How one can Change Kitchen Counter tops With out Altering Them

If the kitchen is the middle of the home, the counter tops are the middle of the kitchen. That’s the place the entire meal-making magic happens (and the place takeout bins are unpacked).

We aren’t all blessed with brand-new, just-what-we-want counter tops though—they often aren’t low value to interchange. If you’re caught with earlier, drained counter tops, you’re in luck: there are creative and cost-effective strategies to revive your lackluster counter tops, whether or not or not you’re a DIY-er or not.

Study on for five expert-approved strategies to switch your kitchen counter tops.

Paint Your Counter tops

Is your TikTok feed tempting you with DIYs for painted counter tops? Heather Goerzen, the lead inside designer at Havenly, ensures that painting your kitchen counter tops can produce a formidable finish consequence—when completed appropriately. (No skipping steps allowed!)

Observe Goerzen’s regular how-to proper right here:

1. Prep the ground: Clear the counter tops completely to remove any grease, grime, or residue. Sand the ground calmly to create a troublesome texture that helps the paint adhere larger.
2. Prime: Apply a high-quality bonding primer designed for use on counter tops. This may increasingly assure larger adhesion of the paint and improve its sturdiness.
3. Apply paint: Choose a paint notably formulated for counter tops, just like epoxy or enamel paint. Apply the paint evenly with a roller or brush, following the producer’s instructions regarding drying events and number of coats.
4. Seal: As quickly because the paint is completely dry, seal the counter tops with a clear, food-safe sealant to protect the paint and provide a simple finish.
5. Add decorative touches: Further enhance the seems of your painted counter tops by together with thrives like stenciling, pretend finishes, or decorative tiles.

Polish Your Counter tops

Possibly your counter tops merely need clear. Who’s conscious of what kind of grime and filth have been improve by means of the years, in all probability a very long time?

Sooner than altering them, try sharpening them—that’s one in every of inside designer Heather Fujikawa’s favorite strategies to make counter tops actually really feel new.

You must use a enterprise sharpening compound, or make your particular person with baking soda and water. Therapeutic massage your counter tops with the polish on a cloth, then wipe away the excess with a transparent materials.

“It’s excellent what polish can do to refresh your counter tops,” Fujikawa says. “It takes off the scrapes and stains and offers your counter a whole new facelift.”

Change the Elements Throughout the Counter tops

One technique to switch your earlier counter tops is to, successfully, not contact them the least bit. Instead, make certain the design elements throughout the counter tops complement them.

For example, rethink your backsplash—is there one different coloration or pattern which may convey out the best of the counter tops? Updating your cabinet {{hardware}} can go an ideal distance, and so does together with some fashionable countertop decor.

“Your eye takes in your complete seen,” says Goerzen—not merely your not-so-sightly counter tops.

Add a Concrete Overlay

To current your kitchen a additional industrial, brutalist-modern look, cowl dated counter tops with a layer of concrete.

“This look is obvious, minimalist, and may closing for years to return with barely maintenance,” Goerzen says.

Goerzen recommends following these steps:

1. Prep the ground: Clear the counter tops completely and restore any cracks or chips. Apply a bonding agent to the ground to ensure larger adhesion of the concrete overlay.
2. Mix and apply: Mix the concrete overlay in response to the producer’s instructions, together with pigment if desired for coloration. Unfold the overlay evenly onto the counter tops using a trowel, working in small sections to ensure uniform safety.
3. Texturing and Finish: As quickly because the overlay is utilized, use devices like trowels, stamps, or brushes to create texture and patterns on the ground if desired. Allow the overlay to dry partially, then use a moist sponge to simple out any powerful areas and refine the texture.
4. Seal: After the concrete overlay has completely cured, apply various coats of concrete sealant to protect the ground from stains and moisture. Choose a sealant notably formulated for use on concrete counter tops for most interesting outcomes.

Embellish the Counter tops

If you’re not the DIY type, put your styling experience to work in its place, together with intentional gear to your counter tops.

Fujikawa recommends laying chopping boards alongside the backsplash or behind the vent hood, which brings your eye up (and away!) from the counter tops. She moreover loves arranging beautiful cooking utensils in a kitchen crock. Not solely is having a picket spoon inside arm’s attain of your fluctuate useful, nonetheless it’ll help camouflage the look of earlier counter tops.

You’ll moreover layer a reasonably patterned tea towel over a chopping board, topping that with a giant vase or fruit bowl.

“These are some pleasing strategies to trick the eye to maneuver the attention from the counter tops to the enticing gear in your kitchen,” says Fujikawa, “and are rather a lot cheaper than altering your counter tops!”