Wren Kitchen Colours - RAL Equivalent?

[Rob99]

Our Wren kitchen is in 2 colours, Chalk White and Lagoon (bit like a teal blue)

 

I need to make up some additional bespoke bits and want to be able to match colours by painting the bits of MDF but I cannot find anywhere whether the colours are a specific RAL number. The RAL "Lagoon Blue" isn't the same colour as it seems quite a bit lighter and more blue than green.

 

Wren haven't been any use ("sorry, don't know what RAL is"!!) and their repair kits that came with the kitchen don't have any colour references on them.

 

I know I can probably take some sample pieces to a specialist paint company and get them analysed and then mixed up but that'll be expensive and it's much easier if i could just buy a few spray cans of the correct RAL colour.

 

Anybody have any ideas?

 

Thanks

 

 

[ryder72]

There are multiple colour systems in use, not jsut RAL. It could be NCS, BS, RAL design, RAL classic, Sikkens etc.

 

You can get a paint specialist to analyse the colour and get it mixed up which is your best bet really.

[SiBee]

Why would it be expensive to have the colour analysed? Our local Leyland paints store match colours so I imagine most decorating outlets could do the same.

Works for car body paints too where you can get rattle cans mixed up and filled.

[Onoff]

Careful you match the gloss level. 30% gloss can look completely different to 60%.

[lizzie]

I think you need to be very careful, if not an exact match in colour and gloss% then will look a mess.

 

If you cannot get an exact then I would think about doing a different but complimentary finish on your bespoke bits.

[Rob99]

 

1 hour ago, ryder72 said:

There are multiple colour systems in use, not jsut RAL. It could be NCS, BS, RAL design, RAL classic, Sikkens etc.

Yes, that's true, I'd not really thought about the others as have only really used RAL in recent years.

 

54 minutes ago, SiBee said:

Why would it be expensive to have the colour analysed? Our local Leyland paints store match colours so I imagine most decorating outlets could do the same.

Works for car body paints too where you can get rattle cans mixed up and filled.

I guess I've made an assumption on cost as I assumed it would be more specialist than just getting B&Q or similar to mix up some emulsion based on standard colour swatches and pre-determined formulas.

I've had rattle cans made up before for cars but have always specified the colour code, never asked if they could "match" something.

 

50 minutes ago, Onoff said:

Careful you match the gloss level. 30% gloss can look completely different to 60%.

Good point, our units are very matt finish so must be a low gloss %

 

27 minutes ago, lizzie said:

I think you need to be very careful, if not an exact match in colour and gloss% then will look a mess.

 

If you cannot get an exact then I would think about doing a different but complimentary finish on your bespoke bits.

My OCD would go off the scale if they didn't match where they are next to existing.

 

 

For the most part the bespoke bits, mainly oversize doors to conceal washing machine and dishwasher will be in the utility room so if it's a reasonably close match to the kitchen it should be fine, although it would be nice to get an exact match if possible. At the moment the unit fronts seem to change shade slightly anyway with the varying amount of light coming into the room during the day.

 

I only need a couple of small bits of the "lagoon" but I might be able to do something with a couple of bits of left over plinth if I'm really careful about cutting them.

 

 

[Temp]

In a past life as a project manager in the electronics industry I had issues with management wanting plastic mouldings and printed labels to match for colour. Nightmare. Slight differences in the texture of the surface would change how the colour of one or other looked. Usually we would try and and steer management away from trying to achieve colour matches whenever possible. The colour and smoothness of the primer may also make a difference.

 

 

[Rob99]

29 minutes ago, Temp said:

In a past life as a project manager in the electronics industry I had issues with management wanting plastic mouldings and printed labels to match for colour. Nightmare. Slight differences in the texture of the surface would change how the colour of one or other looked. Usually we would try and and steer management away from trying to achieve colour matches whenever possible. The colour and smoothness of the primer may also make a difference.

 

I agree, dissimilar materials are almost impossible to match. In this case I'm hoping it will be close enough as the existing kitchen units are painted mdf, which is what I am using for the bespoke bits. I'm going to take my time with lots of coats, well flatted off in between.

[dpmiller]

you could always just try the spectro in B&Q. It is free after all. I've done some work on the systems in the past but don't know if the current solution displays an RGB or RAL result- but even if not you may be able to crossreference off the internal code on the swatch.

[BB20]

Did you ever discover the RAL number? Or a way to complete your bespoke items?