Kitchen Part II: Countertops

Hi All!

Once we painted the cabinets a nice bright white, the existing laminate countertops looked even more dated than before.

I knew I wanted to tackle them next in hopes of being able to cook again. I started by taping off the lower cabinets and appliances with plastic dropcloths. I purchased a kit specifically for painting countertops but didn’t end up using most of the stuff inside, oops. I did use the primer that came with the kit to help the paint adhere to the laminate. Because the primer was black, and I wanted to paint my counters like white marble, I painted three coats of white (same kind we used on the kitchen walls) on top of the primer before I started in with the grey shading and veining.

You can see where we had taken a hammer and chisel to the laminate backsplash, it just dated the kitchen even more so it had to go. It took me almost 4 hours to paint on the grey “marble” pattern and to be honest more than halfway through I wasn’t sure it was going to turn out. I used a bunch of different size paint brushes, a sponge and three different shades of grey paint. Once I got it looking alright, I had to cross my fingers and hope that the clear coat I had planned would work some magic on the finished product. I think it worked!

The most common problem I read about with people painting countertops was durability. There were complaints about paint chipping or epoxy not fully curing and items leaving impressions in the surface when they would set them down for too long. I’m not the cleanest cook, so I knew this would bother me. I researched and found a product called Countertop Epoxy made specifically for kitchens. It’s extremely durable; you can drop a hot pan on it and it’ll hold up. It also won’t yellow (ew) and is antimicrobial. It takes awhile to mix it up and then it’s really sticky when spreading. You also have to let them sit a full 48 hours before you use them, but it was SO worth it!