Hand-painted kitchens.

A well-made kitchen rarely needs replacing; it needs repainting properly. Hand-painting the cabinetry you already have keeps good joinery in place, changes the colour and the character of the room completely, and — prepared and finished to our standard — leaves a surface that reads as furniture rather than as paint.

What the work covers

Doors and drawer fronts, face frames, end and back panels, plinths, cornices and pelmets, dresser units and islands — in situ, with worktops, appliances and floors protected throughout. Timber, veneered and previously painted cabinetry all take a hand-painted finish well. Laminate and foil-wrapped doors are assessed honestly at survey, because not every surface can be made to hold one, and we would rather say so than paint a door that will not last.

Preparation decides everything

A kitchen is the hardest-working room in the house, and a painted finish there lives or dies on what happens before the first coat. Doors and drawer fronts come off and are numbered; hardware is removed rather than painted around; every surface is degreased, because cooking residue defeats paint more reliably than anything else. Then the keying, the filling where mouldings have suffered, and the correct adhesion primer for the substrate — never one primer for all. Over half of the programme is this stage, and none of it is visible in the finished kitchen, which is exactly the point.

Finish & application

Three coats minimum over the primer, each rubbed back before the next, in a durable eggshell or satin — the sheens that take steam, hands and cleaning without flashing or marking. Doors and drawer fronts are finished flat, off the carcass, so the paint can level; frames, panels and plinths are finished in place, laid off by hand so they dry free of brush marks. Where a scheme calls for a lacquered or high-build finish we say so at specification, because that is a different system with a different programme — it belongs with our specialist finishes, not disguised as the same thing.

Colour & the heritage palettes

Kitchens carry colour well: deep greens and blues on an island or the lower run, chalky off-whites above, a dresser in something bolder. We work daily with Little Greene, Farrow & Ball, Paint & Paper Library, Edward Bulmer and Mylands, prepare sample panels so the colour can be judged in the room's own light, and advise on where a two-colour scheme earns its place. A colour consultation is included with every commission.

Living around the work

Most kitchens stay in use while the work is done. We programme the run so that the hob and sink are out of action for the shortest possible window, tell you at survey exactly what will be unavailable and when, and write it into the specification. Doors and drawer fronts go back once the finish has cured properly, not before — a rushed rehang chips on the first day — and the room is left clean each evening.

When repainting is not the answer

If the carcasses are failing, if the doors are foil-wrapped and lifting, or if it is the layout you dislike rather than the colour, we will tell you so at survey. An honest assessment and clear next steps is worth more to us than a commission that would not last.