Liquid Stainless Steel
When Oner and Margaret Onergill wanted to spruce up the kitchen in their Des Peres, Mo., home, they took a hard look at their kitchen table. Wooden and worn, it needed help to fit in with their stainless steel appliances.
They got what they needed from Thomas’ Kitchen Art Inc., a company based in St. Louis.
Thomas has developed Thomas’ Liquid Stainless Steel, a urethane coating that contains real stainless steel. The water-based coating consists of microscopic pieces of the metal blended into a clear, automotive-grade polymer. It can be rolled and brushed over any kitchen refrigerator, range or dishwasher — or table — to give a coated surface a steely veneer.
Thomas sent a crew to coat the Onergills’ table for them. After the table was sanded and patched for smoothness, a single coat of primer was applied with a brush. The steel coating was put on with a 6-inch roller, then brushed over with an 11-inch foam brush supplied by the manufacturer in a project kit. Back-brushing leaves a hand-brushed finish and prevents mottling.
Two coats of the coating were put on, each starting on opposite ends of the table, and two coats of clear sealer finished the job.
Where else can this coating be applied? Walls? Yep. Painter Anthony Sapienza recently used Liquid Stainless Steel on a whole room, including the walls, in a new blues club in New York City.
The paint is also used on the set of the TV program “Late Show with David Letterman” to color metallic props, says Thomas’ Kitchen Art president Trey Thomas. “They said it’s the best they’ve ever seen.”
Thomas’ Kitchen Art Inc., a subsidiary of Eagle Specialty Products Inc., is a third-generation manufacturer of colorants and additives for the coatings industry. Liquid Stainless Steel is the company’s first product marketed directly to painters. It was introduced in late 2006.

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