Giani Countertop Paint Kit - Chocolate Brown | DIY Countertop Refinishing for Kitchens & Bathrooms | Easy to Use, Durable Finish for a Stunning Home Upgrade

Wow. After spending about 3 years reading about these countertop granite paint products such as this one from Giani and the Rustoleum products and trying to scare up the guts to take on the task myself, I finally took the plunge. To give you some backround, I have two bathrooms with dated formica vanity tops. One is a small 36 inch top in my downstairs half bath. The other is a 72 inch vanity top in one of my upstairs bathrooms.I am no Bob Villa so when these projects come up I usually take a good while to get up the courage to try and do the job myself. I was going to just replace the vanities alltogether but to do both would have been upwards of $1000. I was willing to pay the money but the Giani paint stuck in my mind based on great reviews and a million youtube videos showing what appeared to be a pretty basic process. I finally figured I would try it on the small 36 inch top since if I didn't like the results I could easily just rip out the top and replace it with a brand new one.I chose Giani over the Rustoleum counter restoration product because I thought the end results looked more appealing. The Rustoleum uses flakes on top of a base coat, covered by a clear coat whereas Giani uses several different colors of paint in conjunction with a sponge to create a more granite-like pattern under a clear top coat. Both products get great reviews and I'd likely be happy with either choice.Anyhow, I chose the Giani product in Chocolate Brown. I went through the easy process of painting the vanity top with a black primer base coat and then the three different colors were put on one at a time with the sponge. Each color can is clearly shown in step order 1,2, and 3. You can emphasize whichever color you like the most by utilizing it more than the others. In my case, my end product with the chocolate brown kit came out with a more "whiteish" counter as opposed to the picture on the product box which is more brown'black dominant.The final results? I love it. I'm the typical skeptic who says "it can't be that easy" and "there's no way it could ever look like real granite" like all of these other people mentioned in their reviews, but it really does! As you're going through the process you're kind of paranoid because you can't see the whole picture yet but after you finish and put the clear coat on it really does turn out great. If my wife had come home from the big box stores with this vanity top I would look at it and say it was granite or at the very least just a great looking granite-like vanity top that I would have no problem paying good money for.The funny thing is I don't even think I did that great of a job but it's still such an improvement over the old formica. I also put in a new sink so the whole vanity looks brand new. It's been a few days now and I still keep going out of my way to go into this bathroom to look at the counter. I can't believe that's my old vanity top under there and I can't believe that all it is is three different paint colors and a final clear coat on top.As far as the amount of materials you get in the package, I'd say one box would have been just enough to do my larger 72 inch vanity top. I didn't like the job I did on my first try so I actually redid the whole thing again and still had some of each of the three colors along with the black primer and clearcoat left over.I do have some tips that may seem obvious after watching the various youtube videos and the product dvd, but I still think they need to be emphasized.1) You will rip the round sponge provided into three parts for each of the three colors. You really want to look at each piece and try and make sure that you have a good section of ridges and grooves for the paint to lay on as this will be the pattern you create on the counter each time you press down. In my first attempt I felt my patterns were kind of flat and not very crisp. I realized that I didn't have a good definitive pattern in my ripped sponge so when I pressed down it was kind of blotchy and mashed together.2) You will hear and read many times in the videos and instructions that you have to GENTLY push up and down with the sponge on the counter to leave the correct pattern. This is so true but you can easily start to get lazy and begin pushing down too hard or begin pushing down on an angle instead of straight up and down. This will result in blotchy and messy patterns that lose all the definition you will want in the end result. I found myself thinking I was going straight up and down but in reality I was pushing down at a slight angle and smudging the pattern along the way. Go slow and go straight up and down and only slightly push down once you make contact!!3)if you've ever done any house painting then you've used the frog or 3M masking tape and likely ripped it right down when done painting. The instructions with this product ask you to score the tape with a sharp edging knife before you remove it. Don't ignore this step! If you try and just peel the masking tape away without scoring it you will pull up a lot of the clear top coat along with it. Even when you score the tape you still need to go slow while peeling it off. Trust me it's worth the effort.In the end you will be amazed at the final results. I am convinced and I will now be moving on to the larger vanity top upstairs after getting great results in my smaller bathroom. How great were the results? It looked so good that I ended up replacing my toilet as well as it now looked old and outdated in comparison to my vanity. Incredible value for under $80.I would easily recommend this product to anyone.It will be a while before I could remodel my whole entire kitchen so I wanted to make it feel like home. The counter tops were sand color with the flecks in it, nothing eye sore about it, just blah. I like doing projects around the house and we've been in our house well over 3 1/2 years and with only updating with paint on the walls.I researched the Rustoleum product for the counter tops and I was planning on going with that until I heard that it left a horrible after smell because that's how the product worked. Not what I was wanting with 3 kids in the house. Then I came across the Giani products and researched it online before purchasing. It seemed like a good candidate and so I purchased it.I got this shipment pretty quickly and in great condition. I watched the dvd at least 3 times to ensure I was going to do it right. And sometimes found myself referring back to it when I got to each phase I was at.It does only take a whole weekends worth of time (most of it for drying time) but it is well worth the effort. I painted my primer on the night before since that takes at least 4 hours to dry but I figured, I'd give it a little extra over night. It couldn't hurt. I was going to take my entire sink out to do this but my husband, well, didn't want to. So I worked with the sink in, no big deal. The minerals itself take 4 hours to dry, total time. You have to do each mineral separately so that they do not blend into each other. You have the option to use what mineral colors to your liking. I did choose to use the bronze but very seldom and randomly. I figured it gave it a little more depth.If you are a perfectionist or OCD about things, then this will probably give you a hard time. Although, the minerals are suppose to be random, you feel the need that it's just not right. That was my case. I started with the black mineral (per instructions) then the pearl and stopped there. I wanted to make sure that's how I liked it. So I slept on it. It's a good thing I did because I felt I over did it with the pearl so I went back over with more black. You just have to lightly and I emphasize, "lightly" sponge on the minerals. The harder you dab, the more the shape of the sponge you'll see in your finished product. But all in all, this product has great coverage. I don't know what real granite looks like and highly doubt it looks like my counter tops, although I had a friend said that they did. I, do however, enjoy my counter tops now than before. It's a quick and simple project that is super affordable and a temporary fix. I have left over product to do more, if needed.On the durability of the product - I waited at least 14 days (as recommended) to lay anything on the counter. I had a folding table to do my cooking, chopping...etc temporarily. I've had this product on my counter tops for about a month now and felt it was a good time to do a review on it. Sometimes, people jump the gun, you know what I mean. Whatever dishes I have left over that doesn't fit in my dishwasher, I normally do them by hand and set them on a kitchen towel on the counter. Thinking that the counter top was at it's total dry time, I figured it should be good to keep it on there. Well, I ended up running out somewhere and it stayed on my counter for a few hours, maybe more. I took the towel off and like a previous reviewer said, it caused a blotchy spot and little tiny bubbles. I was totally bummed and was about to scrape it up and fix it. Good thing was, it was close to bed time and well, I didn't want to embark on that at that moment. So I slept on it. Went to check it the next morning and it was gone!! Bubbles and blotchy marks! I was so relieved since I really didn't want to re-do it. And I have to be honest, I'm always leaving water all over the counters and don't wipe them up right away and most of the time does it. The blotchy spots, if you can imagine when you leave a hot pot on the table and it leaves the heat spot. It's kind of like that on these counters. But don't touch or start to re-fix them!! They will go away in a couple hours of drying, trust me!!! It's a weekly thing with me :) I beat my counter tops up and I've had not one scratch on them or peeling up anywhere. I didn't even put back the caulk around the sink like you're suppose to after you're done painting and nothing has lifted.All in all, if you read the directions and follow each step as instructed, you'll have no problem. I highly recommend this product for anyone looking for a new look. :) This counter top color also looks great with grey tones (like how I did with my cabinets).After doing loads of research, reading tons of reviews and watching other people's experiences on YouTube, I decided to give this a go. Even though it had lots of rave reviews and had seemingly worked well for other people, I was still very skeptical about how it would turn out for me, as I am useless at anything remotely creative. However, I hated my work tops so much that I figured I couldn't hate them any more, even if I totally messed them up so, last weekend I took the plunge, and oh my goodness, I am so glad that I did! The results were way beyond my expectations and my husband couldn't believe how great the worktops looked once I'd finished them (and he used to run a kitchen business).If you decide to give it a go, some tips from my experience are:- Follow the instructions to the letter, and watch the Giani tutorial videos on YouTube before you start. The videos give additional really useful information and application tips which aren't on the written instructions.- You don't necessarily need to use Frog brand masking tape but do use a really good quality precision masking tape.- I didn't do any sanding between top coats because I couldn't get any fine enough sanding paper. They say you need number 600 which is US standard. This is equivalent to about number 1000+ European standard and I couldn't get it in our local Homebase. If you can't get it, then I wouldn't recommend using any standard fine sanding paper as it will take the paint off.- The top coat is trickier to put on than the primer and coloured minerals because it is very slippery and I found that the roller sometimes slipped and dragged over the surface instead of rolling, but when it did this I just picked the roller off the surface and out it back down again until it rolled nicely. Also, don't panic when you're applying the top coat as it goes on with a kind of ultra violet blue tinge to it, and looks all ripply and uneven, but it kind of self-levels and dries crystal clear. I thought I'd ruined the whole thing with the top coat, but it dried beautifully. There is a separate tutorial video on YouTube on how to apply the top coat - definitely watch that one.- There are also separate videos on how to apply the minerals for whichever colour you choose. You can get a bit creative with how you want it to look though. I didn't use the bronze colour mineral from my kit as I didn't think it would go with the colour scheme we are going for with the cupboards, so I just wanted the black with the silvery white flecks.- Give yourself a whole clear weekend to do the project. It took me from midday on Saturday right up to 1.30am Monday morning, with all the correct drying times. However it did take me 6 hours to put the minerals on, as I'm a bit of a perfectionist and I probably faffed about with it longer than most people would, plus we have got a lot of work surface in our kitchen.- Measure your work surface to see how much paint you'll need. They do give you plenty though - I bought two kits, as we have lots of work surface, but there is still loads left over of the second kit - I only needed extra primer and top coat.- And finally, I've posted some before and after pictures as I'm so proud of my efforts!Obviously, I can't comment on the durability of this product as I only did it a week ago, but it has dried rock hard and I am quietly optimistic that it will fare well if we treat it kindly and follow the Giani recommendations for cleaning it etc.In summary, if you're in two minds about whether to go for this or not, just do it - you honestly won't be sorry.This was so easy to do. I was really thorough with preparation- masking off, removing silicone, using a blade to scrape joins and around sink and cooker. It’s lasted really well (applied it 5 months ago. We have had some damages but so easy to touch up spots, not needed to sand back large areas, just the tiny area of damage and it’s not taken long. Every stage looked so good that I was tempted to keep each one as I was scared that I would mess up the next stage!! I am so glad that I went through to the last stage. Photos do it no justice. Every visitor couldn’t believe it was a paint effect. I’d definitely buy it again. I don’t think it looks like real granite but it definitely looks like a good quality granite effect worktop. Very happyMy husband was super hesitant when I bought this kit. We're both pleasantly surprised in how it turned out. I did sand the counters and wood strip as much as I could with a sanding block then used the brillo pad as recommended. I did the primer around 9pm on a Saturday night (that way there wasn't a bunch of traffic throughout the house, dog hair floating around etc). In the morning I did a few touch ups and sponge applied the minerals around 1pm on the Sunday. We chose to use only the black and white and omit the bronze that came with the kit (we are still doing the backsplash and floors and felt the bronze wouldn't match). The mineral sponge coat dries pretty fast and my husband gave me grief for going too slow because it was drying! We waited the 4 hours as directed before applying the sparkle top finish coat. I saw a couple spots that we missed with the first top coat and applied the 2nd coat on around 9:30pm. By morning it looked even nicer! But with that being said, although it seems pretty hard and cured already so I'm curious to see how it holds up over time. I have bought a 33" x 33" slate slab to sit beside the stove should I need to move a pot unexpectedly because to my understanding it does not handle heat well. I think we have a benefit not having backsplash installed yet because there are less areas taped off and we don't have to worry about it peeling up. I feel like I watched 100 videos and still had my own unique experience. It's worth the $100 or so dollars in my opinion and it actually looks nice in person than my pictures.I have done my fair share of painting over the years but never attempted anything like this before. It was quite scary doing all the different stages but once the final top coat went on it just looks absolutely amazing. I'm really happy with how it turned out, once I caulk the edges you would never think that it has been painted on. Highly recommend the product!This kit transformed the old stained, damaged and faded white laminate countertops that we inherited with our house (see before and after photos)Following the instructions to the letter I was easily able to complete the job over a weekend. Most time consuming part was the prep, the painting went on quickly and easily and left a great finish. To get a really realistic granite finish requires some artistic eye but satisfied with what I achieved.After 3 weeks the finish is still perfect and really easy to keep clean.Obviously it isn’t going to trick anyone into thinking it’s real stone but at £80 compared to the real deal at over £2k you can’t go wrong!