This hand painted kitchen project was undertaken in York for a couple that had inherited a rather worn and dated Ikea kitchen when they bought the house. As a kitchen cabinet painter I travel throughout Yorkshire transforming and restoring kitchens using a range of tried and tested techniques and specialist paints. With meticulous preparation and quality hand painting I was able to transform this kitchen, making it feel lighter, brighter and more contemporary, all for a fraction of the cost of having it replaced. The clients were over the moon with the results and were kind enough to write this testimonial for me –
‘Well, what a treat to come home to! A kitchen completely transformed and looking fantastic! It’s a great finish, and it all looks like it’s just been newly installed! We couldn’t be more pleased. Thank you so much Lee – it’s lovely. And for something that was threatening major disruption, it was surprisingly easy to manage, thanks to you. It was lovely to meet you and get to know you a little. We’ll certainly be singing your praises to friends and family! All the very best.’ Sarah and Nick, York
Click here to see this kitchens main ‘Project Page’ or continue reading for a more, in depth look at the stages and processes used.
Project Details
The project was undertaken whilst the clients were, at least in part, on holiday, which allowed for the minimum of disruption and gave them the joy of coming home to a hassle free brand ‘new’ kitchen. The kitchen cabinets weren’t in the best condition but having spoken to various kitchen design companies, the layout couldn’t really be improved upon so they started looking at the kitchen cabinet painting option. From the outset I was excited about this project as I knew it was going to be an amazing transformation and personally I love ‘free standing’ kitchens.
Colour
The colour chosen was the equivalent to Little Greene’s ‘ French Gray’, which I asked Holmans Paints in Swindon to mix for me in a specialist kitchen/furniture paint. French grey is a lovely rich colour that looks wonderful every time I use it.
Pre-Preparatory Process
Having thoroughly inspected the kitchen during the consultation it was clear that a fair bit of work would need to be done before starting began. Many of the doors would have to be planed, re-hung and tweaked. Additional doors were also made so as to cover one of the open sections and create a better look of balance. All of this work was carried out by my trusty joiner and handy man, Colin Foggin, Harrogate, who always ensures the work is exactly what I want. Other works carried out included changing the worktops and fully decorating the room.
Prep and Top Coats
There was virtually no varnish left on most of the doors and they were looking well past their best so the sanding side of things wasn’t so bad on this project. After a thorough clean and degrease I removed any flaking varnish and sanded everything smooth, keying the surface ready for the primer. As always I use a high adhesion primer from Finland. This product has amazing adhesion qualities and sands back beautifully smooth for the top coats. I actually applied two coats of primer (sanding between coats) and then two oil based top coats.
Each coat was applied meticulously ensuring there were no brush marks and the finish was perfectly smooth. A hand painted finish doesn’t have to mean brush marks and don’t let anyone tell you it does!
On this particular project I also painted the insides of the cabinets and so by the end the clients had a truly bespoke and totally new looking kitchen.
Lee works as a specialist kitchen painter throughout Yorkshire and is within easy reach for kitchen painting projects in York, Huntington, Acomb, Clifton, Rawcliffe, Poppleton, Heslington, Wetherby and all the surrounding areas.