If ours looks even *almost* as yummy as yours, I will be thrilled! It is SCRUMPTIOUS!

One more question- how are you handling the seams, if you have any?

My husband is an experienced wood worker and a great finish carpenter, but doesn't do it for a living. He told me he used a 1/2" round over bit on the first pass on the edge and then an Ogee router bit for the second pass. I can get the model number of the bits if anyone needs them after he gets home from work. The sink hole was harder and took some time to get right.
To finish the countertops I first sealed them with Benite. Then I applied two coats of stain, the first with a brush that turned out all blotchy and then I flooded the surface with stain and hand wiped with a rag. I attempted to "streak" the surface so the wood would look more like the higher end wood countertops I've seen. I sort of faux finished them, I guess.

Then I did three coats of Waterlox original with a foam brush. They looked amazing, just way too shiny for my taste. I lightly sanded in between coats.

Then the nightmare began. I did a coat of Waterlox Satin with a foam brush. The countertop was splotchy and there were bumps in it. I posted on GW about my troubles. I finally got the surface right after another two coats of Satin, another coat of Original and then a two more coats of Satin. The final two coats were applied with a lambswood applicator. So there are a grand total of 10 coats of Waterlox on the counters. They feel great and don't look plastic-y close up.

Here are some photos of the sink hole (before and after) and another photo of the countertop that is installed.

As for seams, each countertop is 6 feet long which a stock size Numerar, so there aren't any seams. I have these countertops for my laundry room also that form an "L". I'm not sure how my husband will handle the seam in there, probably biscuit join and glue them so the seam will be tight.

Thanks again for the nice responses!

scrappy25: I waited 24 hours between each coat. I would do the same process again with the exception of only 3 coats of Waterlox Original with a foam brush, then 2 coats of Satin applied with a lambswool applicator. I had to do so many coats on these counters because I had to keep trying different ways of applying the Waterlox until I got it right. I tried a foam brush, natural bristle paintbrush, hand wiping, and the lambswool. The total process took some time due to my trial and error of application, so I worked on them about 2 weeks.

kateskouros: I will post photos of the laundry room counters when they are done. I'm not going to stain them dark like the ones for the kitchen, probably keep them natural and do the same Waterlox process. I have a sample piece that I did for the kitchen counters that I can do a bleach and liquid laundry soap test on for you and post back the results.

One more thing, I just realized I overstated the price. They weren't $215 each as I originally estimated. The counters were $129 each, less my 10% off coupon, so we paid $252 for both with tax. One quart can of Waterlox Original and one quart of the Satin was $69 with shipping. The applicators were $10. Grand total was approx $331 or $165 for each 6' countertop. A great deal!

Have a great day everyone!

Most of your photos are showing pretty dark – but one shows a lot lighter and more red. I’m guessing this is closer to the true color?

I like both your floors and your counters. What are the floors??? Are you going to mix more color or do you already have enough? Maybe you can start to sell this to us? We can call it Reshal’s Browner Cherry. I’ll be your first client! :-)

Jeri

The floors are great! They are by MWF (Max Windsor), Alexander Hand Scraped, Cafe Latte. I live in Washington and I shopped floors for a long time. When I finally decided on the Max Windsors I shopped the price. The best price I could find was $5.99 a foot. I buy all my interior finishes at wholesale, and even the wholesale price was above $5.99. Then I found them at floorone.com for $4.99 a foot. I was worried about ordering wood from an online dealer that I didn't have any experience with, but they have been great and I would recommend them to anyone looking for a great price and great customer service. If you contact them they will send you a sample. Here is a photo from their website that is close to the true color of the floors. The counters are darker.

As for the stain, I used the last of it on the handrails for our front staircase. Actually I was scraping the bottom of the can! If I have more made, I'll let you know and offer to mail you a sample!

Thanks!

I chose beech because I was told it's harder than birch. The beech took my stain really well also, I'm not sure the birch would do the same.

Annie.zz: Thank you!

I bookmarked your stunning and generous-hearted explanation of how to transform Ikea beech, and now -- nearly a year later -- I am ready to try to replicate your success.

The search function on the Kitchen Forum is not working so I cannot tell whether you have posted any updates. I would be most grateful to hear and/or see how your counters are holding up. Many thanks.