GianiCountertop Paint Kit (Sicilian Sand)

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).

This is SO EASY to use! Our old house had solid off-white, low-quality laminate counters that were original to the house (1988) and they were just ugly. I wanted to make the kitchen look better, but I didn't have a lot of money. After hearing about this product and reading tons of online reviews, I gave it a shot. It's amazing how well this worked! I had more than enough in one kit to do our bathroom counter as well as the kitchen (granted, neither had much counter space). We also painted the cabinets (with Nuvo paint in the kitchen) and the walls in both rooms for thorough makeovers, and the results were amazing! The bathroom was the nicest room in the house - the counters looked fantastic. This product is time-consuming, but extremely easy to use. When we sold the house a couple of years after updating the kitchen and bath, the realtor couldn't believe the countertops had been painted and not replaced entirely. The bathroom counter came out nicer than the kitchen, but that's all on me. I wanted a counter with more brown in it in the bathroom, and more white in the kitchen. I had a hard time getting the effect I wanted in the kitchen, but I also didn't take as much time with it as I should have. I always cleaned it with a mixture of vinegar and water using a paper towel or a washcloth, and I didn't have any issues with it.These aren't complaints about the product itself, but rather a couple of observations/notes --. Be patient. This will take a very long time, especially if you have a lot of counter to paint. It took me a whole weekend to do each room, but most of that is drying/curing time. Obviously sponging the colors on is the most hands-on part of it - don't rush through it, or it'll look bad. And follow the instructions for drying/curing times to make sure everything sets.. Note that you're not really supposed to use the counters for a while (two weeks maybe? It's been a while, so I forget) after finishing the project, to allow the paint time to cure. I wasn't concerned about the bathroom because we don't put anything heavy on it, but for the kitchen, I did it the weekend before we left for vacation, so the house was empty and the counters weren't used for 10 days or so.. Test out the technique before you commit to anything. I practiced for the bathroom, and it came out great, but for the kitchen, I just figured i already knew what I was doing after having done the bathroom. I wish I'd practiced more before diving in. Really, I wish I'd painted over the whole black primer coat with white acrylic before sponging on the other colors, because I ended up having a lot more black showing than I'd wanted.. It's paint -- it WILL scratch/peel. You need to use a cutting board all the time, because even a slight nick in the paint can start peeling. We had some scratches and small places that began to peel, mostly from the cats jumping on/off of the counters. I used several more coats of the clear coat (and when I ran out, I just used clear acrylic paint, which didn't work nearly as well) to "fix" it.. Do not set hot pans on the finished product.

This product is so easy to use. You literally can't make a mistake. My counter tops look amazing and brand new. They were 20 years old ! I did add a glitter paint additive to the top coat to give it extra sparkle. I am thoroughly impressed with this product and would definitely recommend it !

I was selling my home and COVID made it hard to get materials and professionals in to replace my bathroom countertop. I looked up DIY solutions and found this. I was nervous because I don't have much of an artist's eye. I wondered if I could really do this. Well... I did it! And the results are surprisingly good. It took some time. I did a laminate counter about 6 feet long with two oval sinks in it. I would say to watch all the videos you can in advance of starting so you don't have to stop very much in the middle of any step (to ensure the paint doesn't dry). But at the same time, I would also say there is more room for error than you think with this. If you're not happy with the sponging, you can go back over it with touch ups. If you only blend the colours a little... or if you blend them a lot... the final product is still going to work out okay. I couldn't do the long single strokes for the top coat as seen in the videos because I was working with a backsplash edge and two oval sinks... but it still looks great! I have now had several real estate agents through the home and no one has even noticed the counter is "painted." It just looks like a shiny new piece of laminate. I would say it could pass for granite with an epoxy coating (which I was too afraid to try). So if you're like me and think you may not be able to do this... you probably can! Very reasonably-priced fix.

For a few years I’ve need a new work top and my husband said we couldn’t afford one. I tried this product behind his back and he was amazed with the result, it’s totally transformed our kitchen, WE LOVE IT!Quality is fantastic and it’s saved us so much money. It’s really easy to use, I didn’t use the white marble effect as I wanted a bronze look, any knife marks or chips I filled in with wood filler first.

This is my second of these kits, and I only purchased it because it was on sale at a good discount. Used the first kit on 10 ft. of kitchen and 5 ft. of bathroom counters about 18 months ago. Fretted about application but if you follow instructions it's easy to apply and the results are surprisingly attractive. Several people found it hard to believe it was a painted surface. Durability has been very good so far, with reasonable care. I would suggest you consider buying an extra can of High Gloss Topcoat - the kit supplied can was spread pretty thin at the end, 2nd can finished the job and will do a recoat on the heavy wear areas in the future. This is a very worthwhile product.

My 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.