he was the runner-up to Phil Taylor in the 2004 PDC World Championship final, widely considered as one of the greatest televised matches in darts history.
Only a month earlier he had made his debut in a PDC event – the 2000 World Grand Prix where he reached the second round, but was defeated 3–2 by Taylor.
In what would be his final appearance in the event, Painter once again reached the quarter-finals in the 2001 BDO World Championship before losing 5–2 to Andy Fordham.
The following year was a strong one for Painter where he reached the quarter-finals in the UK Open and the semi-finals in the Las Vegas Desert Classic, his best performance in these tournaments to date.
He reached the quarter-finals of the 2005 Las Vegas Desert Classic and the 2005 World Championship despite falling victim to a leg injury which damaged his form and kept him out of many tournaments.
The first half of 2007 saw the early round defeats in televised majors continue, though many of them were to Taylor and then-World Champion Raymond van Barneveld.
Sky Sports pundit and friend Rod Harrington warned that Painter could "slip into anonymity" if he did not recover his form.
[7] November 2007 saw a strong return to form for Painter, where he reached the quarter-finals of the first Grand Slam of Darts despite being entered as a wild card.
The 2008 World Championship proved to be a monumental success for Painter, where he was responsible for knocking out defending champion Raymond van Barneveld in the last 16.
However, his success in non-televised events was considerably better including an appearance in the Bristol Players Championship final – losing 3–2 to Dennis Priestley.
However, this performance saw Painter re-establish his place in the top 16 of the rankings, and his good form in floor events from 2008 continued – he reached two semi-finals on the PDC Pro Tour, notably in Gladbeck, Germany, where on 1 March he led Taylor 5–4 before losing 6–5.
At the 2012 PDC World Championship, Painter defeated Arron Monk and Mark Walsh before losing once again to John Part by four sets to two.
[18] In October, Painter defeated Kim Huybrechts 2–0 in sets in the first round of the World Grand Prix without his opponent picking up a single leg,[19] but then lost to Justin Pipe 2–3 in the last 16.
[20] Painter won two of his three Group C games at the Grand Slam of Darts to finish second in the table and qualify for the knockout stage, where he faced Mervyn King.
[21] From 2–2, Painter surged away by taking five straight legs and closed out the match 10–5,[22] but then missed 30 of his 42 attempts at a double in the quarter-finals against Dean Winstanley as he lost 12–16.
[24] He began the defence of his 2011 title with a first round meeting against Michael van Gerwen, who had won eight tournaments this year, and lost 3–6.
[29] In October, Painter made it through to his first PDC ranking final since his major success almost two years ago at the 12th Players Championship of the season.
From the last 16 onwards he defeated Robert Thornton, Wes Newton and Michael Smith, but was whitewashed 6–0 by Kim Huybrechts in the final.
[30] Painter advanced to the third round of the 2014 World Championship without dropping a set but then hit just 19% of his doubles against Simon Whitlock to lose 4–0.
[31] At the UK Open he enjoyed comfortable wins over Richie Burnett, Andrew Gilding and Dean Winstanley and led Mervyn King 2–0 in the early stages of their quarter-final, before his form dropped to lose 10–6.
[32][33] His second major quarter-final of the year came at the World Grand Prix which he reached by coming back from 2–0 down in sets against Adrian Lewis to win 3–2.
[38] He failed to qualify for the rest of the majors on the PDC calendar in 2015, but remained in the top 32 on the Order of Merit to play in the 2016 World Championship.
[42] Painter qualified for the 2017 World Championship through the Pro Tour Order of Merit when Kyle Anderson was forced to withdraw from the event due to being unable to get a UK Visa.
[44] Painter qualified via the Pro Tour Order of Merit for the 2018 World Championship, but lost in the first round to Mensur Suljović 3–0.
After failing to regain his tour card in 2021 Q School, Kevin publicly announced his retirement from professional darts after his 25-year career.