We report on the interpretation of thickness-dependent surface potential profiles in insulators on metal substrates measured by Kelvin probe method. The electrical potentials are calculated within a self-consistent model taking both the conductive substrate and the insulator into account. It is shown that interpreting the Kelvin potentials for different layer thicknesses as the prevailing potential profile of a thick insulator film is generally wrong. Even more controversially, the reconstruction of the potential profile in a thick insulator layer on the basis of layer-thickness-dependent Kelvin measurements alone is per se impossible. This will be demonstrated exemplarily on the basis of doped and undoped organic films on conductive substrates.