As a specialist kitchen painter I travel throughout Yorkshire, this particular job was undertaken in one of the beautiful Barkisland Mill apartments near Halifax.

I was contacted by Sarah after she spoke to one of her neighbors, who’s kitchen I had painted a couple of years before. After sending some photos of her kitchen I was able to give an accurate estimate and shortly afterwards a deposit was paid and the work was booked in.

Click here to see this kitchens main ‘Project Page’ or continue reading for a more, in depth look at the stages and processes used.

Testimonial –

‘My apartment had previously been a rental property before I purchased it and was looking thoroughly unloved, particularly the kitchen. I looked at several options for painting the kitchen as fitting a new one just wasn’t in my budget and I actually liked the style of the doors. A friend recommended Lee and after nosying around her kitchen I didn’t have any hesitations contacting him.

Lee is a true craftsman with meticulous preparation and attention to detail. My painted kitchen is immaculate, I cannot see a single brushstroke, the finish is just beautiful. I took Lee’s steer away from a darker colour and was really pleased I did. His judgment comes from not only from his practical on the job knowledge but also from having an eye for colour as a creative painter and artist. 

Lee is a genuinely lovely person and this is important when having your personal space invaded (especially in an open plan apartment). He keeps his extensive kit tidy and cleans up after himself at the end of the day. I would not hesitate to recommend Lee.’

Kitchen Colours – 

Originally Sarah’s plan was to have the units painted in a very dark grey (almost black) but in my experience this is not always a very practical colour for kitchens.  I mentioned this to Sarah, explaining that the darker the colour, the more maintenance it requires as any watermarks, grease or scuffs are much more noticeable. After mulling things over she decided on a mid-dark grey and went for Farrow & Ball’s ‘Purbeck Stone’ which I had accurately tinted in my specialist paint.

The Kitchen Painting Process –

The kitchen itself was laminate and very smooth, meaning the finish had to be perfectly smooth too as brush marks and imperfections would have been very noticeable and essentially ruined the look of her kitchen. Hand painting a kitchen to a very high level is a specialist skill, requiring specific knowledge of techniques, processes and products. It also takes a keen eye for detail and a lot of patience.

There are quite a few stages involved in the whole process but all hand painted kitchen projects begin with me removing all the doors and drawers to paint in my work room. This not only ensures a better quality of finish but also minimises any disruption to the client as the time required on-site is halved.  After carefully wrapping and transporting the doors/drawers back home I began stage 2, cleaning and sanding. This is done extremely thoroughly to ensure the best possible surface for painting. 

Once cleaned, I applied a coat of specialist high adhesion primer, lightly sanded things back and then filled/caulked any areas that required attention. In this case each central panel was actually made up of 2 or 3 smaller sections. The gaps between the sections weren’t really noticeable when the doors were just wood but became very obvious when primed. They weren’t very deep so I needed to use a fairly hard filler that would sit and stay in the very shallow gap. This meant that when I sanded the hardened filler back I removed some of the primer, an unavoidable stage if the finish was to end up smooth and gap free.

Once the filler had been sanded back I applied a second ‘good’ coat of the same primer (which was tinted to the same colour as the top coats to ensure great depth of colour). I then lightly sanded this to create yet more of a key and applied two coats of Tikkurila’s Helmi 30 water-borne top coat paint. This paint is very durable, has a great sheen level and is used by many of the top kitchen and furniture manufacturing companies. In previous Blogs I have gone in to more detail about the stages, so if you like to read more then please click here.

The On-Site Work –

Leaving the doors and drawers to cure and harden in my work room I returned on-site to paint the shell. Working on-site employs exactly the same processes just with the additional stage of thoroughly masking everything off. This is very important as it allows easy hoovering up of any bits and dust (which might otherwise spoil the finish) and ensures no paint goes where it shouldn’t. 

The apartment had a stunning view which I enjoyed during my lunch on the balcony, always keeping a keen eye out for the resident deer and king fishers.

Once the shell was painted I brought all the doors/drawers back, removed all the tape and masking paper, cleaned the insides of the cupboards and began the process of re-fitting the doors. The work took just over 2 weeks to complete and Sarah was over the moon with the results I’d achieved and wrote the lovely testimonial which I included at the start of this Blog. Another great project and another quality painty transformation 🙂

Thanks for reading, please visit my Blog page to see more great projects

If you’re looking to have a kitchen painted why not get in touch and see if Lee can improve the look of your kitchen.

Lee works throughout Yorkshire on hand painted kitchens and is within easy reach for projects in Barkisland, Ripponden, Sowerby Bridge, Triangle, Halifax, Dewsbury, Wakefield, Pontefract, Hipperholme, Brighouse, Batley, Leeds, York, Wetherby, Ripon, Doncaster and all the surrounding areas.