What do you put on your painted cabinets to prevent chips and scratches?

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Gary_S

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Hi, I have spray painted some MRMDF cabinets that I built with primer and Little Green Intelligent Eggshell. Looks great and no problems so far but I have seen other sprayed and painted cabinets that chip and scratch easily. The company say the paint is skirting board tough but I want to know if there is something else I can do for the next cabinets. I only like matt finishes.

Thanks

Gary
 
That's an interesting question, I've been pretty impressed with Little Green and their technical support really is streets ahead of Farrow & Ball. So if they say something is "skirting board tough", ie it can survive first contact with an out of control hoover, then I'd take them at their word and not overcoat with anything.

However, it still leaves the question, how do you overcoat flat/matte paint to get a bit more protection but without changing the colour or adding any sheen?

The toughest test of this I've encountered is with genuine milk paint. There's no 100% solution but the two best candidates I've found are a good artist's flat acrylic varnish (such as Vallejo) or the Osmo Raw 3044 (the tinted product that neutralises the yellowing of the oil).

Milk-Paint-Top-Coat.jpg
 
intelligent eggshell is probably a water borne alkyd. its all a bit non durable tbh. acid cat is tougher. morrels do a water based thats tough. also where little green has an advantage is using a colour matched undercoat.
 
Tikurilla Helmi over Otex primer is as tough as boots for a 1 pack paint, doesn't come in matt, but the satin very on the matt side. Really easy to get a great finish too.
 
I’ve just used Valspar Wood and Metal V500 to repaint a dresser and it goes on very well with a mini mohair roller. Lovely finish, but too early to judge its wearing abilities.
 
+1 for Tikurilla and you can mix it to F&B colours. It’s what I did for my kitchen cabinet doors and my one year old has tested them multiple times :)
 
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