Painting Kitchen Wall Tiles - Ceramic Tile Paint

Followers of our social media pages will have no doubt noticed that our Sharon has recently moved house and is busy updating and renovating her lovely new home. She has been considering the kitchen wall tiles for some time. The ceramic tiles are really quite outdated, but they are in good condition and firmly attached to the (entire) wall behind the sink and kitchen work surfaces.

When it comes to changing wall tiles there are three options:

1. Paint the tiles.
2. Tile over the existing tiles
3. Take the tiles off the wall, make good (re-skim the wall possibly), paint the wall and add a splashback of your own choosing.

By far the cheapest (and most eco friendly) of the options is to paint the kitchen wall tiles. Now, Sharon (prior to working here) had tried many so called "ceramic wall tile paints" over the decades and frankly wasn't impressed by any of them.

But when she read that the Four2Four primer bonds Graphenstone paints to (pretty much) anything she was keen to try painting the wall tiles again - at least as a temporary measure until time, enthusiasm and money allowed her to reconsider the kitchen wall again.

How to paint Kitchen Wall Tiles

1. Clean the tiles throughly
2. Sand the tiles lightly (to take the sheen off the tiles) to create a "key" for the priming coat.
3. Mask off any areas you don't want to paint.
4. Prime the ceramic wall tiles with Four2Four primer - Sharon did two coats
5. Paint the wall with GrafClean Mid Sheen Interior - Sharon painted her ceramic tiles White.
6. Allow the paint to fully cure (at least 24 hours and preferably 3 days) before attempting to wipe, clean or wash the tiles.

We think Sharon's newly painted kitchen tiles look absolutely stunning. They have created a really nice clean look and have transformed her kitchen. The slight texture of the tiles shows through which creates interest.

More importantly though, what does Sharon think of her ceramic tile painting experience?

"A joy! Easy to use and practically no smell. The Four2 Four primer dries very quickly so I was able to put two coats of that on in one day. I painted the GrafClean top coat the following day.

"I actually painted more than just the ceramic tiles. I knew that once the tiles were painted the surrounding plastic trim and dark wooden window frame would look out of place. I wanted a clean modern look. So I primed and painted the plastic and wood with the Four2 Four too! It worked wonderfully across all the surfaces.

"I would stress though the importance of letting the top coat paint cure for the required time before treating it as a regular kitchen surface - a wayward fork, my son was aiming to get into the sink, chipped the paint slightly on day two. However the finish has now dried hard and I can wipe the tiles down as usual.

"I am very pleased with the result and have been recommending it to everyone!"

Products used:

Graphenstone Four2Four Primer,

Graphenstone GrafClean Mid Sheen Interior (White).