Kitchens and bathrooms are the hardest rooms in the house on a coat of paint. Steam, splashes, grease, condensation and constant wiping will find out an ordinary emulsion within a season or two, leaving you with marks that will not clean off, patchy sheen where you have scrubbed, or worst of all mould creeping across the ceiling and around the window. The good news is that paint has moved on, and you no longer have to accept a shiny silk finish just to get a wall you can keep clean. This guide covers what makes these rooms so demanding and which paints actually stand up to them.

Why kitchens and bathrooms punish ordinary paint

Three things are going on in these rooms that a bedroom never has to deal with.

Moisture and condensation. Hot showers and boiling pans throw a lot of water vapour into the air. It settles on cooler surfaces (walls, ceilings, the cold spot behind a toilet cistern or above a window) and an ordinary porous matt soaks it up. Over time that damp surface is where mould takes hold.

Cleaning. These are the rooms you actually scrub: toothpaste splashes, cooking grease, little handprints. A standard matt emulsion has a soft, open surface, so scrubbing polishes it, lifts the colour or leaves a permanent clean patch that is shinier than the wall around it.

Grease and temperature swings. Kitchens in particular get a fine film of cooking grease on the walls, and the temperature and humidity swing every time you cook. Paint has to cope with all of it without softening or discolouring.

The old answer, and the better one

For years the fix was to step up the sheen. Silk or soft sheen emulsion gave you a wipeable surface, so that is what went on kitchen and bathroom walls. The downside is that a mid sheen reflects light, so it shows every roller mark, filled patch and undulation in the wall, and the look is dated compared with a flat finish.

The modern answer is a durable, moisture-resistant matt. Today’s durable matts are just as wipeable and scrubbable as the old soft sheens, but they keep a flat, contemporary finish instead of a shine. You get the toughness and the cleanability without the reflective look, which for most kitchens and bathrooms is the better choice all round. If you want the full explanation of how the sheen levels compare, see our guide to paint sheen levels explained.

What to use on the walls

For most kitchen and bathroom walls, a premium durable matt emulsion is the sweet spot: flat, washable and tough. Where a room is genuinely steamy or prone to damp, step up to a specialist moisture and mould resistant paint designed for wet areas, which adds active protection against mould growth on top of the durability.

A few pointers:

  • Family bathrooms and shower rooms: a moisture and mould resistant emulsion is worth it, especially on the ceiling and the walls nearest the shower and window.
  • Kitchens: a premium durable, scrubbable matt copes with grease and cleaning. Around the hob and sink where splashes are heaviest, an eggshell or satin gives you an even wipe-cleaner surface.
  • Cloakrooms and utility rooms: a good durable matt is usually plenty.

We stock durable and wet-room ranges from the brands we trust for exactly this, including Tikkurila, Caparol and Benjamin Moore. Tell us how steamy the room gets and we will match the right level of protection.

Do not forget the ceiling

The bathroom ceiling is where mould shows up first, because it is the coolest surface and catches the most rising steam. Painting it with the same mould-resistant product you use on the walls, rather than a basic white ceiling paint, is one of the best things you can do to keep a bathroom looking clean for longer.

Woodwork, radiators and trim

Skirtings, door frames, window sills and the like take a lot of contact and moisture in these rooms, so they need a hard, wipeable finish. An eggshell or satin trim paint is the usual choice: tough, easy to clean and available in water-based formulations that stay white rather than yellowing over a radiator or above a shower. Paint radiators and any metal with a proper multi-surface or metal trim paint so the finish does not peel in the heat and damp.

Preparation is what makes it last

Even the best paint fails on a poorly prepared surface, and these rooms need more prep than most.

  1. Treat any existing mould first. Painting over mould, even with a mould-resistant paint, just buries it and it comes back through. Clean and treat it properly first. Our guide on how to remove mould off walls before painting walks through it, and if mould is a recurring problem it is worth reading the best anti-mould paint and how to use it alongside this.
  2. Degrease kitchen walls. Wash down with sugar soap to lift cooking grease, or new paint will not bond properly. Rinse and let it dry.
  3. Fill and sand. Fill any cracks or holes, sand smooth, and spot-prime bare filler so it does not flash through the topcoat.
  4. Deal with the cause of damp where you can. Better extraction, an open window or a bit more heat all reduce the condensation that feeds mould. Paint helps resist it, but tackling the moisture itself makes everything last longer.
  5. Give it drying time. Let each coat dry the full time on the tin before recoating or before the room goes back into heavy use.

Get the right system for your room

The combination that lasts in a kitchen or bathroom is a durable, moisture-resistant matt on the walls and ceiling, a wipeable eggshell or satin on the woodwork, all over a properly cleaned and prepared surface. Do that and you get a flat, modern finish that shrugs off steam, splashes and scrubbing for years.

Pop into the shop in Bucksburn and tell us about the room, how steamy it gets, whether mould has been an issue, what you are painting over, and we will set you up with the right paints for the walls, ceiling and woodwork. Remember we offer free UK delivery on orders over £75.