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Finishes
Ten families of door surface. Each behaves differently to fingerprints, sunlight and a damp cloth — which matters more day to day than the colour does.
Choose the finish for how it lives, then choose the colour.
Most people arrive with a colour in mind and no view on the surface. It is worth doing it the other way round. A dark gloss door in a south-facing room with three children will need wiping several times a day; the same colour in super-matt will not.
Take samples home and look at them in your own light, morning and evening. Colours shift considerably between a bright showroom and a north-facing kitchen, and a finish that looked warm under halogen can seem cooler in daylight.
Matt
The dominant choice now. Absorbs light rather than bouncing it, hides smears, and makes a deep colour feel soft instead of severe. Super-matt versions are anti-fingerprint and heal light scratches.
Wood
Real timber and timber veneer, including character or enhanced-grain oak with deep knotty graining, and stained oak, sometimes lacquered over the grain. Book-matching runs the graining symmetrically across a pair of doors or consecutively across a run of doors.
Gloss
Reflects light into a small or dark room, which can transform it. Glass laminate gives the same depth with far better fingerprint resistance than a lacquered gloss.
Metallic
Bronze, graphite and pewter tones with a faint shimmer that changes as you cross the room. Best used on one bank of units, where it has more impact than it would everywhere.
Ceramic & Stone
A newer option with dramatic veining, reproducing the textures and patterns found in stone and ceramic worktops. Dense, matt and completely non-porous. Match the fronts to a worktop for that dramatic blocky feel, and check out the bookmatched options where veining links from door to door.
Linoleum
A natural material with a warm, slightly chalky surface and a pleasant tactility. Muted colours, naturally antibacterial, and quieter to the touch than any lacquer.
Fenix
Super-matt, soft-touch and anti-fingerprint. Heals its own micro-scratches.
Glass laminate
The depth of gloss without the daily polishing.
Bookmatched veneer
Grain running symmetrically or continuously across a full-height bank of doors.
Lacquered
Sprayed colour, in any shade you can name. The finish that does what the others cannot: match something you already own.
Honest notes on each surface
Fingerprints
Worst on dark gloss and dark satin. Best on super-matt and glass laminate.
Sunlight
Strong light can fade a coloured lacquer or veneer over years. Ceramic and veneer are more stable.
Repairability
Painted timber can be touched in or resprayed. Laminates and foils cannot.
Cleaning
A damp cloth on everything. No abrasive creams, and nothing solvent-based on lacquer. Linoleum benefits from an occasional wipe of walnut oil.
Mixing finishes
Texture against plain works well — timber beside neutral greys or washed pastels.
