How To Fix Cracked Laminate Countertop

I love the look of my laminate countertops and they've held up well over the last 20 years.

However, when I noticed a few chips, I wanted a quick and easy way to fix the damage, fill those spots and make it look brand new again.

Here's the full tutorial.

Chips In Laminate kitchen countertop

Way back in 2002, my husband and I found the home of our dreams hiding right across the street.

We'd been looking for something larger in our tiny beach community for over a year.

However, we lived in a generational kind of neighborhood and inventory was always tight.

Houses were often passed down to family members and when they did go up for sale, it was usually a word of mouth transaction.

It's actually how we ended up here.

We'd always admired the house from the outside. It had a great yard, big enough for a pool, which is something I'd wanted ever since I moved away from the one at my childhood home.

But we had no idea what lurked behind the front door.

It was the fireplace that drew us in first. That grand feature took our breath away.

There was an arched doorway, a master bathroom, finished basement and a charming covered porch.

It literally had everything on the list. Including a completely inadequate and outdated kitchen.

And no. I'm not being sarcastic.

You see my husband was well acquainted with my love of decor. He was also well aware of my desire to have a light, bright and {almost} white kitchen.

But being the money guy, he was always silently calculating the cost of things in his head. A move was not going to be cheap. New furniture, a larger yard, the inevitable updating. So he warned me.

Do not find a house with a brand new kitchen...even if those cabinets are dark cherry or oak...and tell me that you want to renovate it.

And I understood. It was a logical request.

So, when we walked into the closet of a kitchen in this home and it clearly needed to be gutted, I think I actually cheered a bit.

I got to put in a new one, from scratch.

Cottage Style Kitchen

Everything in the room, including the laminate countertops, was designed by this girl. A dream come true.

And almost two decades later, my "new" kitchen looks basically the same.

Oh, I've skirted the sink and changed out the faucet.

And yes, we've had to replace some of the appliances. Not an easy task, but that's another story.

We've even refinished the island we made years ago. And I've made curtains more times that I can count.

But the kitchen itself, has held up pretty well.

Until recently. Recently, when I noticed several chips in the laminate countertop right near the sink.

Yikes. We'd had stains before, but I was able to remove them...but never this kind of damage.

Chipped Laminate countertop

I tried not to fixate on them. I really did.

I tried to look away or cover them with a dish towel. But they were there, always there, looking at me.

And they had to go.

When I brought it up to Mr. Fix It, he said, It's fine. I barely notice it.

Well that was great, but I noticed it.

I could see it from across the room. And it bothered me. A lot.

It looked terrible, dirty, worn and old.

Plus, I was afraid that water was going to make its way into the chipped areas and cause more damage. More dirty looking worn spots.

And that would simply not do.

I think it took me about three tries to get my husband's attention and he finally started brainstorming.

At first, we considered one of those epoxy/ paint laminate repair kits, but the reviews were terrible.

So that was out.

Then we started thinking about paint. If we used the right one, it would cover the mess and seal the water out.

But what was the right paint?

How To Repair Laminate Countertop Chips

Testors Model Paint

My husband said it needed to be an enamel paint to work and so we researched online and found a brand used for model painting. Testors Hobby and Enamel Model Paint.

The reviews were outstanding. People said it covered plastic and metal, sealed out water and lasted for years. Even better, it was cheap and came in an endless variety of colors.

Definitely worth a shot.

So we bought several shades and waited for it to arrive.

When it finally showed up, I grabbed a two very thin tipped paint by number kit brushes -they are designed for precision in tight spots - and got to work.

1. First, we cleaned the area well with alcohol to make sure there wasn't any debris or sticky mess on the countertop that would prevent the paint from adhering well.

Rubbing Alcohol

2. Next, we held the paint jars up to the counter to see what matched.

Matching Paint jars to countertop color

One of the colors was super close, but needed just a tad of white added to lighten it up.

Mixing Paint in a small bottle

3. Then we carefully applied the paint to the chipped spots.

We went slow, building up the coats one at a time to fill in the areas where the laminate was missing.

Painting Laminate

To do that, we let each coat dry thoroughly before adding more paint. I think it took about 4 coats to fill the spaces well.

We also had q-tips and a toothpick nearby to wipe away any of the excess paint that might've ended up outside of the chipped spots.

Use Razor To Scrape Paint

4. When the paint was dry, I took a razor blade and gently ran it across the corner seam to dust away any paint that blurred that sharp, dark edge.

The entire process took less than 30 minutes to complete and when we were done, you couldn't even find those nasty chipped spots. Perfect.

Repaired Laminate Countertop

That was back over the summer.

We figured that we might have to do this again sometime in the future, especially since the house is busy and the chips were located near the sink.

But nope, not yet. Today, a good six months later, I went to inspect the area, to maybe take another shot of the repair.

But to be honest, I couldn't find it.

Like I said, it was the perfect fix.

For the perfect kitchen.

Perfectly imperfect.

Just like I found it all those years ago.

HOW TO REPAIR CHIPPED LAMINATE COUNTERTOP

What kind of countertops do you have?

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