I couldn't be happier. This stuff is easy to work with. The finished product is unbelievably beautiful. My neighbor thought we had new counters installed. If you take your time and follow the directions without trying to create short cuts you will be pleased with the results. My best advice is take your time and use a good brand of painters tape and tape everything. There is a black piece of cardboard to practice on. I would also advise doing this to get comfortable with the process. Watch the DVD.

I bought the Sicilian Sand finish for 15 year old yellow, Formica counter tops. I almost wrapped the counter tops with a rubber adhesive cover, but I'm so glad I tried this first. The entire project took me about 3 days, or 15 hours spread out over 3 days, and I had 2 kids bugging me in between. Make sure to really clean your counter tops before putting this stuff on or else the paint will not stick. Use a razor blade to scrape anything you may have missed and you should be ready to paint.

Tip: Dab the entire counter space with one color before moving onto the next color, don't smear it or press too hard. Also, don't get discouraged if you dab too hard or something, because this paint is very forgiving. At one point, I was so pissed I had to stop the job for a half a day. I decided to continue and somehow pulled it off. The key is to "keep on layering," and the color will eventually turn out the way you intended.

Also, you're not going to see the actual beauty of your new tops UNTIL the top coat is put on. That's the key to making your new tops look, feel and shine like real granite. It's very important to remember this so as to not get unmotivated. I honestly feel as if my counters are new and I simply restored them versus just putting a band-aid on them. They're so clean and the surface is just awesome. Already got a ton of compliments. Also, did I make any mistakes? Yes. Has anyone else noticed? No. If anyone is looking that closely then I probably wouldn't invite them into my home anyway. The texture of this paint job tricks your eyes into not seeing any imperfections.

Buy it!

I loved it! It was easy to apply and fun! Anyway, it was to me! My husband didn't like doing it, so I did it by myself., he did the final top coats.,
But, it came out beautiful., all my family thought I had bought a new countertop., they loved it and couldn't believe it.,
I highly recommend this product...
I ran out of the chocolate brown, cause I started out kind of heavy., but I called the 1800 number and the gentleman send me a extra can Fedex at no charge! He was very helpful and understanding! Really, nice customer service!

I've read many reviews from Home Depot, Lowes and Amazon and decided to do this for our laminate kitchen countertops. The result with the standard kit is OK. However, the result when using an epoxy resin glaze instead of the Giani Top Coat is AMAZING!

I'm not a big fan of the top coat glaze that comes with the kit. We tested it out on some of the back splash and it looked so-so. However, I saw a review on amazon where they substituted the included top coat with an epoxy/resin glaze.

LET ME BE CLEAR - it makes a 10X improvement! We have had people over our house and immediately think we got granite countertops. The glaze is very thick and makes the colors more vibrant and also adds a little bit of magnification that increases the granite effect. There are some cautions though about using the epoxy/resin:

It messy - be prepared to tape everything off as the resin will inevitably fall off the edges of your counters.

It only works on level surfaces - If your countertop has a "lip" on the edge, the epoxy will not cover it as it's self leveling. I had to use a sander and wood planer to shave off our countertop lip for the epoxy to settle correctly. Also, you will not get a nice coating on the side edges or back splash (it will develop runs). I recommend using Giani's top coat for any vertical surfaces and FAMOWOOD epoxy/resin glaze for the top.

You can royally screw up your countertops, so be prepared to take risks. However, I think this is totally worth it. Once you lay this down, it's extremely thick and cannot be sanded off easily. You really do need a chisel and sander to get back down to your original countertops. With a 15-20 minute cure time, you really need to make sure you work quickly and that you have full coverage. The instructions recommend a squeegee or trowel, but i found the best thing to do is use your two hands with nitrile or latex gloves. This allows you to feel the areas that have not gotten coverage.

One thing that I found is when the glaze is drying, sometimes it will pull away from some spots and you will have areas that are like little holes. Just make sure you don't skimp on using the glaze and you should be fine.

You'll also need another specialized tool such as a butane lighter or heat gun as you need this to remove bubbles after you have laid the glaze coat.

If you have the will and want amazing results, try the epoxy glaze, you won't regret it. I think my pictures are testament to this.

My countertop looks like granite. Instead of using the clear coat, I opted for clear Epoxy. The epoxy cost more, but it gives my counter top an authentic granite look. Even up close and touching people cannot tell it's paint, because of the epoxy. I read reviews where some people had issues with the paint peeling, so that's why I used epoxy.