Joinery finishes explained: paint, lacquer, oil and stain

You do not touch the carcass or the joints; you touch the finish. It is the part that gets wiped, knocked, steamed and cleaned, and it is the part that dates. A well-built cabinet with a poor finish will look tired in two years, while an ordinary cabinet with an excellent finish still looks smart in ten.

It is also the hardest element to change later. Repainting fitted joinery in situ never matches a workshop spray, so it is worth understanding the options before signing off a specification.

For painted joinery, the sequence is: fill and sand, prime, sand, apply two or more topcoats with sanding between, all sprayed. Spraying is what produces a flat surface with no brush marks, and doing it in a workshop rather than in a furnished room gives a cleaner result and less mess.

Two-pack polyurethane and modern high-performance water-based lacquers both work well. Two-pack is very hard and chemically resistant; water-based systems have improved dramatically, smell far less and are easier to touch in. Ask which system, how many coats and where the spraying happens.

Sheen is a practical choice, not just an aesthetic one. Dead matt looks beautiful and marks easily; high gloss looks dramatic and shows every fingerprint, dust particle and surface imperfection. Mid-sheen - roughly 15 to 30 per cent - is the sensible default for kitchens, wardrobes and hallway joinery.

Higher sheen also demands better substrate preparation, because gloss magnifies any flatness defect. If you want gloss, budget for the extra preparation rather than being disappointed by the reflection.

Clear lacquer over oak, walnut or ash gives a hard, wipeable surface that resists spills well. It sits on the surface, so it protects effectively but shows scratches as pale lines, and repair usually means sanding and re-coating a whole panel.

Available in matt through to gloss, and in versions designed to reduce ambering on pale timbers such as ash and maple. Where a pale timber must stay pale, specify a non-yellowing product and see a sample first.

Hardwax oils penetrate the timber rather than forming a film. They give a natural, tactile surface, bring out grain beautifully and - crucially - can be repaired locally: sand the affected area, re-oil, blend. That makes them excellent for surfaces that will inevitably be scratched, such as worktops and desks.

The trade-off is maintenance. Oiled surfaces need re-oiling periodically, more often around sinks and on heavily used tops, and they are less resistant to prolonged water and to strong cleaners than a lacquer.

Stains and dyes change colour without hiding grain, and they are how fashionable smoked, greyed and blackened timbers are achieved. Different species take stain very differently - ash and oak take it well, pine blotches badly - so the timber choice comes first.

Always ask for a sample on the actual timber with the actual topcoat over it. Stain colour shifts noticeably once a lacquer or oil goes on, and judging a wet stain sample is meaningless.

Clean all of them with a soft cloth and mild detergent; avoid abrasive creams, bleach and solvents. Wipe spills near sinks and dishwashers promptly, because steam attacks arrises and joints before it attacks flat surfaces.

Keep a record: paint colour and sheen, lacquer product, oil brand. Ask your joiner for a small quantity of the finish for touching in. Ten years later that note is the difference between a five-minute repair and a re-spray.

A finish specification should name the system, the number of coats, the sheen level, the colour reference and where application happens. "Painted to client's choice" is not a specification and leaves the door open to a single thin coat over unprimed board.

For colour, match to a physical sample rather than a code where you are blending with existing decoration, and view samples in the actual room at different times of day. Paint colours shift dramatically between north and south light.