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Painting the colour white and New White

Listed under Blog, colour advice, tikkurila Posted Oct 17 2020

wooden kitchen painted in New White in Tikkurila Helmi 30
Wooden kitchen painted in New White in Tikkurila Helmi 30

This week at Traditional Painter we were talking about Tikkurila and painting the colour white and New White. How frustrating that basic white, from one of the world’s finest furniture enamel manufacturers, can be a nightmare for coverage?

Tikkurila, the above mentioned enamel maker, can tint their paint in literally any colour, with 100% accuracy. But following normal practice they seemingly cannot give you a pure high opacity white! Or can they, and you just have to ask?

What is with the weak spot of white paint from Tikkurila?

The technical genius from Tikkurila colour matching lies in their bases. You can name your pink, green or blue and they will give you exactly what you want in a high opacity matt, satin or gloss. But the white base doesn’t offer much opacity in white.

It is an achilles heels in a company whose colour matching is otherwise exceptional. Fortunately it is not that frequent a problem, but when white comes up, if you aren’t prepared, it can be tricky finding yourself unexpectedly having to apply extra coats.

Who has white painted kitchens anyway? we asked. Oh, how about someone with an “85 door kitchen”! chipped in Paul Barber who covers Northants for Traditional Painter.

erecta racking stacked out with doors

To paint white, ask for Tikkurila New White

If you are faced with painting kitchen doors white with Tikkurila paint consider the following:

  • Ask to tint the Otex primer white. Crazy but true.
  • Ask for Tikkurila’s New White, their double tinted white furniture paint colour.

Following these two simple steps, you are likely to miss out at least 1 coat on a normal Tikkurila white specification.

If you want to change brands because of opacity, Benjamin Moore have cracked high opacity white with Advance in a satin finish. But as was noted, it can look a little grey if sat right next to a bright white! And to be fair to Tikkurila, Advance is a hybrid paint, so coverage is a little easier to achieve compared to acrylics, and technically it could yellow! And so it goes on, back to New White.

Don’t confuse this Tikkurila colour name with Farrow and Ball’s New White, which is a different colour altogether.

Thanks for reading about painting the colour white and New White

Just like London buses, out the blue along comes another white kitchen. Richard in E Anglia chipped in with this one…

wooden kitchen painted white in E Anglia
wooden kitchen painted white in E Anglia

He paints dovecotes white as well but that’s a different story. Mark who covers Sussex and Surrey is currently painting a white kitchen too. Watch this white space for updates.



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