Recommendations for Kitchen Refinishing
I am not sure if anyone can help me with this request but I figured, it couldn't hurt to ask.
I need to "freshen up' my kitchen without spending a lot of money in order to get the place ready to sell. The reason for not spending a lot of money is basically because I do not have much.
The kitchen cabinets are solid wood and I am going to refinish those myself. I am seeking someone who can help me re-laminate the countertops. They are solid wood with Formica from the 80's. I just want to cover over the existing Formica with new sheet laminate from Lowes. No one has called me back with a price estimate, let alone willing to do the project because the kitchen and job is exceptionally small.
Can anyone recommend somebody who could help me apply and route the edges of the new laminate.
Thanks to anyone and everyone!
halloweenguy YouTube you can do it or now they make paint for countertop looks like granite looks real nice good luck
BillyWhen it comes to laminate, it's only going to be done over. You have to figure there is a time to do it and a time to just let it go. If you're not making it better permanently, then maybe it's not worth it. Maybe some simple adhesive squares will make it look better. If so, then that's probably no more difficult than the cabinets. But if you are at the point of needing a router for the counter tops, it might be better to just leave it and discount the selling price. It'll be granite later any way.
From what you say, a simple routing sounds like something you can handle without a handy man. That's all we're talking. If the job is more than that, I'd say you should just leave it. You won't get back the investment.
GC halloweenguy - Think about tile - easy to install, inexpensive, durable and good looking. Lots of decorative options, too.
DannyC If I were going to do it permanently, not just to sell, and I didn't have the $ for stone countertops, I would go for marble tile. You can do that without seams, without grout because you can get them with adhesive right on the tile. That can look good, but its work for the edges. You've got to decide whether it's for you to move into, or something easy to sell.
Bullnose? Why not just straight edge that's easier to deal with. Tile either way, agreed. But additional work and having to line up edges? Would suggest just plain edges for simplicity.
GC - Plain edges are never going to look as professionally finished as bullnose tiles covering the one to two inches of countertop thickness, and as easy to install as the tile. A little math, a rented tile cutter and gorilla glue type adhesive is all that is needed.
I think the answer depends on a lot of factors: Your budget, your expected return on investment, the size of the counters, how handy you are, etc. The expected return is the biggest factor--spending $1000 and getting $1000 back is better than spending $300 and getting $200 back. In order to really know what's going to get you the best return, ask your real estate agent. If you don't have one, yet, try calling Kathy Hill, with Re/Max, at 973-219-6256.
Personally, without seeing your kitchen and knowing more, I'd have to recommend against resurfacing. It's a lot of work to get it to look even decent, let alone good. Since you'll have to pull the sink and/or stovetop anyway, and since you're refinishing the cabinets anyway, you might think about either ordering new, inexpensive counters from Home Depot (with the sizes and cut-outs all pre-done), or buying pieces of pre-made Formica counters from Home Depot (they have a small selection in stock) and installing them yourself. I did the latter with the last kitchen I refurbished, and I had Matt Musum Plumbing (973-879-1692) cut out the sink hole and install the new sink. If she still works there, talk to Denise, Home Depot's kitchen design consultant, and she can help explain your options. Also, if you have or open a Home Depot credit-card account, you can defer the purchase for 6 months or a year, hopefully allowing you to not have to pay for it until after the house is sold.
Here's a link to the pre-made Formica countertop pieces available at Home Depot. As you can see, they're not that much more than the Formica sheets, and they'll look much nicer when done:
http://www.homedepot.com/b/Kitchen-Countertops-Backsplashes-Countertops/N-5yc1vZc4qc
JerseyWolf check pre-made countertops and backsplashes at HomeDepot or Lowes (or Ikea).
Re-laminating existing and installed c-top and backsplash would be a complicated job (adding removal and installation of sink, etc.).
Removing c-top/splash and re-laminating them could cost more money/labor than installing the new ones.
Stone c-tops run over 32 dollars per sq. foot.
Tiling (presumably over the existing c-top) will look ugly, in my opinion, especially, if the tiles are small (6"x6", 4"x4").
Pyc My sister moved into a mid-century modern house that had bright orange counter tops with scratches and a few big brown burn marks.
She sanded them, primed them and then painted them a semi-gloss grey. They looked beautiful. The whole thing cost her under $100 and took an afternoon.
Heidi Redid a bathroom. Used existing vanity but added new top, sinks, fixtures, etc. This was a big two-sink affair.
For the vanity, it was stained but rather than re-stain where either you must strip to change stain color, I painted. Hindsight, I should have probably roughed it up a bit but didn't. Worked perfectly but did get some sheeting as in if bumped, a small sheet would chip off. Luckily noted before visible damage and I think just letting it set for a few weeks without bumping solved the issue. Time will tell. I highly recommend painting.
Added new vanity knobs, pulls and hinges --- rehanging doors with new hinges was the toughest part. Hinge guys set different widths, depths and stand-offs on the HW and no info provided so a bit of a guess even if you have current HW in hand. HDepot takes returns so solvable but, again, makes rehanging interesting in that a 40 year old hinge match is dubious. Took a few tries to find best fit. But looks fantastic and hinges, etc. are perfect. Went "Martha Stewart" with the HW.
Then for top, my vanity seemed to have an odd width. Was pretty sure it had something to do with the wall running along right side but didn't want to remove to find out. So I kept using my current and custom ordered a top, with integrated sinks (cheaper), from third-party through HD.
When I do my kitchen I will investigate these custom guys just to check but probably not in that it's a replacement top. Certainly not the cheapest solution but with my saving by not buying a new vanity I made the counter top and the sink fixtures an upgrade for a focal point.
For kitchen, I will probably just lay tile over my existing laminate kitchen counter. With tile, watch out. Some say prepare countertop (what a pain), use thinset and apply tile. No way for me. There's systems out there that use fiberglass papers or better tween the laminate and the tile. I'm getting the best one of these to avoid all the laminate prep crap that you have to do if you go with just thinset.
With tile I can go from a wood look to oh so many choices, patterns and colors. Just have to make sure it's tough enough for how I use it. Can also backsplash the wall straight up to the cabinets, perhaps in complimentary color(s) for easier cleaning, especially around stove area.
strangerdanger 
I painted my counter tops as well. They were from the 70's and awful - we thought we would redo the kitchen within 5 years of moving in. In June it will be 16 years and the kitchen is still exactly the same - except for a new sink and faucet...
Sanded them, primed them with Kilz, sponge painted them brown and white so they kinda look like stone. Originally topped them with regular poly but quickly found that we'd end up with white water marks so I sanded that off and coated it with spar urithane. The spar did yellow, but with the brown it really didn't matter.
Over the years, I've had a few chips - mainly on the edges and a few from dropping heavy items on the counter. I sand the chips down, re-paint and re-spar them and it's good as new. Unless I get a big chip, I do some edge touch up once a year.
Not a great photo of them, as it was taken while we were replacing the sink - the extra dark brown is where I had just painted and was waiting for a few minutes before I wiped off the excess.
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