We're looking for a new dining table for our formal dining room in our first home. We love the modern look of zinc top tables. Does anyone have experience with zinc top tables? How durable are they? Can they handle spills? I'm pregnant with my first child, and we want something that will last a few years and has a modern look to it. My current table is wood, and it has lots of water stains, etc on it. Not a huge fan of glass top tables. Any other suggestions for materials that would give us the contemporary feel we're looking for would be great as well. Thank you!

Thank you for all the input. It definitely makes sense to use wood to simplify emptying the DW. We tend to rush through the chore sometimes, too. I think we can happily forgo glass shelves. I was thinking of skipping the lights inside. I looked up some threads on this and it doesn't seem to be too big of a deal. I'm not sure how much we'd really use them. Here are a few pictures with solid shelves behind glass doors, and a picture that makes me happy when I see it that has a set of glass doors with divided lights. All are from Houzz. [Traditional Kitchen design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by href='http://www.houzz.com/professionals/general-contractor/atlanta'>Atlanta General Contractor Renewal Design-Build [Traditional Kitchen design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) [Traditional Kitchen design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by Minneapolis Interior Designer Martha O'Hara Interiors [Traditional Kitchen design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by New York Architect Smith River Kitchens [Traditional Kitchen design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by San Francisco Interior Designer Jane Ellison [Contemporary Kitchen design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2103) by Burlington Architect Smith & Vansant Architects PC

Here's a link that might be helpful: http://www.wisegeek.com/how-do-i-go-about-painting-mdf.htm SW ProClassic, BM Impervo or any waterborne paint would provide a hard finish. You wouldn't need a clear coat. Just make sure you give it a couple of weeks to cure to its final hardness before using it.

I have used Annie Sloan chalk paint and love it, and I've also used latex. I don't use poly as I don't care for the look. I have used BriWax that I had on hand in both light and dark brown for my projects and it's very protective. Are you stenciling a design directly on the (assuming) wood grain table top, or are you painting the table and then stenciling? On this recent project, I used Ben Moore Symphony Blue latex paint and little jars of acrylic metallic craft paint for the gold fleur de lis. It has the light and dark wax on it for an antique look, in keeping with the age of the piece. I might save the chalk paint for an item you use without feeling you need to poly it, as it has such a 'soft' look on its own that is very nice. See the difference in the blue paint color once the dark wax is used? Only the drawer fronts have been waxed in the pic, and all the rest of the blue is just the paint at that point.