Kitchens

A kitchen asks more of a wall than any other room in the house. It gets splashed, wiped, steamed and knocked, and it does it every day. Most of what we are asked for here is a splashback — the run between the worktop and the wall units, where tiles used to go.

The finish that does most of that work is Sealed Flake: sprayed flake laid on thick and then sealed under lacquer, so it sparkles but wipes clean and takes a scrub. It goes on in one continuous surface, round corners and behind hobs, with no grout line anywhere in it — which is the part people notice a year later. It will go over the existing tiles rather than needing them off, so a kitchen can be changed without being stripped out.

It does not stop at the walls. We have taken the same finish over cupboard doors, sealed with two coats of hard-wearing polyurethane — same units, same handles, completely different room. Nothing ripped out and nothing in a skip.

Beyond that: Crystal Quartz where you want the sparkle coarser and brighter, MicroCement for worktops, islands and floors, and Marmorino where the room wants depth rather than shine.