5 Ways to Update Your Countertops

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In the 8 years since buying our home I have updated our countertops using FIVE (yes, five!) different methods and/or materials. I’m going to share 5 ways to update your countertops whether your budget is $20 or $10,000! And while this list is not exhaustive, here are 5 ways to update your countertops no matter your budget!

Contact Paper

Yes, you read that right. Contact paper. I got mine from the dollarstore but there are more options available on Amazon. When we bought our house there was a “second kitchen” in the lower level. We used this kitchen while renovating our main kitchen so I wanted to give it a little glow-up and spend basically no money. So off to the dollar store I went to buy contact paper to cover the hideous laminate counters. I spent UNDER $20 and from a distance you honestly cannot tell there is essentially a big sticker on my counter. This is obviously also very renter friendly!

PROS: very inexpensive, pretty durable, quick and mess free, renter friendly.

CONS: you can’t avoid seams, can be tricky to install perfectly, limited options for patterns.

Paint & Epoxy

I would say that this is my favourite method to update countertops on a budget if you have a bit of patience and creativity. You can literally transform your countertop into whatever stone you can think of. And while yes, this does require a bit of creativity, the process is very forgiving and you can start over if you mess up.

The process involves painting your counter a base colour, adding veins to make it look like the stone of your choice, and adding an epoxy top coat. You can check out this post if you want to make your countertops look like soapstone.

PROS: inexpensive, can use paint you have on hand, unlimited colour/style options, very durable.

CONS: messy, time consuming, epoxy can be fume-y, requires a bit of artistic ability.

Laminate

Laminate counters have come a long way! The patterns look so much more like real stone than they did in the past. We were able to add laminate countertops in our Phase 1 kitchen renovation for under $2000. To save a bit of money we had the fabricator measure and put together the corner pieces and then we installed them ourselves.

PROS: inexpensive compared to stone, durable, won’t chip.

CONS: not heat resistant, doesn’t feel as high-end to the touch.

Granite

When you think of granite do you think of shiny, sparkly, and dated counters from the 90s? Okay, me too. BUT there is some GOOD granite out there and it is SO much more affordable as far as stone goes. When shopping for our laundry room counters I REALLY wanted soapstone but it was hard to find in my area and the only quote I could get for it was over $7k for a fairly small surface area.

But while slab shopping we came across a lot of beautiful black granite slabs that closely resembled soapstone. The key is to look for something honed (matte finish) or leathered (matte finish with a slight texture). Our Black Mist Granite ended up costing around $4000 and I really love the look.

PROS: less expensive than soapstone, very durable, heat resistant.

CONS: some granite can look dated and sparkly, honed and leathered granite must be sealed.

Marble

Okay and here is the big one: Marble. Probably the most controversial countertop material because it is known for being high-maintenance. And I won’t lie, it is. Marble is soft and porous meaning it will etch (specifically when in contact with acid), scratch and chip. But dang, is it beautiful!

When renovating our kitchen we set out to pick a durable quartz countertop but once we saw a slab of carrara marble we were sunk. It was SO beautiful. None of the quartz slabs we saw could compare. In addition, the quotes we were getting for quartz were the same, or more, than the quotes we got for our marble slabs! It was a done deal. We paid around $8000 for our slabs which included a waterfall island.

Now marble can be much more expensive. More bold patterns, like Calacatta Oro or Viola, are extremely expensive. We are talking $20k+/slab here. YIKES.

PROS: STUNNING, great for baking, amazing if you love the old-world european patina look.

CONS: can be scratched, etched, and stained, expensive (Carrara is less expensive, Calacatta is the most expensive)

Have you updated your countertops? Would you try any of these options?