# Forum Home Renovation Kitchens  Quick fix for kitchen benchtops

## Loquacity

Hi everyone! We've just bought a house, which is going to need some renos. The kitchen looks like this:     :Yikes2:  
The point is, since I'm completely redoing the floors before we move in, the kitchen won't be replaced until I have a little more money - probably in about twelve months' time. But I'm not sure I can cope with those orange benchtops for that long! Since the kitchen is functional in its present state, but ugly, I'm wondering if there's a cheap and easy way to cover up the laminate. Is it hard (or expensive) to buy laminate, cut it out, and glue it on top of the existing benchtops? Is that even possible? 
Any help you have would be greatly appreciated! 
L

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## arms

> Hi everyone! We've just bought a house, which is going to need some renos. The kitchen looks like this:     
> The point is, since I'm completely redoing the floors before we move in, the kitchen won't be replaced until I have a little more money - probably in about twelve months' time. But I'm not sure I can cope with those orange benchtops for that long! Since the kitchen is functional in its present state, but ugly, I'm wondering if there's a cheap and easy way to cover up the laminate. Is it hard (or expensive) to buy laminate, cut it out, and glue it on top of the existing benchtops? Is that even possible? 
> Any help you have would be greatly appreciated! 
> L

  even i wouldnt attempt that,hasnt really been fully sucessful in the past  ,just sand the surface with 120 grit paper paying attention to sanding all the surface ,then go and buy tile and tub ,it comes in several colours ,follow the instructions and in a years time rip out the old kitchen as required ,total cost should be about $100.00 not including your time.but then again someone here will no doubt take exception to what i have said  :Screwy:

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## cherub65

white kight do a paint you could use, its not recommended for bench tops but if its a short term fix it would fine

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## pawnhead

> Is it hard (or expensive) to buy laminate, cut it out, and glue it on top of the existing benchtops? Is that even possible? 
> Any help you have would be greatly appreciated! 
> L

  It's not that hard. I've done it before and I've had no problems. You have to scratch the surface extensively first. I wouldn't leave more than a centimetre between scratches. You can use the teeth of an old handsaw, if you bend it a bit and drag it across the surface, or you can use a score and snap knife, or the corner of a chisel. 
Remove your sink and stove. The sink will be screwed from underneath, but the cook top may just lift straight out. You can leave the stove connected but you'll probably have to turn off the water to disconnect the sink if the flexible water connections aren't long enough to manoeuvre it out of the way, or if it has solid connections. A good place to put your joins is where there's a sink or stove, so the joint is very short. You can save material by putting a narrow strip in front of, and behind it, but if you don't want to join it there, then you can cut a hole in a full sheet. 
Cut the laminex 5 or 10mm bigger than you need, spread contact cement on both surfaces, wait for it to become touch dry, put spacer sticks across the benchtop, and lower your laminex onto them. Make sure it's lined up properly, and starting from the middle, remove the sticks, put a tea towel on it, put a flat solid block of timber at least 4" square on top of the tea towel, and belt it with a hammer. Remove more sticks and repeat, so you squeeze any potential air bubbles out from the middle. 
If you don't have a router or laminex trimmer, then you can use a handplane and a file to take off the overhang. I'd put the edge strip on before the top, so the joint is horizontal rather than vertical. Trim the edge strip square, and bevel the edge of the top.  
Alternatively, what I would do is get some Merbau floorboards (reasonably cheap for a nice hardwood, but you could get knotty cypress pine cheaper), scratch up the surface as before, and glue them down with construction adhesive, as well as secret nailing them through the tongues, as well as screwing them from up under the benchtop, as well as using PVA glue in the tongue and grooves. A strip across the front to finish it off, sand and polly it, and you've got a nice hardwood bench that may cost the same, (or less with cypress) than Laminex. You may get a bit of movement and cracking in the joints that you wouldn't get with a proper solid laminated timber top, and it may look a bit worn and need a refinish after about five years depending on the traffic, but I'd prefer even a well worn timber bench to Laminex any day.
That's what I've done with my kitchen and I'm very happy with it. I could post some pictures if you want.

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## ricstew

Think of it as terracotta! Ditch the frilly curtain and change the knobs on the cupboards........this will make a huge change.
By time you add your kettle, microwave and other stuff to the benchtop you wont see much of it.
Gotta love those floor tiles!
cheers
Jan

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## murray44

We recently (19 months ago) bought a house and have the lime green version of your burnt orange! Am in the same position as you, plan to upgrade the kitchen eventually but needed a cheap quick fix. 
I used the White Knight laminex and tile paint and it is fantastic. It takes a few weeks to really harden so be careful about setting down microwaves and kettles for a while (we used fabric placemats for a month or so). 
My laminex was slightly textured which was good as it hid any brush marks. I gave the surface a good sand before starting and gave it a bit of wet and dry between coats. So far we only have 2 small chips which I could easily touch up if needed. You do need to be a little careful not to slide metal pots etc across it. 
For the price, it's a great fix. Funny thing was, half way through the job I read the back of the can fully and it says "not intended for bench tops"! haha

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## pawnhead

> I used the White Knight laminex and tile paint and it is fantastic.

  That sounded interesting so I visited their website, and I noticed that they make "glow in the dark" paint as well.
A bit of Phosphorescent paint here and there in the wall mural that I'm planning for my lounge room might be just the trick.  :Biggrin:

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## Loquacity

Thanks to everyone who provided answers! There's some great suggestions here. I'll wait a little to make the final decision, but the White Knight paint sounds like the way to go. It only needs to last a very short time, and it seems like that would require a lot less time and effort to get it looking good (or at least not orange!). 
Thanks again  :happy:  
L

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## rsser

A related query ... 
We have a worn section of laminex and just need a fix for that.  I notice that as the surface of this stuff wears it seems to soak up stains more so the sooner it's dealt with the better. 
How would a light sand and some sort of clear coating go do you reckon?

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## leeton

Looks good with white benchtops... :Biggrin:

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## Loquacity

Well, I ended up taking the White Knight road, and I'm pretty happy with the result! Unfortunately, the roller was shedding a bit, so it's not a perfect finish. I dare say that a fresh coat with a better quality roller would bring it up, but we ended up being in a hurry to get in to the house, so I let it go. They're all going to be ripped out pretty soon, anyway. And the main objective was achieved - they're not orange any more!   
Now to find some new doorknobs ... and consider my options on tiles  :Wink 1:  
Thanks again for all the assistance, everyone! 
L

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