Right there with you Jim … epoxy would not be my first choice. I just recently made a desktop for a customer and used Arm-R-Seal for the first time. It appears to be holding up quite well for him.
Brian, I guess the big question is does your wife truly want an “epoxy” gloss finish?
If she does… there’s a product out there called, “liquid glass”. It’s used on bar tops and the like.