Matt or gloss kitchen?

[ALLIS0N]

We are renovating our existing kitchen with new doors/ worktop/ sink and adding some extra units.

It’s a stand alone kitchen ( not open plan with another room) , roughly 3m x 3m, U shaped layout with a window and sink at the top of the U.

We are keeping the slate effect ceramic tiled floor, which is black / dark grey and matt, so I think we need light grey or white units.

We have no kids or pets but don’t want to dedicate our lives to cleaning the doors.

Any thoughts / advice on gloss v matt?

Personally I much prefer the look of matt, but gloss works well if there isn't much natural light or if you have dark floors or walls to help bounce the light around.

Gloss is notorious for showing up fingerprints, but even matt units need wiping down regularly for drips and spills (and dust, if you have a shaker style). Gloss was very popular 5 years ago, less so now I think, but all kitchen companies still stock a wide variety of gloss options, so it's obviously still popular.

I'm currently preparing for yet another enthralling Sunday session of scrubbing our matt units. I've never had gloss, and the units in our previous house were slightly textured so not a problem, but the smooth matt units in this house are a fucking nightmare to keep clean!! No children here either but you only have to have touched something slightly greasy then touch the cupboard door for it to mark.

My ds had a new kitchen fitted last yr with Matt units and he’s always moaning about the marks and he lives alone so no kids or pets just him

@ohffs66

I'm currently preparing for yet another enthralling Sunday session of scrubbing our matt units. I've never had gloss, and the units in our previous house were slightly textured so not a problem, but the smooth matt units in this house are a fucking nightmare to keep clean!! No children here either but you only have to have touched something slightly greasy then touch the cupboard door for it to mark.

Oh no, this is my worst nightmare 🤭 I hate cleaning.

I, too, hate cleaning and in my experience the most forgiving surfaces are ones that aren't completely uniform in colour to begin with.

I agree @Persipan and that’s one of the reasons for keeping the existing kitchen floor, as it’s very easy to clean. The other reason is cost as we are on a budget.

I’m planning to go for a stone effect / other mottled laminate worktop, as they don’t show the marks. But I need to chose the unit doors first.

DD has an Ikea kitchen with their cheapest doors ( VEDDINGE ) in pale grey and white and they don’t show marks too badly. It’s defo not from cleaning often as she has two messy flatmates and they are always having people round. Maybe it’s because it’s a north facing kitchen, so not much light ?

We can’t use Ikea for this refurb as their carcasses and unit doors are a different size . So it’s Howdens for us.

@justthecat I don’t suppose you know where your son got his kitchen from ? Several people have told me to avoid the Howdens Clerkenwell matt as they are hard to clean. And their new super matt doors are out of our price range.

It was a howdens

Textured matt would always be my preferred unless you need the natural light to bounce around

Thanks @justthecat 😭😭😭

we went gloss we were going in the matt direction at first but seeing the matt ones at DIY i was dissapointed with the finish so went gloss and very happy with it if you look on the other kitchen threads mine is in some of the pics

We went gloss as my friend has a matt kitchen and it marks really easily and is quite hard to wipe a greasy Mark off.
I have high gloss white kitchen it's very easy to clean.

@isseywith4vampirecats - I’ve looked at some of your old threads but I can’t find any photos 😟

@isseywith4vampirecats

we went gloss we were going in the matt direction at first but seeing the matt ones at DIY i was dissapointed with the finish so went gloss and very happy with it if you look on the other kitchen threads mine is in some of the pics

How about scratches on gloss doors? I got samples of Altino Mussel and Carrera Gloss Alabaster and both are easy to scratch. I wonder if Luca Gloss finish is better? I also got Linwood Cashmere sample and I like the look of painted timber. I think Cashmere or Mussel colour won't show dust much. I would love to have DIY's Norton type doors but handleless. Unforunately DYI does not seem to offer shaker style doors handleless or slab doors in timber. I think matt or painted timber doors will be easy to repaint if the door surface is damaged or we want to change the colour.

just visited my local Howdens 5 minues from my home: their designer said gloss would show less marks, easier to maintain and is better for families with young children. He did not recommend to buy timber doors coz it means paying too much for something that would be damaged by a child.
Well, I guess it will be gloss kitchen for me.

@Lily7050 here are some of the pics of mine its altino petrol blue from DIY i just spray them with washing up liquid watered down in a spray bottle and use an microfibre cloth to clean no scratches

Thank you @isseywith4vampirecats. We have a 14-month old boy who is very curious to check kitchen cupboards. He has just started walking so we expect soon he will go around and leave his marks/scratches.

@isseywith4vampirecats thanks for the photos, thats a lovely colour of unit and goes well with your worktop.

Do you have any protection on your wall behind the cooker or don't you need it because of the glass lid?

What about behind the sink ?

@ALLIS0N we are tiling between the units and behind the cooker and sink i just have a snail husband who works at the slowest pace i have ever seen so far this week he has done two rows of tiles on the back wall and the more i nag him the less he does, have threatened to pay a tiler and he wont let me

I am choosing tiles this week so I’m a bit obsessed.

Ive decided to go for the gloss doors as I’m a lazy slattern who hates cleaning. White units as our floor is black. Light grey mottled worktop.

Predictable I know.

I have gloss and it’s easy to keep it looking spotless. No scratches after years. I have full tiling in the splash back areas. Very convenient I just spray and wipe it all down at the end of the day.

@allisonthat sounds ace love black white and grey as a combination

Thank you both.

I have Matt - it's bloody awful!! I mean, I love it when it's clean but that's rare these days. In our previous house we had white gloss and it was lovely.

I would get gloss again. Not Matt.
Matt shows up EVERY. TINY. MARK.

Thanks @GreenTiles22

We went for the Wickes Sofia kitchen in dark grey gloss. It does need cleaning but I use clean washing up water and a microfibre cloth. Wipe the fronts down then a clean dry microfibre cloth to dry and shine. It always looks better once done.