Kitchen cabinet paint

I’m finally going to get around to painting my oak kitchen cabinets. We spent lots of time online looking at colours and came up with about 4 we liked. Off I went to Leroy Merlin for some samples. What a disappointment! Only 3 brands and each one less than 10 colours, much the same! I got one pot of tester but am not happy with it out of the shop (not tried it yet though) and they charged me €6 for it!!!

Obviously ordering from UK is out. Has anyone got any suggestions about where I can source paint, and samples, with a better range and price tag?

Leroy and Bricomarche both do a colour paint mixing service.

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If you have a creative bent, just get pigment and colour white paint?

I am not a detail person, so didn’t weigh and measure sufficiently accurately to get every pot identical.

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I have had Little Green Intelligent Satinwood recommended by people who painted the kitchen in their gite - a year on and it is still looking good.

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You know I would!

Are your your existing oak cabinets solid oak or a veneered composite? It matters for prep and paint type. Castorama staff will have at least one person who can help you. (I tend to prefer the elderly gentlemen as they are often both knowledgable and civil :blush:)

Speaking of prep - Is the existing oak varnished? Possibly more than once? Not all paints have good traction adhering to varnished surfaces. This is important over long term for cleaning and knocks.

If you are lucky and do have bare, unvarnished oak with visible grain, maybe you would like a ‘limed’ oak effect? It is surprisingly easy to do. Paint on white coat and then gently sand off, remwmbering to maintain the same pressure.

A limed wood kitchen

For solid colour, Casto offers V33 penture rénovation meubles de cuisine in a limited range of colours. Satin finish is best and I would use a primer, though some don’t, because it will enhance strength. A primer will also prevent ‘bleed’ from old stains or varnishes from slowly emerging later.

A brand with many colours is Rust-Oleum, who also have spray gloss colours that may work for you. (Mirror shine finish without visible brush strokes. Just watch out in application to avoid too thick all at once = drips.). Or Liberon for a lovely muted chalky finish.

For a lovely choice of colours there is the range from Farrow & Ball. A bit pricey but you sets a bench mark. You can get sample pots from here:

You can use the sample pots to have a local supplier mix the colour. I have not done this here but my tame painter assures me that it is the norm. You can use your eyes to judge if you are happy with the match, so provide yourself with a sample patch on the cabinet before you finish the pot.

If you go for a solid paint colour, I recommend you use a soft synthetic brush. Soft synthetic reduces hair stroke marks on the finished surface. Not all brushes are alike and the cheapest ones can lose hairs and leave them stuck on the paintwork. This one is good and the pics are self-explanatory.

https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B07R4TYFGV/ref=sspa_dk_detail_7?pd_rd_i=B07R4TYFGV&pd_rd_w=iInWa&content-id=amzn1.sym.a30983a5-b2e2-49b6-b674-0e622b88d06d&pf_rd_p=a30983a5-b2e2-49b6-b674-0e622b88d06d&pf_rd_r=717QM8M1KY496XRD4FZ8&pd_rd_wg=9JHrY&pd_rd_r=86aa39b3-0a11-4501-9a7d-c811fb7c2033&s=industrial&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWw&th=1

And it has the word ‘dog’ in it!

Some others may have more advice to give, and I am always here…

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Really useful Susannah. I didn’t know about synthetic brushes leaving fewer brush strokes.

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This is an excellent brand with a large range of colours. Pricey. About EU175 for 5 ltr. Fading/changing over time is one of the risks of using a colour mixed copy.

Little Greene available here:

I remember their sample pots are about EU 9.50

Or,

https://shop.valeriebarth.com/peinture/tons-pastels/tabernacle-n-308-little-greene.html

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Leroy Merlin paint mixing service

https://www.leroymerlin.fr/services/tous-nos-services-autour-de-peinture-interieure/atelier-des-couleurs-peinture-sur-mesure.html

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Something else I forgot to mention. Consider changing the kitchen door furniture (handles, hinges if they show etc…). Called quincaillerie, you can have no end of fun chosing :star_struck:

I use this company for all metal fittings

Warning - you will spend many hours browsing here online. The company is very quick to send and I have had no problems getting duplicates and making returns.

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Thanks all :smile:

I think for kitchen units I’d rather leave it to the pros! I will be doing the ocre with flour paint for all our barn doors.

Solid oak

The top ones have some sort of slight wash effect. The bottom ones (bought to match style preloved) are varnished quite dark.


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This was one of the ranges I looked at, I do really like the idea of getting something like this made for kitchen cupboards, seems like it will give better strength. Weirdly they all say no sanding, no undercoat which was not the case last time I was looking at them!

Ahhh now they have some great colours in their kitchen repaint range, saw them on the UK site. I’ll see if I can find a supplier here.

I loved thier colours that I saw on Friday but no kitchen range, just wall paint.

Better than a roller? I usually do as you say for fiddly bits on windows and then roller the flat bits.

Absolutely! They are really fussy! Thanks for the link. This is what is there:


I’m hoping I can change the hinges as well but dh not sure due to the way they hold the door onto the fascia. I haven’t looked yet if it is possible to get replacement of this type.

Oh and I’m very open to ideas / thoughts on colour. Our kitchen dining living is very dark as one end is underground. Tjere is a door opening and a small window into the entry which has light coming in. The kitchen, as currently is (hope to rejig in the future) is along one wall, wood beam ceiling, neutral tiles on floor, white tile slaahback and whitish work top. Part of me thinks to go white to bring more light but part of me really likes sage green, grey or blue.

In England, I painted my solid dark oak kitchen sage green. Give them a light sand, then undercoat (oil based gives a better “key”, then the colour (rolled for the flat bits after brushing the fiddly bits), then a coat of matt or satin floor varnish.

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I did mine with cire à céruser from Liberon in a pot :slightly_smiling_face:.
Liberon do all sorts of nice paint and effects and you can get it easily from all the brico places.

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I love this stuff! Used it for a couple of bedside tables and a vintage mirror frame

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Same doors as the old kitchen doors and hinges that I reused to make 3 new cupboards when we put the new kitchen in, I coloured the hinges black and reused them as I hate chucking anything good away.
The hinges have pins that go into a drilled hole in the door and another pin which goes through the carcass facia plate or carcass edge and then a nut goes onto the threaded part on the back, I just made new carcasses up and rehung the doors, finally getting paint mixed up in Leroy’s the same colour as the new kitchen units we put in.
You can get replacement hinges.



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https://www.leroymerlin.fr/produits/quincaillerie/quincaillerie-du-meuble/charniere-fiche-et-paumelle/fiche-de-porte-fiche-de-meuble/fiche-a-lacets-fer-13-vieux-laiton-a-tourillons-entraxe-goujon-160-entraxe-lacets-224-hauteur-356-mm-dub-84033090.html

We did our original UK kitchen (MFI, solid doors, I fitted it in 1990) with an ordinary emulsion (storm blue IIRC) and it lasted 15 years like that.

This sounds quite a bit like our French kitchen (not the same, obviously) and we went for a sort of ivory to lighten the space up a little. There are a few things that aren’t completely as we’d expected them to be, but it may give an idea.

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Oh, the floor looks so good now! It’s lost its nightmare ar the opticians effect

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Thanks Jane, although I’m hoping it will still be a little disturbing close to the front door. :wink:

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