Would You Believe I Painted My Kitchen Countertops?!

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You might think I’m crazy, but I painted and epoxied my kitchen countertops. In this blog post, I will dish it all. The good, the bad and the ugly about this project! It’s been about 2 years since this was done so I have the scoop on how they hold up. That way, if you are considering this option, you will at least know what you are getting yourself into.

I jumped into this project knowing it might not last and that I’d most likely have to replace it in a few years. That was okay because I just wanted something to make me love my kitchen more until I could save up some money to replace them with something nicer. Plus I HATED the brown laminate counters the builder installed so anything was better than that!

I stared with the 2 smaller countertops I had that were separate from the bigger one to get some practice and technique in. We wanted to wait to do the big countertop until our new sink arrived so we were only without a sink for a couple days. It’s a good thing we waited because our new sink got lost in the mail and took forever to come in! I sanded the countertops on the smaller ones, but looking back I think this was an unnecessary step because the epoxy is so strong and adheres well without sanding.

Then I cleaned them really well and started on the paint. I used Linen White chalk paint because I saw Lauren from Farmhouseish use it on hers, but I think any kind of paint would work.

Don’t worry, that’s not real granite. When I posted a reel for this on my socials people freaked out because they thought I was painting real granite! Honestly though, even if it were I still would have painted it, I was just not a fan of this brown color in my kitchen.

In between coats I used Ziplock freezer bags to put my brushes and rollers in so they wouldn’t dry out. I used a foam roller for a smooth finish.

My technique to the veining was to put a thin grey, somewhat wiggly line on with a tiny paint brush, dab it with a bigger dry paint brush and then dip that paint brush in the tiniest amount of white paint and dab it on some more. I kept doing this process on the same line until it was layered enough to where I was satisfied with the look. There are several ways you can do this, just search it on YouTube. One way involves spraying water on the paint, another you can do several layers of epoxy, this one looks great but is also very time consuming. If I did this again I’d try that technique because I like the way it turns out. I used Aged Gray chalk paint for this.

The great thing about this is, if you hate your veining work you can always just paint over it and start over, like I did!

We epoxied these 2 smaller countertops. Epoxy is great to do in smaller sections because you only have so much time to work with it before it hardens too much. I taped off the countertops and floor with painters plastic to get it ready for epoxy. This is a very messy process.

We did 2 coats of epoxy. The first coat there were A LOT of bubbles. To get the bubbles out you have to take heat to them to make them rise out of the epoxy and pop. You have to do this quick because if the epoxy gets too hard the bubbles can’t move up and when they pop they will leave an indent. We used a heat gun and a blow dryer for this. I do recommend a cordless heat gun because the cord gets in the way and dips in the epoxy if you’re not careful.

There was one spot that had a bunch of bubbles and the epoxy had hardened too much. Tyler tried to get them out with the heat gun but ended up burning the spot. I had to sand it down, touch up the paint and add more epoxy. But once that was done you couldn’t even tell.

Before the epoxy was dry, Mia set her phone down in it because she was in her room when we did this and she didn’t know. Looking back, this was pretty funny. There was an indent in the epoxy from her phone, but we added another layer of epoxy and it was fine after that. That is one of the great things about working with epoxy, if you need to fill a void or cover some scratched, you just add more epoxy over the area and it self levels and blends in perfect, the downside of this is that you do have to add another layer to the whole surface because it doesn’t self level enough to be completely flat!

While we were waiting on the new sink to come in, Tyler agreed I could demo the bar so we could lower the bar to countertop height as covered on my last post. That bar was just a catch all before and now with it gone the space just feels so much more open.

I wood filled the seam of the bar top that we lowered to counter height. It wasn’t perfect but we also knew this wouldn’t be our “forever countertop”. When the new sink came in we tested it to make sure it fit before we started to paint and epoxy the bigger countertop. This sink is awesome! It’s a worktop sink so it comes with all these accessories. The color is Gun Metal, Tyler wanted a stainless steal and I wanted a white farmhouse type sink and didn’t want silver, so we compromised. Some people have asked if it has scratched up or gets water marks on it, it’s been 3 years and we have had NO issues with this sink! It’s not at all hard to clean either.

While Tyler was at work I got the big countertop painted. Some areas were a bit rough in texture and I was worried that would show through the epoxy, so I sanded it down a little, which was very messy! And then I got the veining done.

Once Tyler got home he helped me with the epoxy. I didn’t know this back then, but apparently epoxy isn’t good to breathe in so we really should have been wearing respirator masks. Don’t do what we did! We mixed the epoxy and then as he dumped it on the countertop and spread it around with his gloved hands I went around popping the bubbles with the blow dryer/heat gun.

You have to make sure the epoxy covers the edges too, most of the epoxy would go over the edges and cover them, but he also rubbed in on the edges to make it more even. Then every few minutes you take a paint stick and rub off the drips as it hardens. You can also sand the drips down later.

This was a team effort as this was a big countertop. We’d also have to pick fuzz out with tweezers as we went because they would just float in the air and get stuck in the epoxy. We did turn off the AC as we did this to try and prevent air flow. Bright lights held at different angles helped us see the bubbles and fuzz that were on the epoxy.

I just love how shiny it is!

The next day it was hardened but still felt a little sticky to the touch, I did remove the plastic from the sides and floor about 12 hours later. It says to wait 7 days for it to cure before setting anything on the epoxy. After a couple days we drilled a hole in the end of the countertop to be able to install the pop up outlet we bought for it.

This thing is awesome! You can also set your phone on the top and it will charge it without plugging it in and it has USBs! We use it all the time. This one is just plugged in inside the wall.

Now for the bad and ugly. The reason I hadn’t linked the epoxy yet is because I don’t recommend it! We bought the Pro Marine brand and I’ve heard from people since then who make epoxy tumblers that that brand is bad about yellowing from UV light and heat (like that one spot from using heat the get the bubbles out). Ours has yellowed quite a bit, here’s a comparison shot. The first one from when we first did them, and the second photo is a year later.

It’s also stained. There are red spots here and I have no idea where they came from. And some more red spots on the corner in the back. It’s hard to tell in this photo.

And the sides where we stand a lot, like the sink where we lean on the counters has chipped a bit.

But overall, I’d still do it again, but with a better epoxy, or maybe a countertop painting and epoxy kit. This project has bought us several years to save up for nicer countertops and I’m happy about that!

This short video with the audio makes me laugh.

Here’s a longer video describing what I did and how the counters are looking 4 years later.

I am LOVING this kitchen so far! More Kitchen links can be found here.

Next up, the stone backsplash that I’m still in love with 2 years later!