Painting a kitchen that still gets used

Kitchen walls fail from cooking film, not from cheap color. If you don’t wash first, you’re painting a skillet.

Prep

Degrease around the stove, hood, and switch plates. A wall that feels clean can still be oily. Primer on stained or glossy spots.

Satin or an enamel on the walls. Eggshell in a kitchen looks nice on day one and shiny-smeared by Thanksgiving.

Living through it

Walls can often be a day. Cabinets cannot. If you need the kitchen at 5 p.m., book walls now and cabinets when you can eat off paper plates for a bit.

Take the switch plates off. Don’t paint around them and call it a day.