The Giani instructions for painting the countertops were very clear they expected you to caulk around the sink and along the backsplash when the paint completely dry. Duh. I didn’t dawn on me that my custom paint job wasn’t going to match any of the limited selection of colors at the big box stores — they carry white, almond and clear caulk, none of which would look good or cover the gap between the backsplash and wall that didn’t have a perfect paint edge. I needed an opaque caulk that would cover the paint edge and it needed to be a waterproof caulk to work in the kitchen where it would be getting wet.
I had matched the Inca gold color from Giani and painted the backsplash area that color, so my caulk needed to be Inca gold. I found a mix yourself caulk online, but when reading the details, I found out it was not waterproof. That wouldn’t work.
Color Rite
I researched more and found Color Rite adhesives. Their caulk is waterproof and available in a huge palette of colors. I sent them a paint chip of the color so they could match it for me. No custom color was required since they had a stock color that would match my paint and the Inca Gold Giani paint.
I spoke several times to the people at Color Rite and they were great to deal with on every call. The cost of the caulk isn’t jaw dropping, but you better be sitting down when they tell you the price of shipping. They were apologetic, but said the residential rates they got with UPS were high and they simply passed them on to the customer with no mark up. Around $13 for the caulk and $15 for shipping. For someone who refuses to order much of anything unless the shipping is free, this was a heart stopper, but I wanted their matching caulk.
And the color is absolutely perfect, the gold in my countertops, the gold on the walls, and the caulk all match beautifully (the caulk was still wet in the pictures so it looks lighter). But I felt like I was applying gold – the metal, not the color.
This leaves only one more step to go on the kitchen makeover – the backsplash.
