As a kitchen painter I work throughout Yorkshire, with this project being commissioned by a couple living in Ilkley, West Yorkshire. The client had a real vision of how she wanted her kitchen to look and from the outset had her heart set on a deep charcoal colour. Last year, light to mid greys were the fashionable choice for hand painted kitchens. In 2018 it’s a turn towards the dark side, with interior magazines showcasing dark blue, dark grey and black colour schemes. The colour chosen for this particular kitchen was Farrow & Balls ‘Railings’, which I had tinted to the equivalent colour in my specialist paint from Finland.

The kitchen itself was vinyl wrapped, a widely used material for kitchen doors that involves a thin layer of plastic (vinyl) being wrapped and bonded to a MDF substrate. Although these type of units are towards the budget end of the scale it doesn’t mean they won’t look great painted. You can have a £100,000 kitchen but if it’s not painted well then it will look cheap, a lot rides on that final painted finish.

Various alterations were made prior to the painting, all of which were carried out my usual joiner/handy man, Colin Foggin (CF Joinery – Harrogate, 07931 430849). Colin removed some of the units to make space for a large ‘American style’ fridge/freezer, altered the shell to accommodate a new washing machine and added some shelves to the freestanding cabinet.

As with most mdf/vinyl wrap kitchens, the finish on the original doors wasn’t perfectly smooth and had a slight bobbly texture, which can’t be sanded back. This didn’t detract from the end result though as the transformation from light to dark was so extreme and the painted finish was still silky smooth and completely even. With the bold choice of golden brass half moon handles and tiered knobs this kitchen was certainly a show stopper! The clients were extremely happy with the results and were kind enough to write this testimonial for me.

 ‘Lee painted our kitchen and provided an absolutely outstanding level of service through every part of process. Starting from our initial meeting right through to tidying up at the end, the quality of his work was second to none. I would thoroughly recommend booking him now, the wait is worth it! Once again thanks a million for your work.’ Mike & Hannah, Ilkley

If you’d like to learn more about this particular project, see more ‘before, during and after’ images and see how I went about things, please visit my project Blog for this commission – https://imaginativeinteriors.co.uk/painted-kitchen-units-ilkley/

Lee works as a kitchen painter throughout Yorkshire and is within easy reach for projects in Otley, Illkley, Wharfedale, Patley Bridge, Bradford, Leeds, Wakefield, Halifax, Pontefract,York and the surrounding areas.