Kitchen decorating in Cambridge: the room around the units
This page covers kitchen decorating itself: the walls, the ceiling, window and door frames, skirtings and any boxing-in round the pipes. Our decorators paint all of it as part of our interior decorating service. The cupboards are a separate job with their own method, explained on our kitchen cabinet painting page, and for a sprayed, brush-free finish on doors and drawer fronts see kitchen respray.
Plenty of people book the two together. When cupboards are being painted as well, the work is ordered so the walls and the units don't spoil each other, and Graham prices both in the same quotation.
Why painting kitchen walls takes extra preparation
Kitchen walls look clean until you wipe them. Cooking leaves a thin film of grease on every surface, heaviest above the hob and around the extractor, and paint won't bond properly to it. Rolled straight over, new emulsion can stay tacky, fail to stick or lift away in patches.
So the first job is degreasing: washing down walls, ceiling and woodwork with a degreasing cleaner, then rinsing. Scorch marks and old water stains, from a leak under the sink or a bathroom upstairs, are sealed with a Zinsser stain block so they don't bleed through the new colour; our stain-blocking page explains why emulsion alone won't hide them. Then we fill, sand with Mirka dust-extracting sanders and prime any bare plaster or timber.
Scrubbable finishes for walls and ceilings
Standard matt emulsion marks easily and doesn't like being scrubbed, which is a problem next to a cooker. For kitchen walls the usual choice is a washable or scrubbable matt, or a kitchen emulsion with a slight sheen that resists moisture and lets splashes wipe off. Little Greene Intelligent Matt Emulsion is one we use where people want a flat look that can still be cleaned.
The ceiling above the hob collects steam and grease too, and a moisture-resistant emulsion helps there. A working extractor matters more than any paint, though. Directly behind the hob and sink, a tiled or glass splashback will always outlast a painted wall.
Woodwork goes in a hard-wearing eggshell or satin, since skirtings catch mop water and door frames get grabbed with wet hands. In the Old Telephone Exchange in Fulbourn, the trim was painted in Dulux Night Jewels 2 and the kitchen worktops and beams were oiled with Osmo.
Painting round a fitted kitchen
Kitchens have more cutting-in than almost any other room: worktops, wall units, tiles, the extractor hood, sockets, and the strip of wall between the cupboard tops and the ceiling. We mask worktops, appliances, switch plates and the sink, and protect the floor. Wall cupboards normally stay in place, so we paint neatly up to them.
A newly fitted kitchen often leaves the walls needing more work than expected: plaster damaged where old units and tiles came off, new pipe runs chased in, gaps along the worktop edge. One Checkatrade customer in CB1 had us carry out "All painting and decorating in newly fitted kitchen". If tiles are being replaced at the same time, mention it at the visit so the order of work can be planned around the tiler.
Kitchen-diners and working round meals
Losing the kitchen is harder than losing any other room. We agree an order with you, often starting with the ceiling and the walls furthest from the cooker so the hob and sink stay usable for longer, and the room is cleared and wiped down each evening so you can cook.
A Checkatrade customer in CB24, whose job was kitchen-diner walls, wrote: "Graham filled cracks, painted two coats of emulsion, didn’t mind a small change to original request." Another customer described their kitchen being "painted top to bottom ceiling, walls, doors/frames, and skirting" and said it "was tidied up and vacuumed at the end of each day."
What decides the price of kitchen decorating
A kitchen has less open wall than most rooms but more fiddly edges, so size alone doesn't set the cost. What does:
- How much grease and staining needs washing off and sealing
- The wall area left once units and tiles are counted out
- Ceiling height and condition, including any Artex
- Repairs after a new kitchen or new pipework
- Woodwork: doors, frames, skirting and boxing-in
- Paint choice, since scrubbable and kitchen emulsions cost more
- Whether the cupboards are being painted at the same time
Getting a quote for your kitchen
Ring or WhatsApp us and Belinda will book Graham in at a time that suits. He'll look at the walls, the ceiling over the cooker and any stains, and ask whether the cupboards are part of the job. The quotation comes in writing, usually by email, with every item listed.
We decorate kitchens across Cambridge and the villages, including Milton, Histon and Impington and Great Shelford. When the work is done we look it over with you, and you don't pay until you're happy with the finished work.
