Simple strategies to Change Earlier Laminate Counter tops 5 Easy Strategies

Caught with dingy, seen-better-days laminate counter tops? We actually really feel you. If a kitchen remodel has to dwell in your needs for now, each on account of budgetary causes or because you rent, there are nonetheless strategies you’ll affordably substitute your counter tops.

For help, we turned to dwelling life-style skilled Julian Thomas. Possibly you already know him as Marfa Stewart on TikTok, or have seen his DIY duties pop up in your Instagram feed.

He spilled 5 strategies to switch outdated laminate with out spending a paycheck or two. Be taught on for his good ideas.

Wrap Them in Contact Paper

As a former proprietor of laminate counter tops, Thomas can converse from experience in relation to creating use of self-adhering contact paper. He calls it the best DIY decisions he has ever made.

“Whereas certain, making use of an infinite sticker to an enormous ground area can seem daunting, the exhausting work and endurance is worth it,” he says.

Contact paper is a breeze to remove and could possibly be current in practically any coloration and pattern, so you’ll coordinate with cabinets or swap it out when the inspiration strikes (or when your lease it up).

Sooner than scouring the huge area retailers for decisions, though, Thomas recommends procuring Etsy for designs, as they’ve an inclination to provide further on-trend decisions. His current favorite is that this terrazzo pattern.

“While you’re at it, now would even be a very good time to change out cabinet or drawer knobs and pulls for an actual kitchen enhance,” Thomas says.

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Paint Them

“The final phrase technique to disguise disagreeable laminate counter tops”—that’s how Thomas describes the cheap risk of painting.

He recommends looking Pinterest or TikTok for tutorials, then visiting your native dwelling enchancment retailer for a paint package deal dedicated to DIY-ing a painted countertop. You probably may even create a faux-marble finish with paint.

Painting laminate counter tops comes with an enormous warning though: not solely is paint eternal (in distinction to peel-and-stick contact paper), nevertheless the course of may be very technical. You’ll moreover wish to use a food-safe sealant to guard every you and the counter tops from undesirable provides.

“It’s necessary to look at instructions to verify the meals safety of your counter tops, and to take care of them shielded from the inevitable mess accustomed to kitchens,” Thomas says.

Prime Them With Butcher Blocks

Whereas contact paper and paint every require devices and some prior DIY know-how, there are options for updating your laminate counter tops even when you occur to’re a lot much less assured with a enterprise.

Try topping them with butcher blocks, as an example. Merely provide butcher blocks that are broad ample to cowl an infinite portion of your counter tops.

“Butcher blocks will be present in all types of sizes and styles, and normally are usually not solely trendy nevertheless purposeful,” Thomas says. “Together with butcher blocks, I might moreover consider together with a range cowl which can current continuity of the butcher block.”

Clear Them

Relying in your circumstances—perhaps you’re renting—the alternatives listed above is not going to be on the market to you. In that case, you would possibly as correctly embrace the counter tops you already have.

“When opting to stick with laminate counter tops, I wish to advocate defending them clear and well-organized,” Thomas says. “Sometimes the only option for a DIY enhance is the one which requires the least amount of effort.”

First, make it possible for all storage choices coordinate with each other to supply continuity. This, Thomas says, is a design trick that will merely enhance even basically probably the most mundane areas.

Countertop space is efficacious precise property inside the kitchen, and defending them filled with cooking requirements makes basically probably the most smart sense, significantly when storage space is restricted.

“I’m an enormous advocate for maximizing the storage potential of various kitchen surfaces along with counter tops,” Thomas says.

Add a Feather Finish for Pretend Concrete Counter tops

Thomas saves this recommendation—together with a feather finish for a concrete-like look—for remaining for a goal. It’s basically probably the most dedication, and by no means for the DIY shy, he admits.

“Exact concrete counter tops are very trendy, however as well as robust to DIY, though it is attainable,” Thomas says.

In its place, utilizing a feather finish creates the sleek look of concrete, no renovation important.