Can I Paint My Laminate Countertops

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Presently afterwards moving in, I experimented with countertop paint in my kitchen. Meet step by step what this $xx product looks similar, get the DIY tutorial, and see what it looks similar now!

Yep… I'm not even going to attempt to make a pun well-nigh this. I painted my kitchen countertops this weekend.

If y'all haven't been reading this weblog long, yous may not think my kitchen story from when we start moved in. Long story really brusque: Ewww. The kitchen ceiling was orange from years of smoke damage; the floor was yellowed linoleum. The fridge was filthy and I found one of those lovely fingernails you've heard me whine so much about. And the countertops were caked on with so much grease and grit we had to utilize oven cleaner to remove information technology. I remember I make a pretty good example for why someone would want to pigment everything just for the sake of freshening up the place rather than waiting on the true demo and remodeling to begin.

Products that paint laminate countertops

I start heard that painting laminate countertops was possible after reading this post from Brooklyn Limestone. Painted countertops? How? Or more than importantly, how much? I'd seen "countertop makeover" kits at Habitation Depot, but at over $200 a pop, I wasn't prepare to accept the plunge. Possibly we oasis't covered this before, but I'm inexpensive. If you want me to spend $200, I'm making sure information technology works showtime.

Simply much to my surprise, this particular countertop paint product wasn't $200; it was more like $20. I figured if I'chiliad replacing the countertops anyhow, information technology wouldn't exist so bad if I experimented a piffling and tried out this paint every bit a temporary fix-up… a little lipstick on my kitchen pig, if you will. If I hated it, the look to supercede it with something better would exist short-lived. No commitment necessary.

Update: there are now more products out on the market since I first tried this, then you might want to consider these others, too. I haven't tried them all myself, but this list is just to testify y'all that some are kits, and some are more than unmarried-product type things:

Rust-Oleum Counter Meridian Transformations (kit)
Rust-Oleum Countertop Coating (that'due south what I used hither)
Giani Countertop Kit
Giani 2-Part Epoxy Topcoat Kit
Beyond Paint Countertop Refinishing Kit
Beyond Paint Countertop Pigment

Colour options

No, I didn't go crazy with the color, but I did use this painting project as an opportunity to figure out how lite I would like the countertop to be. Did you have to estimate which colour I chose? Yup. gray! Information technology's a sickness, people.

In all fairness, this painting product from the Rust-oleum crew has merely 16 color options. Three of them are shades of gray. I chose the centre gray tone, called "Gray Mist".

Prepping the counters (and myself)

During my limited fourth dimension researching this product, I'd learned from user reviews that this stuff was pretty toxic and would accept 3 full days for the pigment to cure. Not only that, just the pigment would not require priming if I were painting over laminate (which I was) and would stick to just almost anything information technology touches, so it was of import to protect anything I did not desire to bail with the paint. Like my precious floors. Three old bedsheets drop cloths after, I was ready to begin.

Knowing how toxic this little painting adventure would be, I prepared myself with the basic tools: gloves, breathing mask, foam roller, etc.

It's a adept look, don't yous think? (UPDATE: The mask you should be wearing is more than like this. Delight have proper precautions and protect yourself from these harmful fumes. Practise equally I say, not as I practise.)

I found that the pigment stick really came in handy on this project. Fifty-fifty though we had a warm weekend (yay!), I had read that the paint consistency would be important if the temps were going to drib lower equally the pigment stale (per the tin can's instructions, you should only use this product when temps are between 50 and ninety degrees for three days in a row). I institute that the color separated from the tint base quite hands (I'd simply bought the paint ii days before painting), then stirring it upwards was cardinal. The paint seemed pretty thin as I ran through information technology with the foam roller (picked for it'southward "polish end" promises on the packaging), merely every bit I applied it to the countertop, I found the coverage to exist quite thick.

Coat #i:

As you can see in the pic, I wasn't exactly trying to colour in between the lines; I just slapped on pigment where I saw fit. I wasn't trying to hard to make things perfect or protect annihilation except the floors or appliances. I got likewise close to the stove simply one time, and institute that if I wiped it up chop-chop enough, a damp newspaper towel took intendance of information technology fairly well.

Despite my lovely accessories, I could still smell the fumes a fiddling too much. Just warning ya, but this. stuff. REEKS. I kept the windows open all dark despite the dip in temperatures just so the fumes wouldn't be hanging out in the house while I got ready for piece of work the side by side day. Non exactly the wake upwardly call I would prefer, know what I mean?

Before countertop paint

Okay, so at present here'due south what yous've been waiting for… the before, taken during the twenty-four hours…

I coat later…

The second and final coat

This was taken at nighttime just before I went to bed, so I'll attempt afterward this week to give you a better "after" shot so y'all can run across the color and finish a trivial ameliorate.

Merely for the fun of it, I'll give yous a Before & Later on split screen as well.

I painted this little counter beside the fridge as well, but forgot to take an afterward pic.

And for the ultimate question: how do I like my results? The answer: meh. I wasn't expecting miracles, and I wasn't 100% in dear with the results. The finish was consistent and felt dry out to the touch later on just a couple of hours, so I'm sure in the three days that it takes to cure, the paint will stick quite well and wearable nicely over the next year or then (before I replace them with an upgraded material). I did notice that there were certain areas where the paint appeared to bubble a little, but I recollect that'southward probably my fault for not waiting until the temps got a footling higher before trying this out. On the vivid side, I don't think I desire to go gray with the countertops, and it cost me simply $20 for a test drive. Once I paint the cabinets a lighter color, I don't recall I want to go in the mid-tone range for countertops; either extremely light or extremely nighttime is what I'm thinking, just then there's contrast. And it'south actually motivating me to get rid of those dated oak cabinets. I'k thinking white with that greyness wouldn't wait too bad.

What do you think of my lilliputian pigment misadventure? A brilliant and inexpensive solution to nasty "I would never eat on that" countertops, or would you have saved yourself the xx bucks and lived with the old countertops equally-is for another twelvemonth? Anyone out there who didn't realize this was possible but are considering painting your countertops now? Let me hear it.

A few months subsequently…

About six months afterward, I reviewed the condition of the counters to run into how they held up with normal utilise. Want to see the results? Click here.

And a few years later… a bigger kitchen remodel

I finally replaced my kitchen counters with inexpensive butcher block, and I Dear them! You tin catch all of the details of the install hither:

Sourcing the butcher block
Cutting a hole for the sink (and how nosotros fixed our mistake)
How to polish countertop edges with a router
Treating the butcher block for long-term use
Adding a backsplash
Painting the residue of the kitchen
What the kitchen looks like now!

** I was not compensated in whatever way for using this product. I just like trying out new things and saving my readers the uncertainty of trying out an unknown product. Word of oral cavity is the sincerest grade of advertisement, and you will get nothing but 100% honesty from products that I try**

More Kitchen Remodeling

Want more kitchen ideas? From tiling a backsplash to installing counters and more, I've got you covered for your next kitchen project!

Hey in that location! I'm Sarah. My favorite things: 1) tearing my firm apart and two) putting it back together again. I occasionally talk about other things, like life and nutrient and travel, simply it'due south more often than not my obsession with DIY and power tools that you'll observe here!

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