Help with paint How-to guides

How to paint kitchen cabinets

Take off the doors and handles, degrease thoroughly, sand, prime with Multi-Surface Primer, then apply two thin coats of Multi-Surface Satin or Eggshell — brush along the grain, small roller on the flat panels. Allow a weekend for a ten-door kitchen, and two to four weeks of curing before treating it roughly. Wood, MDF, melamine, laminate: everything takes paint; the primer makes the difference.

Page updated September 2026 · by the Mylands France colour team

Kitchen with Shaker doors painted a mid grey-green in an eggshell finish, pale oak worktop, brass handles, stone-white walls — Myrtle Green No.168 in Eggshell on the doors, St James No.40 on the walls

Why it works

A kitchen repaints better than people think

Kitchen fronts are doors: flat or moulded panels, removable, painted flat on trestles in good conditions. What makes the result last is not the colour but three things: the degreasing, because a kitchen is covered in an invisible film of grease; the primer, which grips melamine and laminate where nothing else holds; and the finish, which has to be washed every day without polishing up.

For that, two Mylands finishes: Multi-Surface Satin, the most resistant to hands, knocks and the sponge, and Multi-Surface Eggshell, a little more matt, moisture-resistant, the one to choose when you want the fronts to stay soft under the light. Both are water-based, low in VOCs, and exist in every colour on the card. The finishes in detail: which finish for kitchen cabinets.

The method

The seven steps

01

Remove doors, drawers and handles; number them

Unscrew the handles, then the hinges on the door side; put a numbered piece of tape inside each door and on its position. Drawers come out whole. What remains — the carcasses — is painted in place, visible parts only. On trestles, in a ventilated room, the doors are painted on both sides, inside first.
02

Degrease without mercy

Sugar soap or degreaser, sponge, two passes, rinse with clean water, dry. Concentrate around the handles and above the hob. The damp white cloth test: if it comes away yellow, start again. Any water-based paint beads on grease; it is the number-one cause of repainted kitchens that flake.
03

Sand, fill, dust off

Sand with 180 grit over the whole surface, without pressing, to break the sheen — on melamine or laminate that is a simple dulling, and indispensable. Old handle holes and chips with fine filler, MDF edges with grain filler (they drink paint otherwise). Vacuum, then a damp lint-free cloth.
04

Prime: one coat of Multi-Surface Primer

On bare wood, MDF, melamine, laminate and any marked change of colour, one coat of Multi-Surface Primer, brushed out thin. On resinous wood, seal the knots with knotting solution first. A very light sand with 240 after drying (3 to 4 hours) takes off the raised grain and gives the final smoothness. On an already-painted, sound, well-sanded front, primer is only needed for a large jump in colour.
05

First coat of finish, thin

Brush in the mouldings and on the frames, along the grain; small roller on the flat panels, then one pass of the brush to lay off in a single direction while still wet. Thin coat: a thick one runs over the edges and takes days to harden. Never go back over an area that has started to dry. Touch-dry in 2 to 3 hours.
06

Second coat after 3 to 4 hours

Same movement. Two thin coats cover and resist better than one thick one. On a red, a bright yellow or an extreme change of colour, a third thin coat may be needed — a primer tinted to the shade often makes it unnecessary. Let the doors dry flat overnight before handling them.
07

Refit, and go easy on the kitchen for three weeks

Refit the doors the next day, the handles after. The film is dry but not hard: avoid the scouring sponge, knocks and greasy hands for two to four weeks, the time of full curing. After that, the finish washes with mild detergent for years.

Kitchen doors laid flat on trestles in a bright room, half of them primed white, one being painted grey-green with a small roller — Steps 4 and 5: flat, on trestles, primer then a thin first coat

Reference

By door material

Front	Preparation	Primer	Watch out for
Painted solid wood	Degrease, sand 180	Only for a large change of colour	An old gloss is sanded thoroughly
Bare or varnished solid wood	Sand 120 then 180, knots sealed	Multi-Surface Primer throughout	The varnish must be fully dulled
Painted or bare MDF	Light sand, edges grain-filled	Multi-Surface Primer, two coats on the edges	The edges drink: they mark if forgotten
Melamine, laminate	Degrease ×2, dull with 180	Multi-Surface Primer, indispensable	Do not scratch deeply; let it cure before use
Open-grained oak	Sand, grain filler if you want it smooth	Multi-Surface Primer	The grain stays visible under paint — a choice
Damaged, blistered veneer	Re-glue, fill, sand	Multi-Surface Primer	If the veneer lifts everywhere, replace the door

Worktops, tiled splashbacks and appliances are not painted with these finishes. For the kitchen walls, Marble Matt Emulsion, class 1 washable, is right above the units.

The colours

Six fronts, six moods

A kitchen colour is chosen with the worktop and the floor, which stay. Six proven pairings, each with its wall colour. The guide Colours for kitchen cabinets offers more.

The muted grey-green

With an oak worktop and brass handles: the English classic that does not date. Walls in a stone white.

Doors · Myrtle Green No.168 Walls · St James No.40

The midnight blue

On flat doors, with a pale worktop and a white splashback: deep, crisp, apparently unforgiving, in fact very easy to live with.

Doors · Observatory No.34 Walls · Greenwich Time No.8

Warm white, two tones

Wall units in a warm white, base units in a stone one tone deeper: the kitchen looks taller and calmer.

Wall units · Holland Park No.5 Base units · Cadogan Stone No.59

The earth red

A brown-red on the base units only, wooden worktop, warm walls: a farmhouse kitchen, modern because restrained.

Base units · Indian Lake No.288 Walls & wall units · Lots Road No.24

The soft ochre

A desaturated honey yellow on every door, off-white walls: southern light in a north-facing kitchen.

Doors · Cornhill No.128 Walls · Whitehall No.9

Warm grey and a dark island

Doors in a soft grey-beige, island in a brown-black: the contrast gives a large open kitchen its structure.

Doors · Hoxton Grey No.72 Island · London Brown No.287

To avoid

The five mistakes of kitchens that flake

Painting the doors in place. Runs on the edges, clogged hinges, insides forgotten.
Degreasing with plain water. Cooking grease only comes off with sugar soap; paint beads on it.
Skipping the primer on melamine. Nothing grips laminate without primer: the paint peels off in a sheet.
One thick coat to save time. It runs, marks, and stays soft for weeks.
Using the kitchen hard the next day. Three weeks of care, then everything washes.

The finished kitchen, mid grey-green eggshell doors, matt stone-white walls, oak worktop, white crockery on a shelf, morning light — Refitted the next day, treated gently for three weeks, washable for years

Frequently asked questions

Your questions, our answers

Is a primer needed on already-painted doors?

If the old paint is sound, well degreased and sanded, and the new colour is close, two coats of finish are enough. For a big jump — white to midnight blue, or the reverse — one coat of Multi-Surface Primer saves a third coat of finish and evens everything out.

Satin or Eggshell for a kitchen?

Satin if the kitchen is heavily used, with children, or if the fronts are flat and smooth: it is the most resistant. Eggshell if you want more matt fronts, softer under the light, on moulded doors or in a kitchen open to the sitting room. Both wash.

Can I spray them?

Yes, the multi-surface finishes can be sprayed with a low-pressure gun, thinned as the technical sheet says, in a booth or an empty, sheeted room. The result is a factory front. For ten doors, brush and small roller give a very close result without the equipment.

How much paint for a kitchen?

A kitchen of ten doors and four drawers is about 6 to 8 m² per face; allow 1 litre of finish for two coats on the visible faces, 2 litres if you paint the insides too, and 0.5 to 1 litre of primer. The calculator refines it.

How do I clean painted doors?

Soft sponge and mild detergent, after the three weeks of curing; never scouring powder or the abrasive side. A grease mark comes off with diluted washing-up liquid. Mylands multi-surface finishes are washable; they do not polish up.