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Design DilemmaKitchens
blondie_ali2000

Matt vs Gloss Kitchen Units?

Alix Turner
5 years ago

Hi I am about to create a new kitchen diner on the ground floor of my 1960's townhouse. The only natural light will come from the glass sliding doors across the the width of the rear wall. We are thinking of having a bank of 4 tall units across the wall opposite the doors in white or pale grey (another dilemma) should i go for gloss to reflect the light or matt to avoid fingerprints? i like both finishes. We are also thinking of having our base units along the side wall in matt dark grey and any wall units in the same colour/finish as the tall units. We are probably going for a german handleless kitchen and a pale wood floor.

Featured Answer
  • Jonathan
    5 years ago
    Personally I would choose a Matt finish as I think it is more modern and it looks more expensive. If you want contrast consider adding wood as the contrast cabinet colour. Which can look less clinical if the space is absent of natural light.
    This image is from Leicht who are a German brand which could be just what you are looking for

    Comments (7)

    • rinked
      5 years ago

      Leicht and Rotpunkt might be great choices indeed (I sell Rotpunkt and there's so much you can do with the brand). I'd say matte too.

    • Daisy England
      5 years ago

      I have a super Matt dove grey handleless kitchen at my main home and a gloss white kitchen in my holiday home in Somerset. I can compare the two.


      It’s easy to clean the gloss doors. Either wipe with a damp cloth and buff up or use Vuplex. Job done. Granted they’re gloss so show the marks more easily.


      Super matt doors, now although they don’t necessarily show the marks, they are there and once the light shines in the right direction on them they look bad. Even if you look at them at a specific angle with the light on them you can see the marks. Nightmare. I’m speaking from experience here. How do you clean them? Well I use a magic eraser and sometimes it works well, other times not so well. Vuplex, mmmm, well I’m of the opinion that this product should be used on gloss only although that’s not what I’m told by my door manufacturer. So the other alternative is a soapy cloth, wrung out almost dry, wipe over and then buff up. Tried them all and no the heavy marks are still there .... and I’m not a mucky person.


      That’s just my experience and opinion. For looks I prefer the Matt as opposed to gloss but the cleaning of them is another matter .... unless anyone has any other ideas, and I’d gladly welcome them.

      Alix Turner thanked Daisy England
    • Tani H-S
      5 years ago
      I had a bank of white gloss in my last house which was north facing. Even though I’m going for the opposite in my new place, it really worked in that aspect of kitchen as it was easy to clean, marks weren’t that noticeable because of the lights bouncing off it so I don’t think a darker or matt finish would have been the same.
      I teamed it with a darker grey worktop and would have had darker base units as they did show the muck/marks more than the top units.
      Also don’t go for the J handles on handless as they catch every crumb and are a pain! Lol
    • rinked
      5 years ago

      Pale matte grey (or light clay) cabinets and a polished white quartz countertop :)

      Or all white highgloss witheither white or light grey top?









    • PRO
      User
      5 years ago

      I'm with Daisy on the cleaning. The gloss reflect light and hide blemishes well, and they're much easier to clean. We have semi-matt, easy enough to clean, but do show up marks more.


      I'd keep the base units all the same colour and your higher up units the lighter colour. You could go for darker matt units on the bottom and tall, high units gloss to reflect light and then have the best of both worlds.

    • PRO
      User
      2 years ago

      Perhaps you can try cleaning matt's furniture with Mr muscle's window cleaner. It's gentle and should do the trick. Dump clothes with lightly soapy water could work but the door needs to be wiped dry after and this normally should be repeated about 3 times to see the proper results (if there is a lot of fingermarks).

      Perhaps Satin finish would be a better option as it has about 20% of sheen only so not to shiny but a little bit easier to maintain.


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