Help with paint Advice by room

Choosing paint for your kitchen

Kitchen paint is chosen in two stages: the finish first — Marble Matt Emulsion, class 1 washable, on the walls; Multi-Surface Satin or Eggshell on the units and woodwork; then the colour, which starts from what will not change — the worktop, the floor, the splashback — and from the aspect. A kitchen lives in the morning and the evening: its colour has to be beautiful in the cold light of 7 am and by the lamp at 8 pm. Greens, deep blues, warm whites and ochres age well there; cold greys and pure white are dreary. Six palettes, with the units that carry them.

Page updated September 2026 · by the Mylands France colour team

Kitchen with matt warm white walls, units in satin tender green, oak worktop, white zellige splashback, open shelves, morning light — French Green No.187 in Multi-Surface Satin on the units, Holland Park No.5 on the walls

Understanding

What a kitchen asks of its paint

A kitchen is the hardest room in the house on a paint: steam, grease, splashes, hands, sponge. So it asks for finishes that wash. On the walls, Marble Matt Emulsion — matt, but class 1 for wet-scrub resistance, it takes the sponge and stays matt; that is what makes a matt kitchen possible, rather than a satin one, with the depth of colour satin does not have. On the units, doors, skirting and the undersides of wall units, Multi-Surface Satin — the most washable — or Eggshell for a softer look. Behind the hob and the sink, a tiled or glass splashback: paint has no place there, even satin.

The colour, then, starts from what is already there. An oak worktop calls for greens and blues; a black granite top, warm whites and warm greys; a white marble top, anything; a terracotta floor, grey-greens, creams, blue-greys. Then the aspect: a north-facing kitchen wants a warm white or a bold colour — Paint for a north-facing kitchen; a south-facing one takes grey-greens and blues. And the units, which repaint more easily than you think: How to paint kitchen cabinets.

Six palettes

Six kitchen palettes, walls and units

For each: the walls, the units, and the worktop that suits it. Our kitchen colour guides go further — ten greens, the yellows, unit colours.

Warm white and tender green

Warm white walls, tender green units: the bright, fresh kitchen, which goes with an oak top and a white splashback. Any aspect.

Walls · Holland Park No.5 Units · French Green No.187

Sage and deep green

Sage walls, bottle-green base units, wall units in the walls' sage: the country kitchen, with oak and brass. South, east.

Walls & wall units · Hurlingham No.181 Base units · Pleasure Gardens Green No.214

Cream and deep blue

Cream walls, Prussian-blue units: the classic contrast, with a marble or black granite top. North, west.

Walls · Cavendish Cream No.120 Units · Proper Blue No.67

Grey-green and warm grey

Pale grey-green walls, warm grey units: the calm, mineral kitchen, with polished concrete or stainless steel. South.

Walls · Mint Street No.95 Units · Egyptian Grey No.154

Linen white and ochre

Linen-white walls, a golden ochre island or base units: sunshine in a north-facing kitchen, with pale wood and terracotta. North.

Walls · St Martins No.37 Island · Haymarket No.47

Earth pink and deep brown

Pink-beige walls, deep brown-pink units: the enveloping evening kitchen, with brass and a marble top. North, west.

Walls · Threadneedle No.262 Units · Rothschild Street No.296

Country kitchen with matt sage-green walls, satin bottle-green base units, sage wall units, oak worktop, brass handles, window onto a garden — Hurlingham No.181 on the walls and wall units, Pleasure Gardens Green No.214 on the base units

By surface

Every kitchen surface, its finish

Surface	Finish	Why	Worth knowing
Walls	Marble Matt Emulsion	Matt, class 1 washable, breathable	Soft sponge after full cure (2 to 4 weeks)
Ceiling	Marble Matt Emulsion	Matt hides steam marks and joins	A warm white from the walls' family — Which white for a ceiling
Units, doors, fronts	Multi-Surface Satin	The most washable; resists grease	Over Multi-Surface Primer; Eggshell for a flatter look — the detail
Skirting, frames, undersides of wall units	Satin or Eggshell	What gets knocked and rubbed	In the units' colour, or the walls' to make them disappear
Wall behind the table	Marble Matt Emulsion	Like the walls	Can take the units' colour to anchor the dining corner
Behind the hob and sink	No paint	Direct splashes, heat	Tiles, zellige, glass, stainless steel
Radiator	Multi-Surface Eggshell	In the wall shade	See How to paint a radiator

A kitchen open to the living room shares its wall colour with it and is set apart by the units; see Double drenching for different rooms.

The light

7 am and 8 pm: a kitchen's two hours

A kitchen is lived in at the hours when the light is hardest: in the morning, cold and raking, and in the evening, by lamp and under spotlights. A colour chosen at noon can be grey at 7 am and yellow at 8 pm. Hence two rules. Light warm: 2,700 K spots and a strip under the wall units, not a cold-white ceiling light that turns everything green. Choose for those two hours: test your boards in the morning by the window and in the evening under the spots, not on Sunday at noon. The colours that pass both tests are warm whites, grey-greens, deep blues, ochres and earth pinks; the ones that fail are pure white, cold grey and vivid colours.

To avoid

What goes wrong in a kitchen

Pure white on the walls. Cold in the morning, yellow in the evening, and every splash shows; a warm white.
Satin on the walls. It marks with every sponge and shows the joins; washable matt.
Matt on the units. Grease works into it; Satin or Eggshell.
The worktop's colour on the units. Everything merges; the units serve the top, in a neighbouring family.
A vivid colour on walls and units. An accent on the island or the base units, the rest calm.
Repainting without degreasing. Even the walls: paint does not hold on grease. Sugar soap, rinse, dry.

Evening kitchen with matt cream walls, satin Prussian-blue units, white marble worktop, brass handles, warm spotlights on, bottles and fruit — Cavendish Cream No.120 and Proper Blue No.67 units: the classic contrast, by lamplight

Frequently asked questions

Your questions, our answers

Can a matt paint go in a kitchen?

Yes, if it is washable: Marble Matt Emulsion is class 1 for wet-scrub resistance and cleans with a soft sponge after full cure. That is what makes a matt kitchen, with a deep colour, possible instead of a satin that shines and marks. Behind the hob and the sink, a splashback.

Which colour to make a small kitchen bigger?

A single light, warm colour on the walls, the wall units in the same shade so they disappear, an accent on the base units only. See Colour schemes for small spaces and Colours to make a small room bigger.

Wall and base units in the same colour?

Two schools: the same colour throughout for a calm kitchen, or the base units deeper than the wall units to anchor the room and lighten the top — wall units in the wall colour almost disappear. Never the wall units darker than the base units.

How long before I can cook?

Walls: touch-dry in 1 to 2 h, the room is usable the same evening, the sponge waits two to four weeks. Repainted units: 24 h before rehanging the doors, a gentle week, full cure in two to four weeks.

My kitchen faces north and is dark: which colour?

A warm white or a cream on the walls and a bold colour on the base units — ochre, green, blue — rather than white everywhere, which will go grey. The guide: Paint for a north-facing kitchen.