Hand paint and/or spray paint for kitchen units (and other built-ins)?

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I need to embark on a kitchen project. My preferred style is face-frames, Egger melamine carcasses, shaker-style doors, solid oak drawer sides and Siilestone work surfaces. I am pretty comfortable with all of that.

I have used poplar in the past for doors and frames, but really like the stability of Accoya, so will probably use that. Drawer fronts will be 22mm MDF.

I really need some help on the paint finish - this is not my strong subject.

I have a Fuji HVLP that has given me excellent results for a spray-painted finish on other projects. I now have a super-duper AAA spray set-up that I have not yet got much experience on, but will be a step up from the HVLP. But do I want a perfect sprayed finish or is it really better to hand finish? I guess the difference is that the hand finish gives a depth that an almost perfectly smooth spray finish doesn’t.

Inevitably, we will end up using a Farrow &. Ball colour, preferably in their own paint as I have had mixed results with colour matching from others, including Morrell’s (the colour looks matched, but it still doesn’t look the same - I know there are many reasons for this).

I have seen various approaches suggested in the past:
- hand-paint a base coat, then spray on top of that, so you still get a build-up of the hand-painted finish, giving that extra depth;
- spray the base coat and first top coat, then hand paint a final top coat;
- as above, but spray the final topcoat and just hand drag the finish with a brush.

I would appreciate some thoughts on what others do.

[I love spraying, but hate painting…]

Cheers
 
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I'm not a joiner, I'm a finisher, nothing wrong with poplar/tulip for your build, accoya is way to expensive for a kitchen, what type of paint are you thinking of using
 
Don't forget about using decent brushes, I have been using Wooster & Picasso paint brushes and with water based paints been adding Flotrol and good results, much better than Hamilton and such.
 
I prefer beech for painted interior woodwork as it's tough and weighty. Poplar is OK but a bit soft and not stable. accoya is pricey and soft. I don't really like accoya for anything but windows.
I have my own prefences but feel hand painted can be pure cod. a perfect coach painted gloss is a joy to behold but most high end furniture brush finishes are poor. I've seen wardrobes where the Dec has been paid a grand a week and the finish is not "grand".
aaa is an amazing system tbh
 
what do you mean by "depth". I reckon a top notch industrial paint is simply 10 times better than farrows wallop.try ankerstuy or sayerlack or symphony coatings. I mean both in looks and practice ie decent can be stacked next day farrow will never stack ever.
 
We do 2 coats of sprayed primer, one coat of sprayed colour and then the hand painter does 2 coats.
Hand painting is an art and as mentioned previously a poor painter can ruin all your hard work.
 
We do 2 coats of sprayed primer, one coat of sprayed colour and then the hand painter does 2 coats.
Hand painting is an art and as mentioned previously a poor painter can ruin all your hard work.

My painter likes to add a finish coat of clear acrylic varnish as he says it is much harder and wears better.

I do 2 coats of colour matched Morrells 2K primer then the dec. does 1 top coat plus clear coat.

I think it worth the extra for the colour matched primer, if it gets knocked then there is solid colour down to the wood.

I've had some decorators complain that my primer coats are too smooth to apply paint too, Devilbiss.
 
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