Avoid the Orange-Peel Finish in Your Kitchen

When you were young, did you get a slice of orange at half time when you were playing rugby, or hurling, or croquet?

I remember it was a thing in rugby, growing up. You’d be broken and bruised because the boys on the other team were all two years above you in school, and the PE teacher (who invariably fancied himself as the next Wales manager) would be giving you a quarter of an orange at the break. As if that, along with his analysis of your shortcomings as a human being, delivered at the top of his voice, would be the key to your team’s dominant second-half comeback. I know vitamin C is good for you, but it doesn’t help when two 6th class apes are sitting on top of you because a treacherous teammate passed you the ball. And to be clear: in rugby you don’t have a mallet with which to defend yourself like you do in croquet.

So I have bad associations with oranges—orange peel in particular. And that continues into my professional life today. Sadly, “orange peel” is something I come across all too often in kitchens. That’s the best description I can give of the finish left by someone who has only used a roller to paint kitchen cabinets.

Don’t get me wrong. I use rollers too. But never, ever, ever for the finish—ever.

How to use a roller when painting a kitchen

Rollers are brilliant for getting paint on quickly, but they don’t leave a smooth finish. If you’ve used a roller for painting, you’ll also be familiar with the slurping sound it makes. Like it’s sucking the paint back up a little, as well as laying it down. As a result, a roller gives an uneven covering, which can be so pockmarked in places, it looks like the peel of an orange. And this is what is sometimes presented to the customer as the finished surface. Disaster!

You can see the orange peel effect here. Note: I’ve over egged the post-processing here so you can see better what I’m talking about

This kind of workmanship drives me mad. If a painter only uses rollers, you won’t get the finish you and your kitchen deserve.

So once the paint has been applied with the roller, you have to go over it immediately with a high-quality brush to get a smooth, flat finish. The brush allows you to even out the coat. And the result is a gorgeous, even finish. Like the skin of a plum, rather than of an orange.

It’s more work, yes. And in warm weather, when the paint is drying quickly, you have to work like a demon to go over it with the brush before the paint dries too much. But it’s absolutely worth it.

I sometimes fantasize about speaking to someone who delivers an orange-peel finish with a roller to their customers. My fourth class PE teacher gave me all the vocabulary I’d need. But I can’t write the words here, because the internet would melt.

Finished by hand with a brush