$5 granite!

Ok, now that I have your attention, I will tell you what I've done. This will be a before and after post with reference to my kitchen.

Here's what I started with. I'm not sure if you can tell, but it's white contact paper on top of 3/4" plywood. That's what makes up our bar for now.

And here's the same bar, in granite!

Here's our coffee bar before

And here's our coffee bar now!

Looks nice with the matching granite huh? Ah if only it were real granite. Ok folks, in addition to hot glue and spray paint, here's a little trick I've learned about faking it. Take 3/4 inch plywood, and cover it with contact paper. That's all. True it doesn't really feel like granite, and it's not nearly as durable, and if you look close (like in the same room) you can tell that it's not granite, but for $5 a roll, you can just replace it instead of having to re-seal it. Don't like the color anymore? Five more bucks will get you a whole new look. Now this is NOT our final solution to this. We will eventually get real counter tops and use the plwood for something else, but for now we're happy fakin' it and savin' all that money for other things, like more contact paper.