I PAINTED my laminate countertops!
I have laminate countertops. They aren't even bad. At least they are a neutral tan. But I have been getting tired of the whitewashed oak trim along the front side of them. A few years ago, I got a quote for granite. It was $6000. And I was just not willing to pay that much money to put countertops on old cabinets, and not ready for a $40,000 kitchen overhaul either.
But I have just wanted something new in the kitchen, just a little more than a fresh coat of paint on the walls.
So I did it. I bought a kit at Home Depot, called "Countertop Transformations." It is by Rustoleum. And for a few hundred dollars, I could create the look of black granite, and save $6000.
Here is how it went. It went so well, I did a new backsplash while I was at it.
BEFORE
The before pictures aren't looking so bad with the nice cleaned off counters!
AFTER
My iphone photos don't do the glass tile any justice. They really shine and reflect light. The tile mosaic is an alternating subway pattern of glass tile and natural stone.
The best part is that I was able to paint over the oak trim edge, so that it looks like a thick, solid surface countertop, instead of a sheet of laminate.
If you want to know how it was done, here are a few step by step pictures.
First, you use a diamond embedded sponge sander to rough up the surface. Be prepared for a "Karate Kid" workout. My arms were so soar from sanding in a circular motion.
I used an electric sander to round off my trim so that the surface would appear to be one solid piece when painted.
Sand, sand, sand, sand. Then taping off everything, getting ready to paint. I removed my stovetop completely. You can see it leaning in the hole. I didn't remove my sink. The directions said I didn't need to, just to remove the caulk around it and tape it well. I WISH I HAD REMOVED IT. The stove top is able to sit down over the finished surface. Along the sink, there is an edge, like when you paint. I did caulk over it, but it seems that it has more potential to peel back in the future---it would be nicer with the sink sitting over a completely resurfaced edge. However, it still looks nice.
You need a shop vac. Lots of sanding dust to be removed.
Sand some more, vacuum some more.
The next step is to "paint" on a black tar-like paint. I brushed the edges, Ryan rolled the flat spots. We moved quickly, because the color chips adhere to the "black stuff."
You then spread the chips. They are like small, flat, pieces of a synthetic material. My kit's chips were varying tones of gray. They provide a "spreader" that is very similar to something you may have used to spread fertilizer in your yard. The spreader shoots the chips on and at the surface (and everywhere else too). You cover it liberally and thick.
After the surface dries, we vacuumed up all chips that were not attached to the surface. You scrape them down even, and vacuum some more. At this point, the counter is very rough.
More sanding. It's a little bit like being on the Karate Kid movie. Every muscle that I didn't know I had in my arms was sore. The kit provides a sanding sponge.
After hours and hours of hand sanding, Ryan brought home an orbital sander. Very worth it! It saved me a whole day of sanding. Sand and vacuum, sand and vacuum, repeat. When satisfied with the smoothness of the counter, it is then time to add the final coat--a clear lacquer. The kitchen is definitely out of commission for a few days. And after lacquering, you can't set anything on the counters for 48 hours, just to make sure. But it turned out very nicely, and shiny.
While this should have been done first, the backsplash now needed to go. I know that it doesn't look bad in the pictures, but the grout and everything was very dingy, ready for a change. I'm glad that I did it, it was a nice change.
