Painted kitchen, does it chip?

[Malbab]

Hi I am. Planning to paint my kitchen cabinets myself they are currently wood effect laminate and would like something different, just for few years before we can replace the whole lot eventually
I know some people have done it and want to know their experience on its durability, I mean what happens when pots and pans get dropped or when doors shut etc does the paint wear off and chip? I have heavy cast iron pans etc...
If anyone has had it for a while and had lasted the test of time what paint did you use
I don't want to make it look worse, as the ones I got now although looks dated is perfectly functional and decent looking...

We have a painted wood kitchen from DIY kitchens, fitted a year and a half ago. We have noticed a few (three-ish) chips, two of which are at the bottom of end panels and were caused during installation of the floor which was done after the kitchen units went in. These were touched up using spare paint supplied with the kitchen.

I would imagine that a paint finish brushed on at home would be much more likely to chip than a one applied by spraying under factory conditions. Ours is also a two-part epoxy paint (like coloured Araldite, if you've used it!) which will be much harder than a water- or even oil-based paint you buy for home use. In these respect, ours is a best-case scenario.

On the other hand, chips on our kitchen are VERY noticeable as it is a dark colour and the white primer underneath really glares through if the top coat chips off. If your top coat is closer in colour to whatever lies beneath, then any chips will jump out at you much less.

I painted mine in lockdown, so around April 2020 and to be honest it was quite a lot of work and a fair few times found myself wishing I hadn’t started haha!

but the same as you had a wood effect finish and was so tired of it and couldn’t afford a new kitchen so I used Wilko cupboard and furniture paint (I think it was called mineral grey) and even now they still look good, can’t say I’ve noticed any chips. I did follow all the rules such as sanding them, using a primer/base coat and then used a mini roller for the paint

I am still waiting for the new kitchen I promised myself but am happy enough with the update I gave the cabinets.

I’ve attached photos, the first was in 2020 and then the other is today

HTH ☺️

Thanks both
Wow that looks amazing, u
Yes planning to sand and prime and coat with 2 or 3 times, will definitely be challenging I guess... Glad to know it has worked for you

Cleaning the doors first before you do anything is a good idea, especially in kitchens where grease and cooking oils that are deposited on the surfaces can prevent the paint from sticking properly. Use an appropriate primer first and lightly abrade surfaces between coats to aid adhesion (and wipe off any dust you create in doing so).

We recently got a new kitchen and the company told us that hand painted kitchens are much less likely to chip than spray painted apparently, as well as being easier to touch up. But more expensive because of the extra labour involved.

DM used Johnstone’s cupboard paint and it’s chipped and scratched dreadfully. She did a light sanding prior to application.

We actually peeled the laminate off ours and painted the mdf board directly and it’s worked better.
I used Frenchic Alfresco. There have been a few chips over the last couple of years but a tin goes a long way and it’s really easy to do a touch up. A foam roller gave the best finish bit did take 4 thin coats. It drips if you try to apply t any thicker than sure thin.

Ours is hand painted by professionals. It has chipped yes. Round the handles (guess fingernails scraping?) and along the bottom of the doors mainly. Also where the bar stools are.

I have been told spray is less likely to chip but much much harder to touch up if it does.

I think you’d need a really good primer (Zinsser??) to make paint stick to laminate

Previous owners of my house did it. It was the sort of job that looked alright at a glance and much worse if you actually looked at it for ten seconds. Runnels everywhere for instance...

The painted tiles and fablon covered worktops were even worse.

The cupboards were falling apart anyway, but even if they weren't the painted cupboards and tiles alone would have motivated me to rip out the kitchen as the very first thing I did.

If the structure of the cupboards are sound, there are companies that will offer a kitchen refresh - DreamDoors is one such company, but there are others out there. If, for instance, it's an IKEA kitchen then it's very easy to just get replacement doors from them.

I did mine in 2020 and its held up really well and I didn't prime first. I did hold on to a tin of the paint so I could touch up but if I could go back I'd have primed it properly first.

Ours was professionally hand painted 14 years ago. Still pretty good. We notice wear around the handles. No chips at all. We do have a couple of areas where the paint has lifted from the wood. On leading edge of dishwasher door and below the coffee machine. It’s the steam! We think. We have touch up paint and it’s a job for this year if the paint is still usable! I like the slightly muted finish and still like the colours.

I painted our ikea kitchen cupboards by removing the laminate coating back to mdf and used zinsser allcoat satin which I had colour matched to the shade I wanted. It's been 2 years and it's still looking great- no scratches at all.

My daughter and I painted her kitchen with zinsser allcoat satin too. You don't need a primer but we sanded beforehand. You can have any colour.

We put it on with rollers and the finish looks amazing. It looks professional. It went on really well.

It's hasn't chipped or scratched at all in the last two years but it's not that heavily used.

We painted ours (solid wood) about 6 years ago - primer then 2 coats of eggshell. It's worn in places so we're about to do it again, but it was worth it.

thanks all, lots of food for thought

I know of at least 3 people with high end professionally painted kitchens - al of which have chipped.

@CheshireCats
Mine is high end and hasn’t chipped. Depends on finish and durability of materials used. No kitchen is totally bombproof if the owners are careless. Overall you get wear marks rather than chips.

I painted mine 6 years ago, then got bored of the colour and repainted again two years ago.

Both times I’ve used Little Greene Paint Co. Their ASP (All Surface Primer) and then their Tom’s Oil Eggshell - it’s bombproof! Not a single chip during all that time. Really easy to wipe clean. The ASP comes in the same shades as the topcoat.

Its not cheap, but a little goes a long way. Think I had a 2.5L tin of each and that the insides of doors too.

I painted ours as a temp measure because the kitchen is old & desperately needs replacing but we can’t afford it just yet.

Used Frenchic, followed all the instructions on washing down with sugar soap, undercoat, top coat, it’s still chipped in less than a year - but it’s still overall better than it was.

Had I been hoping it’d last a decent amount of time properly I’d be annoyed, but for a temp situation I can live with it.

I love your kitchen cupboards. Can I ask if you took the doors off before painting or did you paint with them still hanging on the cupboards?

I wouldn't ever use something like Frenchic on kitchen doors. However good the prep it will chip a lot more easily than a paint such as the zinsser allcoat mentioned earlier.

Frenchic have good marketing and lovely colours though!
You need to paint match their colours in a more durable paint

Thanks. I was lucky that the previous owners installed the cupboards. They’re around 14 years old now and I still like them.

I left the doors on. I just removed the handles and drawer-pulls. I stuck the screw back in each hole, just in case a door shut by accident! It’s not the right way to do it and, on close inspection, I could probably do with touching up the hinges.

ours is a hand painted kitchen installed circa 12 years ago, we've painted the walls once since then - a couple of years ago - but the cupboards haven't needed it! There are a couple of chips but absolutely tiny.

it was F&B paint and not sprayed on.

I “researched” this thoroughly (ie read too many blogs and advertising pitches), followed all the steps. It looked brilliant for about 18 months and after that I broke my heart doing tiny touch ups.

It bought us a bit of time that we needed, and I got to have a mad colour that I wouldn’t have picked in a new expensive kitchen.

but I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’d enjoy changing out the colour every couple of years.