The kitchen houses many sharp edges increasing the probability of the kitchen benchtop getting scratched. Also, the chances of staining are pretty high. So, it is obvious that your kitchen benchtop would need restoration work to get rid of the damages and stains after every few years. Replacing a kitchen benchtop would cost you a lot. Instead, its restoration by resurfacing is a lot more cost effective and can transform the look of your kitchen greatly.
In case you are looking to give your kitchen benchtop a completely new look, but have an extremely low budget, consider refinishing or repainting or re-laminating the benchtops.
Here is a solution for eliminating each defect of a kitchen benchtop:
- Hard stains: Most of the stains on a kitchen benchtop can be removed by using a paste made from baking soda and water. All you need to do is apply some of the baking soda and water paste on the stain and let it work for a couple of hours. Do not overdo it. The baking soda can cause white spots on the benchtop if left on it for a long time. Also, do not rub. The tiny granules of baking soda can scratch the surface. Just wipe it off with a paper towel. For more stubborn stains, use nail polish remover. (An 627) Dip a clean rag in it and rub gently to get off the stain. Other solvents to try on stubborn stains are paint thinner, denatured alcohol, and acetone. Use all these sparingly to avoid damaging the lamination. Make sure you use a white rag while applying these solvents to prevent the colour of the fabric from staining the benchtop.
- Scratches: Minor or large scratches can be fixed easily with a laminate repair paste available at any hardware shop. To camouflage the repair work, get a repair pen of the same colour as that of your benchtop, which is also available at any hardware or home improvement shop. Fill the scratches and blemishes with care. Ensure that you do not overfill as the objective is to hide the defect and not highlight it instead. Overfilling would lead to making the benchtop surface uneven slightly which you would want to avoid.
In case all such defects are too many to fix one at a time and you need a complete restoration, there are 2 solutions:
- Painting the benchtops in a faux granite pattern
- Adding a sheet of laminate overlay
Adding a sheet of lamination is as easy as a task can get. The lamination sheets are simply cut, peel and stick sheet available in the market. So, it is just a job of careful measurement and precise cleaning before sticking.
On the other hand, painting the benchtop involves more steps. The quality of the final output of the job depends greatly on how careful your prep work is. Before starting the painting work, you need to carefully remove all the dirt and smudges by cleaning the whole countertop with soap and water, followed by denatured alcohol. Apart from this, take extra care in applying the painter’s tape to prevent staining the sinks, faucets, and backsplash. Take your time in ensuring that there is good adhesion at every location to avoid even minor splashes of colour seeping through the gaps in adhesion. Also, after painting is complete and the paint has dried up, apply at least two acrylic polyurethane topcoats using a dense foam roller. You can get a mottled look of granite by dabbing the wet paint with a sponge. And the best part is that you can keep going until the final outcome looks perfect. This way, some people say that this technique of kitchen benchtop restoration is the most forgiving of all the painting projects.
With all these restoration ideas, you can save a lot of bucks and give a brand look for your kitchen benchtop.
About the Writer
This post is written by Joseph Webb. Joseph is an excellent blogger and philosophers, His keen observation to provide useful information which helps readers to get more ideas. He can be found on Google+ and on Twitter as @aussiesmag.
