Kitchens throw everything at your walls — grease, steam, splashes, fingerprints, the lot. So the golden rule is washability over straight matt emulsion. A standard chalky flat finish like Farrow & Ball Estate Emulsion will mark and won't take a proper scrub, so save that for the bedroom.
For kitchen walls, you want a wipeable formulation. Three I'd happily put my name to:
- Dulux Easycare — genuinely tough, scrubbable, and the most forgiving for a family kitchen. Looks near-matt but shrugs off splashes.
- Little Greene Intelligent Matt — keeps that lovely flat F&B-style look but is wipeable and moisture-resistant. My pick if you care about depth of colour and don't want sheen.
- Crown also do a solid washable matt that won't break the bank.
If your kitchen is small, steamy, or has a busy run between hob and sink, step up to an eggshell on those walls. The slight sheen wipes cleaner and copes better with condensation. Mylands and Little Greene both do beautiful interior eggshells.
Now the bit people get wrong: cabinets and woodwork are a different job entirely. Don't use wall emulsion on doors — it'll chip and chalk within months. Use a proper satinwood or a dedicated cabinet paint. Bedec MSP (Multi Surface Paint) is the trade favourite for kitchen units — tough, self-priming over most surfaces, brushes out beautifully. Little Greene Intelligent Satinwood is another cracking choice for trim and cabinetry.
"But what about full gloss?" High gloss shows every brush mark and every imperfection in old cabinet doors — it's unforgiving and looks dated. Satin or eggshell sheen is the sweet spot.
Colour-wise, kitchens take a warm neutral or a soft green beautifully — Setting Plaster, Pointing or French Grey - Pale all behave well in steamy north-light rooms. Whatever you choose, prep matters more than the tin: degrease properly with sugar soap first, or nothing will stick. Sort that and you're laughing.