I did this to the kitchen counter in my last house. I used 12 inch marble tiles. That was three years ago (and no problems with the installation). I put down ¼ inch cement board bedded in thinset cement and screwed it to the counter, filled the seams where the cement board sheets met with thinset cement and fiberglass mesh tape, and then tiled right on top using thinset cement . The counter had a curved edge, so I used wood, but if your counter top is square, you could easily use tile for that, too.

If you use an excellent sealing primer such as prime-etch or XIM , this will work better to your advantage.

You can replace the laminate countertops with some nice-looking pre-fab laminate slabs from the big box stores for a few hundred dollars. I'd definitely do that over granite, which will tend to look like lipstick on a pig. Some people do actually like oak, and others won't mind it, so if there are no scratches on them and you can clean them so they sparkle, update the hardware and put new laminate down, that may be the biggest bang for your buck. A lot depends on what your competition looks like, of course. If, to compete, you feel you do need to do more than make them shine, then I think painting or staining would be a good idea if you can make it look nice. The choice of light vs. dark depends on the lighting in your room. If you can post photos we can vote.

As of yesterday things are much worse now. When I moved in here, I had the entire place painted white just because I had no clue what colors I wanted. I decided on colors and began with the kitchen. My oldest son stopped in to help me get the blinds etc. down and I proceeded to paint. I told him I was leary of pulling out the stove because I might not get it back in. He looked and said it would be ok and just stay the way it is. When I got to the stove I did pull it out and heard a very loud crash. The side that was coming out seemed to be better and not stuck out so far. I opened the cabinet door and the upper shelf full of kettles & Corning ware was collapsed disconnected and on top of everything that was on the floor of the cabinet. The long shelf was disconnected and on the left side only laying on top of the other things. I went on the web and looked up Merillat cabinets and sent them an email. I received a canned message saying they could not view my link and would send a warranty package. Then I went to the web site of the building supply where the cabinets I picked out and were ordered from and they replied saying they would get a hold of their factory representative and contact me when they got an answer. I am not sure who installed the actual cabinets. Was it the supplier or the builder/developer people? My new question is this: If the builder had someone install them would that person have to assemble the inside of a cabinet or would it come assembled and the builder would simply be placing the cabinets. In other words who the heck is responsible for the glue failure? I have a sinking feeling one is going to blame the other or the cabinet warranty (25 yrs) might be null because it is not a cabinetry failure. Is this a cabinet failure or an installer goof? Oh, there is no condo warranty. This a condo I purchased. Condo only has outside responsibilities. I am in Wisconsin. Donna Thanks again