Super Bonder will help you paint your formica! We just heard from Mary that XIM is a great way to seal tricky surfaces so that you can paint them. Given the tag-line, "When ordinary primers are not enough," XIM is a fast drying, but smelly clear primer that can take on metal, wood, tile, glass, etc. It can be used as a top coat as well. Mary says:
I painted my counter tops and backsplash in my new home of formica counters. I used XIM, which works great as my base coat.
I first lightly sanded the surface and then applied the XIM with a brush. Let dry for an hour or two and then applied different colors of BM eggshell finish paints for my design. Then seal with XIM and a good polyurathane.
XIM comes in white and clear formulations, costs $40 a gallon and $13 for a quart, and can be purchased online as well as at Janovic Plaza. (Thanks, Mary!)
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I just painted melamine laminated bookshelves.
1. scuffed with a green scrubby.
2. primed with BIN (let dry overnight)
3. sanded the BIN
4. 1 coat of 100% acrylic semi-gloss (let dry overnight)
5. light sanding
6. final coat of the semi-gloss.
I heard the XIM is highly toxic. BIN is not bad at all.
All these sealing primers do the same thing. Bin, Zinnser, Gardz, and Kilz all have both oil and latex versions. The latex is good enough for most things and way less toxic.