First published October 2012. Updated November, 2026 with the sealer that finally worked.

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We stained our Ikea butcher block counters jet black with India ink. The stain was the easy part and it came out beautifully. The sealer was the hard part: our first choice, Waterlox, took weeks and started letting water through in under a year. A bar-top varnish fixed it in an afternoon.

Here is everything we did, including what we would skip next time.

The short version

1. Sand with 100-, 120- and 220-grit paper, wiping with a moist rag between each.
2. Apply two coats of black India ink with a sponge, not a brush.
3. Seal with three to four coats of spar urethane, about six hours apart.

What you need

• Butcher block counters. We used the lightest Ikea one. I am pretty sure any of the Ikea wood counters would work well; I would go with the least expensive option.
• Black India ink. Handy Velvet Waterproof Black India Ink is the one that worked. Higgins did not (more on that below).
• Electric orbital sander with 100-, 120- and 220-grit disks. An 80-grit disk to start would not hurt.
• A sponge for the ink.
• Minwax Helmsman Spar Urethane, clear gloss, for the seal.
• An old pantyhose to apply the urethane. Really.
• Rags.

Step 1: Sand

I used my electric orbital sander to go over the counters with 100-, 120-, 220-grit paper. In retrospect I could have probably added an 80-grit disk in there to ensure a smooth surface that is receptive to stain.

Between each sanding, wipe down the counter with a moist rag. This will help to get rid of the dust and will raise the remaining wood grain, so you know if the counter is actually smooth or not.

Step 2: Stain with India ink

I had two different black inks on hand. One worked remarkably better than the other. The first brand I tried was Higgins and it came out splotchy, streaky, and the color was uneven. I switched over to Handy Velvet Waterproof Black India Ink and it made a huge difference. The color was deep and even.

I also used a foam brush in the beginning, and the ink dried with brush marks. So I sanded it down a bit and tried a sponge. It came out absolutely beautiful without any marks at all.

You can still see the wood grain a bit, and I like that, because it doesn’t look painted. Two coats should do it.

Step 3: Seal

India ink is not resistant to water at all, so the seal matters more than anything else in this project.

What worked: spar urethane

I did a little digging in the basement and found a varnish that is used for bar tops: Minwax Helmsman Spar Urethane in clear gloss. It might not be food safe, but it is most definitely plenty waterproof. And I don’t ever use the counter directly for food prep, so we are good on that front.

So.much.easier than Waterlox. Each coat was done in under 5 minutes. Instead of a brush I used an old pantyhose, and it worked beautifully. Just six hours of drying time instead of 24. And all that’s needed is 3 coats. (I did 4 just to be on the safe side.)

I love how nice and shiny it is now.

What didn’t work for us: Waterlox

I started with Waterlox, as the original source on Ikea Hackers suggested. I had done a lot of research and apparently quite a few people out there have had luck with it, and it is great to use because it is food-grade safe.

The sealer goes on pretty glossy, but dries to a soft sheen. You have to wait 24 hours between each coat, top and bottom.

Then the renovation gods had a laugh. Ideally, the space where Waterlox cures for the next 24 hours for each coat should be free of dust particles. HA! Like that’s possible around here. The dust settles into the sealer. It looks bad. So sand between the coats.

When sanding, it looks kind of scary because the surface turns opaque and not so good looking. But once Waterlox is re-applied, the milky surface is completely eliminated.

I did the final coat a few weeks after the whole project began. All in, about 9 or 10 layers. Man, this was a pain!

And less than a year in, we were getting splotches. Plus every time I would clean the counter I could tell some ink was coming off, which meant that the seal wasn’t working that great. I probably didn’t do a great job sealing them. I don’t know, maybe I was sanding too much between coats?

The fix was simple: I stained the little bits that were getting splotchy with the same ink, and sealed the whole thing with the spar urethane above.

How it held up

Overall, with moderate use, you are looking at roughly seven to ten years of protection. We redid it again 10 years later.

Why black in the first place

So apparently my choice of colors for the house is a) monochromatic and b) goes in phases. I am in what Sergey calls a “black phase” which follows a “white phase.”

When the kitchen renovation started, Sergey was shocked and appalled at the idea of everything being white: cabinets? White. Tin ceiling? White! What, even the floor?? Yep, white (though featuring black rosettes and black grout). Oh and yea, about the exposed brick… also white. And don’t forget the kitchen sink. That’s also white.

But being an awesome person, and extracting a promise from me that wherever we live next, our decor will follow His vision, Sergey had agreed to it all. Which is why he was incredulous at my suggestion of black countertops. I did prep him by choosing a black ceiling in the bathroom.

Part of the reason for going black is that we eventually planned to install marble counters in the kitchen, which means white yet again. So I wanted to try out the polar opposite just to see how it looks.

Another reason for doing any color at all was that we couldn’t just use Ikea butcher block together with the butcher block island counter made from the 100-year-old joists from underneath our kitchen. The two different wood counters didn’t jive well together at all. I considered staining everything the same color and hoping that it would look uniform. But after a small test, it was very clear that it wouldn’t work that well, and would look off.

I found the idea in an Ikea kitchen over on Ikea Hackers, where the owners used black India ink to stain their butcher block. It looked awesome in pictures, so I was set.