What paint sheen should I use in a kitchen in New Brunswick where walls get grease splatter?

For kitchen walls that deal with grease splatter, use a satin or semi-gloss finish — satin is the most popular choice because it is cleanable without looking too shiny, while semi-gloss is the right call if your kitchen sees heavy cooking and frequent washing.

Sheen is not just about appearance — it is directly tied to washability. Flat and matte finishes have a porous surface that absorbs grease, steam, and food particles. Once that happens, you cannot wipe a flat wall clean without removing the paint itself. In an NB kitchen where you are cooking through long winter months with the windows closed, that grease accumulates fast. Eggshell is a step above flat and handles light cleaning, but it still is not ideal for zones near the stove and sink. Satin has a smooth, slightly lustrous surface that allows you to wipe grease and splatter with a damp cloth or mild cleaner without damaging the paint film.

Semi-gloss is the right sheen for the highest-impact zones: within a metre of the stove, the wall behind the sink, and any area that gets regular scrubbing. It is noticeably shinier than satin, which some homeowners dislike on large wall surfaces, but it is genuinely the most durable and cleanable finish available in a standard wall paint. Many NB painters use satin for the main kitchen walls and bump up to semi-gloss on the section directly beside or behind the range — a practical compromise that gives you cleanability where you need it without making the whole kitchen feel like a bathroom.

One thing to keep in mind about NB kitchens specifically: many older homes in Fredericton, Saint John, and Moncton have lower ceilings and smaller kitchen footprints where a shiny wall finish is more noticeable. If your kitchen is on the smaller side, satin throughout is a comfortable middle ground — it still cleans up well and is far more forgiving than eggshell or flat.

Practical tips for your kitchen repaint:

• Use a high-quality acrylic-alkyd hybrid paint in satin or semi-gloss for the best combination of hardness, cleanability, and colour retention. Benjamin Moore ben Interior in satin or Regal Select Satin both perform well in kitchens. Sherwin-Williams Duration Interior Satin is another reliable choice.


• Always use a degreaser or TSP (trisodium phosphate) wash on kitchen walls before painting. Cooking grease creates an invisible film that prevents paint adhesion — painting over it without cleaning leads to peeling within a year, regardless of paint quality.


• On the trim, baseboards, and cabinet frames, use a semi-gloss or high-gloss acrylic-alkyd. Hard, washable surfaces everywhere in a kitchen extend the life of the whole paint job significantly.

For most NB homeowners, a kitchen repaint is a manageable DIY project if the existing walls are in decent shape. But if your kitchen has significant grease buildup, old flat paint that is staining, or walls that have never been properly primed, a professional can do the thorough prep work — cleaning, light sanding, spot priming — that makes the difference between a paint job that lasts 2 years and one that lasts 7 or 8.

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