Painted kitchen - spray or hand paint ?

[Eddie Wall]

I have priced a painted solid wood kitchen from 4 vendors, they ranged in price but interestingly 2 insisted that spray was the better finish and 2 insisted that hand painted was the better finish.

The "+ and -" comments given for both types were :

Spray :

More uniform finish. Precise sheen / colour control Overall higher quality look. Risk of damage to finish during installation

Hand painted :

No risk of damage to paintwork at installation. "softer" look Easier to "touch up" than spray More uniform finish Overall luxury look...

________________________

I am interested with the wear and tear aspect and the fact that spray seems to be difficult to touch up where the hand painted is relatively easy....

I would really appreciate any input anyone has had experience of on the subject..

Please dont even get into the discussion of the pointlessness of painting solid wood... that discussion is already finished...

Thanks

Eddie

"But life is short and information endless; nobody has time for everything" Aldous Huxley

[Tim W]

Eddie Wall wibbled on Wednesday 28 October 2009 17:36

I know a professional carpenter who does nothing but make bespoke kitchens (that's "make from scratch", not "adapt existing stuff").

IIRC the last time we were talking, he said one way that worked well was to have the bits sprayed with primer and undercoat so that was dead smooth, then hand paint the finish after installation.

[dom]

A very good approach.

One way of looking at it, is that you can hand-paint over sprayed at a future date (but obviously you have to do all of it), but can touch up hand-painted as necessary (after the inevitable kitchen accident in the first few months).

And realistically, whichever it is now, it will end up entirely hand- painted when the day comes that kitchen does require a complete repaint.

So you could say if you tend to be hard on kitchens, hand-painted is better, whilst if you're unlikely to mark it much then sprayed will look more "new car" kind of perfect.

Or say "doesn't matter", and go with whichever you prefer for other reasons.

[Bolted]

On 28 Oct, 18:22, " [e-mail]" wrote:.

On the other hand a 2k spray finish is going to be incomparably more tough than a hand-painted finish.

[JimK]

I would expect the spray painters like it cos it's quick, easy and uses less paint i.e. the spray painted layer is probly going to be thinner than a brush applied layer - so easier to get damaged?

JimK

[Tim W]

[e-mail] wibbled on Wednesday 28 October 2009 18:22

And also, the client who has enough dosh to afford hand crafted kitchens will generally be employing a proper painter (amongst other trades) to paint the kitchen, so the painter will paint the cupboards after installation, touching up any damage to the undercoat in the process. It's a fairly bombproof approach.

[Neil]

Certainly easier to damage if my recent experience is anything to go by. 6 weeks ago I was called in by the householders of a house that just been the subject of a 'Cowboy Builders' TV shoot to sort out all the stuff that they hadn't had time to do. You will no doubt see a fantasic looking kitchen with all the door/drawer fronts spray painted in purple. What you won't see is the myriad of scratches and scrapes on many of these doors. The finish was certainly even but so thin that the merest touch could bring paint off.

They have been told that the new series is likely to air in March - April

2010.

Neil

[Bolted]

So what, used the wrong paint, probably next to zero prep on a dirty surface, if they'd handpainted it would have been just as rubbish.

You can't realistically brush the toughest two pack paint finishes, which are just leagues apart from an eggshell or a gloss.

They are not easily refinished and much harder to do correctly than handpainting but without doubt far, far, tougher if done right.

The real decision is between 'slick and modern' or 'homely and old fashioned' and 'tough but impossible to touch up or refinish without starting again' and 'soft and vulnerable but can be touched up, and if it all starts looking frayed slap another coat on, it all adds character'.

On real wood, the balance is probably going to tilt towards the latter as the surface finish is never going to match paint over mdf or similar, and the effect of a sprayed finish will probably tend to look a bit too much like a grained mfc.

[Charles Fearnley]

One further alternative if you are going the hand painted route is to use a mini foam roller rather than brush. I've just moved an existing (inherited )kitchen with a plain cream slightly textured finish. I was short of a few odd sized doors and fill bits, so got one of the existing doors scanned at a Dulux paint mixing place, for matching eggshell paint. New doors were MDF with suitable edge moulding, one coat acrylic undercoat, two coats topcoat, all with six inch foam roller. Finish is even and good , and matches the old doors well.

Time will tell as to durability - but repainting is at least easy.

Charles F

[JimK]

spray painters like it cos it's quick, easy and

yeah I had good results a while back rollering "melamine paint" to tart up some tired built in wardrobe doors that were looking shabby after a room redecorate - it was straightforward and pretty quick to do and looked pretty good all in all.

JimK