caligal: Is it hard to clean the knockdown? Are you happy with it?

We are leaning towards the orange peel but want to keep an open mind about both choices. Thanks.

Do you have to add texture? I had it in a kitchen once, and found it almost impossible to clean, and not completely attractive since it picks up smoke/grease/etc -- not enough to be really yuck, but fairly apparent up close.

Orange peel screams tract-home. If your kitchen isn't contemporary, you may want to consider knockdown. Ask them to make it as smooth as possible. Then, choose a very good quality washable paint for maximum clean-ability.

With good ventilation that is used each time, you will not have any grease on your walls.

Ok, I answered this, but it disappeared. We currently have tile in our hard to clean areas. We have k/down in some small areas of the kitchen. I have k/down throughout the house. The areas w/ the flat paint are a pain in the butt to clean. While the areas w/ the semi-gloss are really quite easy to clean.

gemini,

Neither! Dont use textured walls in a kitchen. they will collect grease..in fact, if the rest of the house has not been finished yet, go for smooth walls. no texture at all.

I second no texture...it won't earn you any points with the drywall finishers - they have to do a better job to get a smooth finish - but untextured drywall paints better, cleans better, patches better, and looks better IMHO!

No one ever offers to do drywall that way, but I've not paid more for it yet.

I third no texture. We had knock down in our 1978 home, and when we remodeled I put all new drywall with smooth walls in all the new areas.

In the bedrooms, to save expense and from throwing more stuff into the landfills, we kept the original drywall, but I had the drywall guys smooth coat the knock down. It took a week to dry and sand, but it looks fantastic, and was very reasonable, only about $250 extra per room.

We lived with the knock down in the kitchen area for 11 years, and it was a dirt/grease/dust collector. All those ridges and shelves to catch stuff.

The flat smooth walls are terrific. Most tract and quick built homes have texture because it's much harder to install drywall with invisible seams. And it's much harder to paint flat walls without showing brush marks. When the construction guys have to pound out so many houses quickly, the texture allows them to make slight mistakes which no one will see.

I really dislike the textured ceilings in my house -- they have a swirly flower shaped design. They look cheap and ugly to me. I've gotten rid of it in 3 bathrooms so far by replacing the drywall or covering it with beadboard. My kitchen remodel is underway and originally the contractor was going to put new drywall over the existing ceiling to cover it up. Then he decided he's going to remove all the ceiling instead which will make all the new electrical work much easier and will keep my already low ceilings from being even lower. My kitchen is open to the family room and dining room, so I'll finally be rid of almost all that yucky texture on the first floor.

Good luck with your project!

It is interesting to hear how strongly everyone feels about textured walls. Our house doesn't have any texture right now and I thought it would update the house. These comments definitely make me rethink about getting any kind of texture. Thanks for all the comments!

Gemini, I think this might also be a regional thing. I remember seeing a lot more textured walls out in California, whereas here on the Northeast coast it's definitely a class issue: only the cheapest homes have it, or homes built in a very specific 1970's/80's period when it was considered stylish.

It is true that it's harder for the finisher to do seamless smooth drywall, but up here that's the norm and you'd actually have to specifically request a texture if you wanted it.

Perhaps this difference in attitude reflects the preponderance of stucco in the West and a greater welcome there of the Southwestern, rustic, hand-finished look? It probably looks a lot better when you actually have sunshine... ;-)

circuspeanut: In our area (Wisconsin) knockdown texture is very popular. I just see it everywhere. Maybe that's why I'm so hesitant. The decision this week is no texture but who knows what tomorrow will bring!

I am in the Twin Cities area and I agree with the knockdown/texture being popular. However...don't confuse popular with desirable. Knockdown is "popular" because it hides imperfections, so a less than stellar job can be covered, which contractors LOVE. If you do a quick glance through your MLS, you will see that houses for sale that have smooth ceilings and walls are advertised as such, it's seen as a plus. Nobody brags about the knockdown.

When I got my 70's popcorned ceilings scraped, the contractor tried to talk me into knockdown. I held my ground fast and now I have lovely smooth ceilings that look higher than before when they were textured. Which is a strong plus when the ceilings are only 8 ft to begin with :-)

If you actually have a choice, I strongly urge you to go with smooth. Nobody is going to say "look at that lovely knockdown/orange peel!", but if you have smooth walls that you paint with a gorgeous full spectrum paint or a soft suede finish, now that's the kind of texture that will elicit oohs and aaahs.

Joanna

Totally agree. Smooth ceiling surfaces look cleaner and more modern. However, if your house was build pre 1977 the joint comp used back then may have asbestos, which you don’t want to release into the air by the sanding that’s likely required when smoothing out the surface prior to painting