Hi!
There have been a few posts about the techniques for painting a laminate counter but I'm wondering about the safety side of it. I spoke with someone at at my local big box diy store and she said that you can do it with melamine paint but that for a kitchen it's not entirely safe. She said that since you work with food in the kitchen the melamine would be unsafe if it chipped. Is there any way around this? Our counters are probably 20 years old in the kitchen and I absolutely hate them! They are a light brown on off white faux marble kind of look. I plan to paint the cabinets and the tiled backsplash and would love to freshen up the counter but am afraid of poisoning anyone that eats food made in my kitchen!
On a somewhat related but not entirely topic... what would you guys use as an accent colour with orange. We have decided to do the kitchen walls a funky orange colour but I'm not sure what to do with it. All I've come up with is either a crisp white or an off white. But it would be nice to maybe bring in another stronger colour for the backsplash maybe. So that the cabinet areas done become all off white. Unfortunately I don't have the paint name/number with me right now all I can say is that it's Behr.
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I did see them. I hope to check them out soon(ish) at home depot.
not sure if you saw on the website all these:
SOLID COLORS:
Off white
Blue
Green
Terracotta
Yellow
Burgundy
Black
Stainless
Aqua
Earth
Alpine
white
I checked out the website and there are some plainer ones. They apparently are sold at Home Depot so I will go and check them out in real life there! Thanks for the tip!
check the website..........
you can get plain ones....I hate pattern backsplash too..............
good luck and look forward to future pictures
Thanks for all the tips everyone! Perhaps I will just go ahead and paint the counter. We plan to redo the kitchen at some point anyway so it is just a temporary inexpensive way of cleaning it up.
The kitchen is generally in good shape but lets face it! It's not the 80's anymore! ;) I'm also considering painting the cabinets but we'll see. Maybe once the walls and counters are painted I won't feel the need.
Obella - I will look into the stick on backsplash tiles. The only potential issue there for me is that I'm not entirely into patterns. I considered the idea of doing a chrome backsplash but I'm not sure how difficult that would be as a diy project. Or how expensive!
Your sisters counters look great by the way!
I meant to say, in my opinion, I don't like the look of a painted tile backsplash.
It's one thing to do one or the other (counter), but both would be too much.
Why not look into something else...
I even came across a website that sells peel and stick backsplash...I think it is a brilliant temporary solution
check it out.
[url]www.sticsdeco.com[/url]
(it has plain colored tile)
about 21/2 years ago I painted my sisters....you can see before and after.
I scuffed up the surface a bit first, then used a primer, used a latex paint and then 4 coats of poly.
She says it is still holding up very well. She has two sons, and she is an expert cook, so uses her counters a lot.
She has since done many updates in her home...new floors, furniture etc, but so far so good on the countertop.
As far as melamine, I painted my dining room table. It is pine and was stained a honey color which I quickly tired of...so I painted it with black melamine paint. I have done it over 3 times in a couple of years....it does tend to chip some..the overall look is very sleek, though I'd go for the latex and polyurethane on a counter top.
your kitchen looks in pretty good shape, as does your bathroom, thye have at least been updated - mine hadn't. Bathtub was the original claw foot, and it had the date 1923 stamped on the bottom of it !
The layers of paint in the kitchen were like a history lesson - in reverse.
never heard of it being unsafe; however, if you are concerned, and I can understand that, you can prevent cracks and chips by always - and I mean ALWAYS!!!!! - using a chopping board. You can also use a javex solution to wash the counters with every so often.
Melamine paint is a tedious process, but if it is done right, I do not see a problem.
I have a few friends who have done it, and it has lasted for them.
If you do a search on here re: painting counter tops it may turn up some info for you from earlier posts.
Honestly Fray, thats the first i've heard of it not being safe. My Stepmom has painted hers a couple of times..but I will suggest that you NOT use BM paint. The last time she used BM black and it didn't dry for 8 days!! So..stay away from BM melamine paint!!
:) Mel
I had spoken with someone at Home Depot and she was the one who told me it wasn't recommended for a kitchen counter. She even seemed iffy about the bathroom but said it would probably be ok. Perhaps I'll ask around at a few other paint places for some more advice to see how it compares.
So many other people seem to be doing it so I'm hoping that she may be wrong.
k
I did a seach on google and msn on painting counters, I haven't found any reports of it being unsafe. Maybe you should call a paint store, and ask them.
I actually do like the idea of the grey as well. The only issue is that if I'm not able to safely paint the counter it may not look great. I know beige and off white are neutral but somehow I don't see my counter looking good with grey.
I don't know if anyone is familiar enough with the Behr lines to know the colour by name but I'm looking at 'Maple Leaf' which is 250D-6D and 'Carmelized Orange' 250D-7D. We'll probably go with the first one. You can see it in the colour selector thing on the behr site. (if you are curious at all ;) )
it's sort of a burnt orange colour... kinda... It was inpsired by a picture we have for the kitchen.
k
If you really like orange you could do a darkish grey with it.
Hmmm... I'll look for something like that! I was actually thinking that I'd like a funky green colour but thought maybe it would be too much and I also considered brown... so a brownish green may just help with my indecision! :)
As much as I love halloween I think I'll stay away from black and orange ;)
Good luck to you with all the upcoming renos. My only suggestion to go with orange is a deep khaki green colour that almost borders on brown. LOL..confused yet?? :rolleyes: I painted the walls in my entry such a colour (Patches by Pittsburgh Paints) and the very first accent colour I chose was orange. These two colours look absolutely beautiful together!! The only other colour I absolutely LOVE with orange is black..but you don't want a year-round Halloween look.
:) Mel
I completely forgot that I have pictures I can put up! here you go...
[img]http://www.snickersnack.net/watson/kitchen.jpg[/img]