Painting and repainting kitchens since 2011 Traditional Painter Blog 2: The White Kitchen Company.
The White Kitchen Company, Traditional Painters recommened bespoke kitchen & furniture manufacturer, Installer in the UK.
Hi, I’m Paul Barber at Traditional Painter. Our network of 20 specialist painters has been Painting and repainting kitchens since 2011. We have worked on literally thousands of hand painted kitchens. Our client base is private homeowners and kitchen companies all around the UK.
We have had the pleasure of painting several new White Kitchen Company kitchens, particularly in the Northampton area. The White Kitchen Company supply classic, bespoke kitchens direct to you in a variety of styles such as shaker and period English. With over 30 years experience designing and building kitchen furniture, there cabinets are handmade whilst always keeping there clients in mind. Visit there online shop for DIY kitchens that come primed / undercoated ready for hand painting on site by a specialist kitchen painter The White Kitchen Company Online Collections
In this article, I have been invited to explain our speciality repainting service. It should be of interest to owners of the many White Kitchen Company oak kitchens and existing painted kitchens to be found around the UK.
Painting and repainting kitchens since 2011
Repainting an oak kitchen is one of the more challenging tasks in decorating. Nowadays, the systems are well documented and there are many more skilled practitioners out there than ever before. However, you probably don’t know how hard it used to be to re-paint kitchens properly.
The early days of kitchen painting
Back in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, in fact until the 2010’s, the kitchen painting “industry” was tiny. It was literally a handful of specialist journeymen plying their trade for an even smaller handful of companies. Smallbone of Devizes or Mark Wilkinson were probably the only names in the public domain. They were the pioneers of what we now take for granted as hand painted kitchens. I was painting kitchens for Smallbone back in the 80’s and it was an exciting time.
Kitchen painting times change
In the wake of the great financial crisis of 2008, along came Traditional Painter, a one-man band at that time. We spotted the decline in new kitchen sales, and set out to refurbish existing kitchens. The offer was simple: a showroom quality paint finish, delivered in situ.
That was quite the innovation, and almost nobody in the public domain quite believed it was possible. And when you looked around at the quality of painted doors and architraves in most homes, you could see why. Anyone would have been reticent about handing over their pride and joy oak kitchen to a painter. Even now, a Dutch person, in the land of some of the best painters on earth, wouldn’t have their kitchen painted!
Kitchen painting work practices change
Preparing a new kitchen for painting is relatively straightforward, compared to a 10 year old oak kitchen that has been well used. Repainting kitchens really is all in the preparation. Usually under the intense observation of doubtful homeowners, over time we proved it was possible to paint oak, pine even laminate beautifully. And not just beautifully, but durably enough to add years to the useful working life of a kitchen.
On refurbishment work, the pendulum has swung and most clients realise we do deliver what we say on the tin. Trust is such that nowadays it is almost expected that we take the doors away to paint off site. This works out well for us and the client, reducing disruption and cutting travel costs while work is in progress. But I repeat, that way of working was literally unthinkable back in the day.
Technical Innovation in kitchen painting
Apart from the fantastic Fox paint brush and how to price a kitchen for painting, we never claim to have invented anything. However we have been able to spot a good idea a mile off and work it into our painting system.
Dustless sanding
We were early adopters of dustless sanding. Car body painters had been using dust extraction hand sanders for years. Not so in the painting trade. We instilled cleanliness into the whole kitchen and decorating experience. That was for the benefit of painters and to the relief of our customers. Standards of preparation and quality of finish shot up in a dust-free work environment.
Professional beyond painting
You can’t imagine the huge impact of small things, like, turning up on the appointed day. Arriving at the same time every single day til the kitchen is finished, that went down well in 2011. It is not the norm in the construction industry, even today. Our clients appreciated being kept fully informed while work was in progress. Oh, and sticking to a price, that was quite novel too! All of this is now so ingrained in our painters, it is second nature.
Sharing innovation in kitchen painting
Traditional Painter broke all the rules by sharing our methods online, in detail. Professional painters and keen DIY lapped up our insights and discoveries. Slowly, slowly, suddenly, every decorator, supplier and trade association picked up the baton and ran with it. The UK painting and decorating industry began extending their services. Now kitchen painting is a thing. There are even copy cat kitchen painter networks!
Check out our archives if you want to know all about masking, cleaning, brushes and rollers. Maybe you take them for granted now, but back then, not so.
In summary
As a kitchen painting network, Traditional Painter has been going for 12 years, the first network of its kind in the UK. Our members have been working independently for 15 years plus, some of us have been kitchen painting 30 years or more! Over that time we have seen every development, many of them have come from us.
Thanks for reading this quick look at our journey through Painting and repainting kitchens since 2011.
If you own an older oak White Kitchen Company kitchen, why not get in contact with their Head Office and talk to them about breathing some new life into it? They can offer you a special rate.
Traditional Painter.com Hand-painted-kitchen-specialists-in-uk
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