Countertop Paint – Why should you consider painting your countertops!
When homeowners and renters choose to renovate their homes, they usually have to spend a lot of time, effort and money in order to transform the look of their bathrooms and kitchens. The majority of homes have laminate countertops in the kitchens and bathrooms because they’re fairly inexpensive and easy to clean. However, as time passes on, the laminate surfaces tend to dull, chip and become porous.
There are a number of upgrade options that every homeowner in this situation is faced with. One obvious option would be to replace the countertops with another material such as stone or glass. While granite countertops can stand up to the heat of hot pots and pans, they tend to become porous after time and develop water damage. Glass countertops are very easy to clean and are non-porous however they are not as durable as stone countertops and are just as expensive.
In addition to the above, most homeowners need to hire contractors in order to replace their countertops with glass or stone. This along with the material cost puts stone and glass countertops out of the reach of many renovation budgets.
The best option that many people pursue is painting their countertops instead. This is significantly more cost-effective than having stone or glass countertops installed. In addition to that, painting countertops would make it impermeable to grime and dirt and is just as hygenic as glass countertops.
Take a look at some of the before and after pictures of people using countertop paint.
Before working on your countertop, it it necessary to budget the appropriate time and expense for painting your countertops.
This process will take the better part of a weekend since we will need to apply mutiple layers of countertop paint and allow each layer to dry.
Depending upon the brand of paint purchased, we may or may not need a primer base coat or a polyurethane sealer. The cost of the paint also depends on the brand of paint purchased.
Different Countertop Paint Brands – Which one to choose!
There are a number of different countertop paints that we can use.
One obvious choice is Rust-Oleum Countertop Paint. This paint company has developed a one-coat application which takes approximately 3-4 days for the paint to dry. Once this paint dries, the surface will have a satin gloss finish with antimicrobial protection as part of their HomeShield coating. Since this is sold as a kit, all that is needed is a clean laminate countertop to start painting on. If we use the Rust-Oleum Countertop Paint, then we do not need a primer or a sealer coat for our countertop. This obviously is more simple than other methods but has the disadvantage of not having a custom finish. This paint kit only allows for one of sixteen color tints ranging from ivory to pewter. Take a look at our Rust-Oleum Countertop Paint page for some finished countertop paint examples.
Another popular choice is Giani Granite Countertop Paint. This paint kit has all the equipment and the tools needed in order to paint over various countertop surfaces such as laminate, Formica, Corian or even wood. This kit has a primer base, 3 cans of mineral coats and a topcoat sealer. This kit contains the rollers, foam brushes and sponge applicators which is sufficient for approximately 35 square feet of surface area. It takes approximately 16 hours of each coat to dry and people should budget around 3-4 days while using this countertop paint kit. There are 6 different base coats available (Sicilian Sand, Chocolate Brown, Roma Red, Sapphire Blue, Emerald Green and Bombay Black) and 3 different mineral coats. Adjusting the various amounts of mineral coats allows for a large number of potential combinations and blends. Furthermore, these paint kits come with an instructional DVD and each paint can is numbered for easy use. Take a look at our Giani Granite Countertop Paint page for more information.
There are a number of other countertop paints available which have similar applications. The majority of them consist of a primer coat, a base coat and a top sealer. Some countertop paint kits may also include an epoxy surface sealant.
Depending upon your individual choices, you can have countertops with a smooth plain color which is sometimes suited to bathrooms and small bars or a granite countertop which is suited to kitchen countertops. These choices would allow for allow for a wide range of possible countertop paint options.
