I read up a lot on Rustoleum countertop paint. I hated the idea of it. Well, that’s not entirely true. I loved the idea of slapping paint down on a countertop that is pink and dirty and disgusting and it suddenly looking lacquered and beautiful and flawless. I hated the idea that it didn’t live up to its promises like a high school boy. Every thing I read said either you needed to seal it or it’d let you down in a heart beat. Buttttttt sometimes people…sometimes I… don’t listen. Kevin & I went back and forth on it for a few weeks (probably longer) and had initially said no, we aren’t going to waste our time, let’s just re-laminate them. But we got to looking at prices of laminate and delivery costs. We determined we couldn’t just buy a cheap countertop because of the awkward corner sink area. We’d have to rip off the old laminate and put down a new sheet on top of it. We’d have to buy a gigantic sheet so there wasn’t a seam. It started to seem like a whole lot of work and money to drop on laminate. So we decided, hey for $20 this countertop paint can’t really be a complete waste of time. So what if it only lasted 6 months? In that time we could save up and come up with a different idea for the countertops.
The bad news? It lasted just days before it got dinged up. The good news? Even with how dinged up it is, it was still “good enough” that we got rid of the pink dirt and came up with a better idea (but more on that later).
It’s now December. We actually painted these countertops in early September. Over 2 months ago. So I feel like 2 months is a good “use time” that I can give you a fair review of my thoughts.
Let’s start with how we did it.
So yeah.. that’s it. Seriously there isn’t much to it. Just move quick and try not to pass out from the smell.. Actually do as I say not as I do and wear face masks n’at ’cause that stuff smells like you are swimming in nail polish. Which every time I mentioned that Kevin said, “well thats basically what it is.” I get it, Kevin.
So what’s my beef with the countertop paint?
It’s cure time is ridiculously long. Yes, I know the can says just a few days, but they lie. We painted this on a Wednesday evening & got up Thursday and left town until Sunday. We didn’t touch it until Monday evening. So it cured LONGER than the minimum. And it chipped as soon as we sat something down on it. Kevin brewed coffee & sat it down on the countertop & it left a ring here it had melted the paint. We don’t drink super hot civil lawsuit degree coffee. It’s just standard heat. It melted the paint. Then the rest of the chips came from less-than-standard things… like accidentally dropping a wrench and some other tools in random places. It chipped it up like crazy. Then a few weeks later, we sat a chicken on a platter on it and spun the platter to carve and it left a huge scratch in the paint.
HOWEVER – after that first month or so, the paint stopped chipping so badly. I’d say if you could let this stuff cure for 6+ weeks before touching it, it may just work the way its supposed to work. I don’t know who has the luxury of not using their kitchen for 6+ weeks, but if that’s you, then this $20 paint should work great for you.
With that said..We haven’t had much problems with it since the chipping stopped a few weeks ago. It looks crappy now because we did so much damage (I’ll post pictures of that later probably) early on. So we started brainstorming other ways to redo the countertop. I’m not sharing just because I don’t want people to try to talk me out of it (I am looking at you, Billionaire).
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