Farrow and Ball Estate Eggshell Still Tacky after 6 weeks

[BarnabyRocks]

Anyone else has this problem with Farrow and Ball Estate Eggshell paint?
Painted my wood kitchen cupboards 6 weeks ago and the paint is awful. It was a dark blue, took ages to dry, needed 4 coats, quite a few some sections are still tacky after 6 weeks and it is marking really easily. I used a really good primer, sanded really well beforehand, left days in between coats. It looks dreadful and I have had enough of it. Feel like I need to sand it down and start again, but this job has already stolen a month and a half of my life!. I asked painter and decorator about it and he just shook his head and said its dreadful paint and advised not to use. I'm an experienced painter and have never had this before. What on earth is wrong with this paint?
I used F&B (but a lighter colour) on the top cupboards and that dried fine. Anyone else had this? Is it worth going back ti F & B and making a complaint?

I would guess it’s the fact you used 4 coats maybe. I’ve never had a problem with it drying but not had to use that many coats. Though I did find the old oil based eggshell gave better coverage.

I used 4 coats because the second and then third coat was insufficient- it needed 4 coats to cover the undercoat fully. The lighter farrow and ball colour I used on the top cupboards worked as expected with just 2 coats.

I'd contact F&B and ask them. They'll probably say it's because you didn't use their primer which could be true.

I've always found the coverage and drying to be normal.

I can't imagine anything needs 4 coats of Farrow and Ball paint.

Open all your windows in the room and close the door. Keep the heating low and give it chance to dry.

Admit defeat - after that long, it’s not going to rectify itself. I’d redo it using Little Greene paint (Tom’s Oil finish) - its bombproof, have used it on my kitchen units twice in the last decade. And only used it twice because I wanted a change, there were no chips or marks that warranted painting.

My guess is you used an oil based primer with their paint – and didn't use the F&B primers. I have painted lots of things from bare wood , and over other fully cured (old) paint, using F&B modern eggshell and it has always worked fine to a good finish - fully dried no problem. It's my favourite paint to use.

The one time it didn't work was when I had to paint over an oil based gloss that had been fairly freshly done with a different colour of F&B - then the two paints seemed to react and it was streaky and kind of sticky. But did eventually dry and a further coat and it was okay.

F&B modern eggshell is water based, so if you use a traditional oil based paint as the wood primer, I think it is incompatible