Kitchen doors - varnish woes

[bigalxyz]

Hello forum,

I recently painted all the doors and drawers in my kitchen (they were tatty old MDF things so they look a lot better now). Painted with Dulux Satinwood paint, which looks fine and won't yellow, but - based on previous experience - not the most durable finish. It marks quite easily, which is a problem in a kitchen of course - greasy fingers and all that.

I had read of people coating in clear polyurethane varnish to give a tougher finish, so I got hold of a tin of Ronseal "Ultra Tough Mattcoat" clear varnish (oil based). Goes on ok and gives a nice hard finish. Unfortunately it's not clear - it's very slightly brown, and I'm getting some brown streaky marks on the paintwork which don't look very nice.

Not sure what to do. Do I just need more coats to even out the finish? Or is there a more suitable product that I should look at using?

Can anyone advise please?
Thanks!
Alan

 

[KenGMac]

bigalxyz, good evening.

What did you use to apply the varnish? a brush or a roller?

Ken

 

[bigalxyz]

Ken - thanks - I used a brush. Do you think a roller would be better? (eg one of those 4" foam mini rollers perhaps? I have a few of those at the back of my cupboard)

 

[KenGMac]

bigalxyz, good evening again.

OK the paint makers try hard to state what the end user should use to apply the material.

BUT,

Depending on substrate, cleanliness of the substrate plus a load of other factors dictate the outcome.

The makers may suggest that a brush is preferred, but a roller is better, the end user is not to know, unless the end user is a professional, and even they get it screwed up from time to time.

Is it possible to find another bit of the same substrate and using a roller see what happens as regards the finish required?

Ken

 

[bigalxyz]

Thanks Ken. The instructions on the can talk about brushing rather than rollering (is "rollering" a word?). But anyway...yes I could quite easily try inside one of the doors (ie out of sight) with a roller tomorrow and see how it works. Inside and outside are both painted exactly the same so it should be a good experiment!

Regards,
Alan.

 

[nauseous]

Sounds like you may not have stirred it thoroughly enough if it's streaky.

 

[bigalxyz]

Thoroughly shaken and stirred! (I think)

 

[bigalxyz]

Tempted to have a little go with the mini roller now but I've done a bottle and a half of red wine so it's probably best left until tomorrow!

 

[opps]

Sorry be the bearer of bad tidings- years ago a I used an oil based dead flat varnish over the emulsion on my walls. The varnished yellowed over time and given that the application wasn't perfectly even, it yellowed at differing rates.

Unfortunately water based paints on kitchen doors are a bad idea. I have seen a number of kitchens that were factory sprayed with water based finishes and in time the oils in peoples skin makes the paint soft especially around door knobs.

 

[bigalxyz]

Sorry be the bearer of bad tidings- years ago a I used an oil based dead flat varnish over the emulsion on my walls. The varnished yellowed over time and given that the application wasn't perfectly even, it yellowed at differing rates.

Unfortunately water based paints on kitchen doors are a bad idea. I have seen a number of kitchens that were factory sprayed with water based finishes and in time the oils in peoples skin makes the paint soft especially around door knobs.

Thanks. Well...hmmm...

You're right about the water based paint - look great freshly painted, but the bit of the fridge door (left unvarnished) was very grubby after just a couple of weeks.

After doing a bit of research I've bought some foam brushes, in the hope of getting a more even coverage with the varnish. Done 3 doors this morning so will leave for a few hours to dry & and see how they look. I'll be a bit peed off if in a year's time the varnish has started to yellow...

In the longer term...well it's quite an old kitchen so at some point I'd like to drop a few £k on a nice new one. Funds won't allow that at the moment though so I'm hoping if I can get a decent finish on the doors now, it'll look ok for a while at least! (total cost of about £120 on primer, paint, varnish, brushes, rollers, sandpaper, etc. and many many hours of my own time!)

 

[opps]

I used to paint kitchen cupboards, wardrobes, etc, and found that the best way of applying paint to flat surfaces was with these Anza paint pads.

https://www.seaware.co.uk/anza-paintpad-handle-170-x-85mm.html

Unlike all of the other paint pads on the market, there is no foam backing. Foam tends to soak up too much paint and spews it out of the edges as you apply the paint. Unfortunately, Hamilton Acorn, Anza's UK subsidiary refuse to supply the Anza paint pads to distributors because HA have their own rubbish foam backed painting pads. The only places in the UK that now sell them tend to be yacht based chandlers. The upshot is that the pads are now more expensive. I used to buy 50 refill pads a time at £2 in the olden days. The last time that I purchased them, they were £8 each...

 

[opps]

In the longer term...well it's quite an old kitchen so at some point I'd like to drop a few £k on a nice new one. Funds won't allow that at the moment though so I'm hoping if I can get a decent finish on the doors now, it'll look ok for a while at least! (total cost of about £120 on primer, paint, varnish, brushes, rollers, sandpaper, etc. and many many hours of my own time!)

Fair call. The varnish probably won't yellow for a hand full of years.

In hindsight a cellulose lacquer might have been a better choice than OB varnish. That said, I don't know how they would react with the water based satin wood and most of them need to be sprayed (think: over spray). I have previously used acid cat (ie 2 pack) clear lacquers for wood and some of them allow you to mix in additives which enable you to use a brush but the total cost is not far off what you have already paid.