Most people believe that for a product to be classified as having a good finish, it has to be flawless, smooth, shiny and of a soft ambiance.

But try putting a shiny, flawless kitchen finish in a house that has a rustic feel to it.{{more}} As beautiful as it may look, it would stand out too much and take away from the rest of the house. The opposite is also true. You try and put a matt finish into a contemporary home and it would look as if it was there for years and needs replacing the very day it is finished.

Hence, finishing is an art, it is knowing what needs to be done for each project to make it marry with its habitat… I’m sounding like a scientist. The industry does that to you. Trust me. Again you might find you will need to educate yourself on the type of finishes that go into your kitchen so that you don’t spend unnecessary efforts trying to put on a finish that may not go well with your home.

Colour is another factor. I find here in the St. Vincent, we don’t experiment much with colours like other parts of the region. This is good and not so good, you might want to bear in mind though that some cabinet shops would say to you that it would be a bit more costly to apply paint rather than varnish because of the many different preparations in the finish stage for application.

What I want to talk about on the colour issue is not in terms of colour itself but the shade. Some customers like to see dark finishes and others like to see light finishes. If you are going to apply a dark finish on a kitchen make sure that the kitchen isn’t in a small area, that it is well lit. Make sure you have good ventilation and try to stay away from white appliances and dark countertops.

Light varnishes can almost work in any condition because you would be showing off the wood grains and the wood type. Be mindful though that some woods are naturally dark so clear varnishing them wouldn’t make them lighter. Dark finishes do give you a cozy feeling in the room creating that kind of romantic condition but make sure the darkness is from the wood itself and not the finish.

Angelica and Rayan James
Exclusive Kitchens
494 2579 / 532 6756
www.exclusivekitchensvc.com