Are the more expensive paint brands any better or just trendy?

[engineersthumb]

Just that really. I hear people referencing f&b and valspar but I've always found Dulux, Jhonsons etc quite good. The best kitchen/bathroom paint that I have used was wikes on brand. It covered well, had a great depth of colour and hasn't tarnished/ supported mould. Ive heard lots of people reference f&b on
MN but wondered if this was just a trendy brand like fired earth etc.

I've used the Valspar Premium and Trade a couple of times and been really pleased. Went on nicely, the white covered up pink easily in two coats and the 'deep galaxy' is gorgeous. It's strong and scrubable.

Following!

Valspar (in certain ranges / colours) gets terrible reviews. I would never use it again after nightmare with it.

Have F&B in living spaces which hasn't really stood up to dirty fingers etc. Will try Little Greene next time.

Tried Wilkinsons own brand Best of Flat Matt (I think) recently and it was excellent.

Benjamin Moore is where it's at now - nothing that I have used comes close to it and I have used all those mentioned so far.

www.benjaminmoorepaint.co.uk/

My builders says that loads of decorators, if asked to paint with F&b just colourmatch with Leyland and pocket the difference. It could be a good anecdote or it could be true, I’m not sure.
At the moment I am in love with the designers guild colours but they are more difficult to colourmatch.

F&B in ammonite was awful - three coats on top of a white mist coat and it was still patchy. It’s appallingly overpriced and terrible quality.
Colour matched Valspar premium which gave about 90% coverage with one coat and a second was perfect.

My friend is a stickler for a perfect finish and he really rates Johnsons. He also had white dulux paint go yellow and eventually got all his money back (plus a bit more) from them.