Painting laminate kitchen countertops

[throway]

Has anyone done this? A quick google suggests that there are paints specifically for this, but most results warn against it, so I suppose part of me just wants to check it really is a bad idea so I can move on!

I know that wrapping it in vinyl sheets would probably be the best thing to do, but the options seem to be either imitation marble/wood/concrete (which I'm not a fan of), terrazzo (which I like but I feel wouldn't go with the Victorian-style flat and cabinets), or some really out there funky patterns. There are, of course, solid colour options but I worry that any imperfections - either from the installation process or wear and tear - would be really obvious?

Please also show me your successful countertop wrapping projects, especially if they don't fall into one of the above categories! 😊

Im interested too!

I tried it for a few years when I was skint and couldn't bear the beige any longer.
It was only just OK and required regular repainting not to look awful.

(I replaced them with coloured retro laminate, which is working out well and gives exactly the look I want. I might have tried wrapping them but it wasn’t available at the time.)

We didn't paint the (black) worktops but we painted the (black) tiles and the (dark purple) walls. That made a big difference though the tiles could do with a touch up approx 7 years later!
It's a very small kitchen so as you can imagine it looked even smaller!

Giggorata, where did you get your retro laminate?

Thanks all. @Giggorata I'd also be interested - did you put on a whole new worktop? I was advised that the cheaply made cabinet carcasses would fall apart if I tried taking the worktop off, but maybe there's another option I'm not aware of?

@drspouse wow dark purple walls is quite a statement! Can I ask how you went about painting the tiles, and if you'd do it again? I also have some tile backsplash that I'd never have chosen myself, but it's marginally less offensive than the laminate so I haven't thought about it so much yet...

We moved into a house a few years back where the previous owner had painted both the cupboards and worktops.
they were awful they looked awful and were never really clean and I think kitchen worktops really have to be clean; we changed them as soon as we could afford to.
I would say don’t do it save your money and do it properly.

This was mine from a good few years ago - first time using vinyl wrap but the original black laminate worktop had a large burn mark near the hob where previous owner had put a hot pan down. I wrapped in the wood effect - it was quite straightforward, I recommend a using fresh Stanley blade to cut around the edges cleanly.

It was a stopgap while we saved to replace and lasted pretty well, a small area around the sink was starting to lift a bit when we replaced the kitchen 3 years later.

Re my worktops: I got them from John Porter in East Sussex.
They were delivered in very long pieces, along with rolls of edging, as per the retro work top look. These were glued in place with appropriately coloured adhesive.
(Some of their worktops are available with the rounded edges, too)

I employed a (really good) joiner to remove the old ones and install the new atop my existing cabinets, which I wanted to keep and which are sturdy enough, despite being quite old. i kept all my existing tiled splashbacks as well.

@AwkwardPaws27 that looks really good, thank you for sharing!

@Giggorata ah I see. Unfortunately I don’t think that’ll be an option for me this time but good to know.

I can vouch for painting tiles! But of course they get a lot less grief than worktops.

Thanks Giggorata. I really fancy a formica worktop.

Have you considered tiling it
Square tiles laid in a regular pattern look great then a timber trim at the edges

@DrPrunesqualer hadn't realised this was an option, but I'll look into it, thank you!