Looks great. There's something satisfying about the symmetry and the warm copper color. Also I love that the resin makes it shiny.

I liked the penny tiled bathroom floor, but I'm not a fan of this. I think it's the shiny resin. It reminds me of those shiny driftwood clocks.

I'd like to hear more about working with two-part resins.

The downside is that the resin will inevitably scratch and scuff and wear rather poorly.

The upside is that it can potentially be polished out...

It is very nicely done but for some reason I think I'd get bored with quickly if it were in my home and I had to look at every day. It works fine in a restaurant that you stare at for a couple of hours and that's it.

I too think the penny floor looks ok, but don't like this particular countertop at all. IMO there's a mish mash of colors in the kitchen and none of it goes together. The dirty dishes in the sink don't help out either. Looks a bit cheesy.

oh wow i like that a lot!

Seriously? This is a kitchen! Sometimes dirty dishes reside there. I like it!

I think it's great!

I think it's kind of cool.

I'd love to see the yellow walls painted the same soft sea glass green of the bottom of the island. Make the copper REALLY stand out!

I'm with radioriot, it's a kitchen. Dish happens.

Side note-we did a 2 part resin on piece of stained pine for our bathroom countertops about 5 years ago, it's held up really well. Time for a buffing now, though.

The dishes appear to be clean. I think I would have interspersed some other element(s) among the pennies. Antique buttons, bits of turquoise or some other colored stone that complements the copper, some vintage tiles, new tiles made of metal.

i don't get the penny thing

I just finished my countertops and they are the exact same color! I used glass tiles and probably spent more, but it looks almost the same from these pictures you posted...Great Job!

The upside is I really like the way it looks. The downside is the longevity of the resin is questionable. I would probably destroy this countertop in short order due to scratches from daily use.

I'm considering something similar for my backsplash. Still trying to decide whether to use pennies or spraypainted bottle caps.

"It reminds me of those shiny driftwood clocks."

I love those shiny driftwood clocks!!!

I worked with 2 part resins for a while as a hobby. Just be warned that they are very irritant to the skin and mucous membranes. I developed the most severe case of dermatitis my dermatologist had ever seen, from 2 weeks of everyday exposure. Always cover all exposed body parts and wear a respirator. Chemicals are serious business.

That being said, these are cute for a loft or industrial space. Their application in a heavily used kitchen is limited though. They will scuff and can even melt.

Yes! I will start saving pennies now so I can either to do this or buy a house.

Am I the only one that is having a hard time picturing $77 worth of pennies here?

Cool idea!

I totally love this although don't think it would work for the renters in the bunch!

I don't like the kitchen itself but I LOVE the penny top and I love penny floors. This is really just a matter of personal taste.

I adore this kitchen, and the penny countertop makes it particularly charming and fanciful: well done, Michael and thanks for sharing.

Looks really nice. I might try this once...

I like it, very unique, but.... pennies are dirty.

Some answers to questions/comments posted:

clampers: If you follow the link to the Make:Projects how-to, there is a step on mixing the resin. (The details are pending approval, hopefully today or tomorrow)

Julian, ethicalcannibal: We have two coats of resin on the counter. The resin cures but remains somewhat pliable. If you set a heavy object on it, it will leave a dent in time. But if you remove it, the dent will go away. Scratching is possible, but we don't exactly baby it and it's still in good shape. We bought the recommended Polyurethane top coat but never applied it. The nice thing, is if damage happens, you can sand it smooth, wipe off with acetone, and add another layer of resin which will dry clear as if nothing happened. Try that with most countertops.

Camikamm: While some resins give off bad fumes, and this no doubt gave off some, it had almost no smell at all! We were amazed at that. We got it at Lowe's but I'm sure most of the 2-part pour on epoxies like this are similar. That's one reason we never got back to the polyurethane though, it almost certainly would smell the place up.

lola_beans: I went through my stored up pocket change and got $23 worth of pennies. I was sure that would be more than enough. But a penny is 0.75" and that is 15 pennies across, but because they're not in a grid, they fill all available space, I think I estimated 240 pennies per square foot. So it was a lot more than I expected. So I went to the bank for $55 worth. I discovered that they don't look at you funny with such a request (surprisingly), that pennies come in boxes of $25 worth, and they're heavy!

dnlandes: All the pennies were rinsed, half were tumbled in a bucket with some bar keepers friend cleaner, then rinsed and dried. They were mixed back into the batch so there was a nice mix of shiny and dull ones. We discarded a few that looked really bad, but the imperfections and things in some just add to it. The whole thing is under 1/8" or more of cured epoxy, no worry about cleanliness at this point.

bsolomont: Actually, we are renters, but we've been here 4 years, and it's an upscale loft conversion of a 1900's Sears Warehouse building with original hardwood floors, etc. The kitchens are the worst part about the place. We explored upgrading the kitchen, but it's a lot of money to put into something you don't own. So for less than $1,000 we did the counters, cabinet fronts, light fixtures, paint, etc. It made a big difference. We decided we weren't getting our security deposit back long ago, so we pretty much do what we want (like many others in the building as it's an art/entrepreneurial crowd for the most part.)

Thanks for the interest. Glad I could show it off!

I have had 2 part resin epoxy pour over espresso stained Fir for nearly 4 years. It has held up very well and cost a fraction of stone. Every one that sees it raves over my counters - even more when they hear that it was 100% DIY. To help with the heat thing I inset 2 stone tiles prior to pouring the epoxy, then masked them so the natural surface is exposed. One is next to the stove as a hot pan landing pad. The other is under my coffee making area. I like the pennies. I think kids would have a blast looking for different dates.

um... I realise no one's going to get their knickers in a knot over $77 in pennies, but isn't it a federal offense to deface money? It is in Canada.

I think this treatment is super fantastic, but I also kind-of cringe at the loss of all that super-valuable metal (all that copper... especially in the old ones).

Your kitchen looks great.

Basically the law says you can't fraudulently deface money. So if you were defacing a $1 bill to make it look like a $20 for the purpose of spending it, that would be fraud. Many years ago when coins were pure silver, if you scraped some of the silver off before spending it, that would be fraud. But if you deface it for the purpose of art, it's effectively removed from circulation and therefore no longer an issue. That's how those machines can exist at museums that crush coins into new shapes.

Yes, it's removed from circulation, and today it actually costs more than 1 cent to manufacture a penny (and the majority of a penny is no longer copper), but the amount of pennies in jars and couch cushions far outweighs the amount we can ever glue to our counter tops! If we went into business manufacturing slabs of penny covered counters in mass quantity, it might raise some questions. But at this scale it's easily defensible.

I love this! I would really love to have this countertop in my own kitchen! Bravo, Michael.

Love it!

I LOVE THIS!!
It's beautiful and i love the different colored walls.

Love, love, love this.

http://makeprojects.com/Project/Install-a-Penny-Countertop/85/1

Please update us on how the pennies wear and how you clean/maintain them. This looks swell :D