Wooden Vanity Top?

[dspeer]

I am thinking about replacing our old, tired vanity top with a wooden one. Does anybody here have experience with that? I have no experience with water resistant coatings. What should I use? Thanks for any help!!

[Stwood_]

Biult a couple for a customer about 15 years ago.
3 coats of water based poly.
Saw the top again about 3 years ago. They were looking a little rough.

[EdL]

Have a live edge double sink top in the shop now....the owner plans on using the pour on bar top finish.

Ed

[ianab]

Have a live edge double sink top in the shop now....the owner plans on using the pour on bar top finish.

Ed

The bar top epoxy would be the most durable finish. It going to get a hard time with water, soap and cleaning chemicals, so you want something that will stand up to some spills and cleanups.

[Cooler]

Many years ago I refinished the table tops for the local Starbucks using four coats of oil based poly.  I waited 10 days after the final coat to return them to the store to allow a good cure.

Starbucks remodels every store on a 10 year cycle.  The refinished table tops looked good when they were retired after about 8 to 9 years of commercial service. 

Based on that result I have been a fan of oil based poly for table tops.  But a good cure is needed before bringing into service.

[Bluepine]

I've made about a dozen vanity tops (laminated pine or white cedar) and used bar top resin on all of them.
I first sealed them with equal coats of oil based poly top and bottom and then resin.
Oldest tops are 18-19 years old with no issues.

[Eurekan]

I built a vanity top out of edge glued pine. Three coats of spar varnish. Looked great till somebody dropped a can of shaving cream and left a half moon indentation. Anyway, I should have used epoxy cause it would have been harder.
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[Cooler]

I built a vanity top out of edge glued pine. Three coats of spar varnish. Looked great till somebody dropped a can of shaving cream and left a half moon indentation. Anyway, I should have used epoxy cause it would have been harder.

The half moon adds character and patina. 

My objection to poured epoxy it that the surface no longer looks like wood, but more like plastic.  Even four coats of poly is bringing some of that effect.  If you are willing to topcoat every few years, then 2 or 3 coats might do the trick.

Steam is supposed to raise the dents in wood.  I have not tried it and I don't know what it will do to the finish.  But it might be worth looking into.

Here is the process: 

https://homeguides.sfgate.com/removing-d...25772.html

[brianwelch]

I built a wood vanity many moons ago with a drop in sink. It lasted for years, until we finally renovated/overhauled the bathroom. I had several coats of gloss PU finished with a coat of satin. Gloss has more solids, but I did not want the shinyness...learned that trick from a floor refinisher...
I agree that nicks, scratches and other beauty marks provide character/patina...

[dspeer]

Wow!
Thank you for all the very helpful responses!! Knowing the people who will use it, I am more concerned about standing water than the thickness of the coat, so I think I will go with epoxy. I've never used it, but it can't be that hard to do.