I remove all masking tape, clean and buff up hinges and glass panels, rehang doors and drawers, replace handles and tweak the hinges so that everything lines up as well as possible and nothing jams.
The floor coverings and worktops are cleared and cleaned up and left as I found them.
Wait
I recommend that customers hold off for a few days before loading the units and using the kitchen full tilt. Technically speaking, oil paint dries by oxidation, so although it skins over and is touch dry within 16 hours, it can take up to a month to dry throughout its thickness. Therefore, the longer the paint can harden off before getting heavy use, the better it will last. (Water-based paint doesn’t cure for at least a week, so whichever route you take, it is always best to be gentle on your painted kitchen in the early weeks.)
Please note, the level of service I offer is not for everyone. My kitchen painting service provides a stunning and value adding feature in your home. Standards of workmanship are extremely high, and I wouldn’t do you the disservice of a “knock it out cheap and cheerful” job, or skimp on coats, because that doesn’t save you money in the long term. (In fact some cheap paint jobs wont even get you out of trouble in the short term!)
However, judging by the number of clients who have employed me, my prices are fair, and very reasonable compared to a new kitchen or an extensive refurbishment. So, if you aren’t comfortable with the ready reckoner budget (at the bottom of the main Painted Kitchen page), which is usually a maximum rate, you might want to look for other options to refurbish a kitchen.
If you are in Cheshire looking to have your property decorated to a really high standard with minimal fuss and disruption, or...
Looking for ideas or costings to refurbish a tired kitchen or hand-paint a new one? Please contact me via the form below.
If I can't help, I'll know another specialist decorator in the UK who can.
Contact Andy Crichton
