apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

the hardest for us when our rental had concrete countertops was cleaning them up if you sat anything acidic down on them. maybe there is a way to change that with a different finish or seal though.

I worked on one once at a friend's house and thought it was rather odd. I noticed that after I had cleaned up there were all these wet marks everywhere. I thought I had stained it but it was actually just moisture that had worked into the concrete. It dried fine after about a half hour but I wondered how such a porous material could stay sanitary (although I'm sure there are products and seals and so-forth).

I also have to say, it looked pretty bad for that half hour while it dried. You could easily see everywhere I had been; sort of like the dotted line behind Dennis the Menace that follows him through his day.

The Pioneer Woman did a comparison of different counter tops. It might help you: http://thepioneerwoman.com/homeandgarden/2009/03/countertops-a-comparison/

my aunt got beautiful concrete countertops in a very high-end renovation.....while they look great, and i guess are easy to patch/fill if chipped, they are VERY persnickety. and the seams look a little sloppy to me. and they need to seal it twice a year, i think.

i got caesarstone (grey, so in a weird way it looks like concrete) and i'm genuinely happy with it. it was just SO expensive - a 6' span with a sink cut out cost us $1200!!!!!! ugh! but yaknow, it cleans up like a dream (even if it's splotchy after a wash...it dries unevenly) and is impervious to my clutziness. no chips yet!!! fingers crossed :)

and by persnickety, i mean things stain it or seep in and don't dry out for awhile, etc... it's just....a weird surface.

I have them in my rental which leads me to think that I don't have the best ones out there.

However, I do kind of hate them. They're sealed but they still stain really easily. I'm always rushing to wipe up any colored spills. I scrub them but they take forever to dry. And leaving a printed food package on a damp spot will leave a very accurate imprint of that package on my counter that will take 20 minutes to scrub off. The worst is oil. It discolors it in a way that I have not been able to remove.

I plan on getting stainless steel when I get my own place that I can renovate.

they're great if they're made & sealed by an EXPERT but yes, you do have to wax them a few times a year. i don't see how rolling out doughs would be any different than on other surfaces since you'd probably still use some sort of flour & a bench scraper. concrete doesn't stay cold like some stones so i wouldn't temper chocolate on it or anything but rolling dough should be just fine unless of course you have impressions or bubbles, think: an 'open pore' travertine look which goes back to having an 'expert' fabricate & install.

My dad has a reddish concrete counter top on the island with the stove in it. I haven't ever tried to roll anything out on it, but it holds up really well to cooking and spilling and such. He sealed it when he installed it, and not since then, and it doesn't get marks from moisture, or even from oily splashes.

I don't know what sealer he used, but it sounds like there are definitely good ones and bad ones available! I think he got a kit from Cheng Concrete. It was a multi-step process, with several different diamond polishing phases - I think that helps to seal up the concrete before you even add sealer.

we have concrete countertops and yes, they were sealed by the manufacturer.

within a month, stains from drops of oil and vinegar from general cooking stained the countertops severely. every drop is small, so we considered them a patina and sign of our frequent and joyful cooking.

however, there are many other stains, many which have an unknown origin. there is a banana outline on the counter (though e have left bananas on the counter before without a problem), ring marks from various containers, and where the water from the sink drips, a crackled patina.

the problems ar enot just unsightly. every where there is a new stain or drop of something, the surface of the concrete changes, where something acidic has spattered, it's very rough to the touch.

we have tried buffing, sanding, resealing, talking to the concrete manufacturer (now out of business) and nothing has worked.

we have had these for less than a year now and have vowed to never get concrete countertops again. they are extremely heavy and were custom built, so replacing them is going to be an expensive and time-consuming upheaval.

We love our concrete countertops. I bought Jeanne Huber's book, *Decorative Concrete,* a Sunset publication, and followed her great instructions, using the high-strength, bagged concrete that she recommended. We went for more of a sidewalk look than the polished look in this post. We don't have the issues mentioned above, probably because of the finish we used (by mistake). I thought I was buying stain, but I actually bought a Behr product that's more like paint. I was sure it wouldn't last, but, after three years, it's been so durable that I painted my studio concrete floor with the same product. I *do* use cutting boards--and I don't roll pie dough!

I made my own concrete countertops in dark gray, and would not do it again.

Though they saved me TONS of money, they took a lot of worry and care, and the finished product was only "very good" instead of stunning.

I worried constantly about food, oil, water, EVERYTHING. Nothing actually stained it, but because I was flipping the house, I couldn't risk a stain before selling.

I would go with butcher block next, though I have heard mixed "hands on" reviews of it.

I have never worked on concrete countertops but I think they look nice. My in-laws redid their kitchen in their 100 yr old log cabin and hired someone to take the shine off of plain ol' granite. I think it looks amazing and I haven't seen any noticeable damage and they are very hard on their stuff! Just an idea to look into, if it's the look you are going for.

Hi Amber

I'm an avid baker and cook and when my husband and I remodeled our kitchen this year we poured our own concrete countertops. We borrowed the Cheng book from the library and bought some of his products to mix in with our bagged concrete. Although making them was challenging, I would do it again in a heartbeat. I love the look and find that they are not hard to care for. Most of the problems that people mention can be avoided if you use a good wax and also a good sealer. We used Cheng for both and had good results. Concrete can stain, especially if the seal is wearing thin, but we have not had a problem with it even with heavy use.

For baking we chose to have 1/3 of our island butcher block and the rest concrete and I use that for rolling things out, rising bread etc. You can also sink a piece of marble into your mold for pastry rolling.

You can actually see a glimpse of our countertops in this AT post http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/boston/kitchen/locker-pantry-schoolinspired-storage-in-the-kitchen--105682 and you can see a better view here http://driedfigsandwoodenspools.blogspot.com/2009/09/plywood-free.html (although this was before the kitchen was really done so excuse the unpainted bits!)

Hope that helps. If you want to ask any other questions you can email me through the blog.

My countertops make me insane. Whatever idiot renovated my apartment thought it was a good idea to get lopsided chunks of granite from a dumpster, put them together in haphazard fashion, and then pour concrete in between the cracks and call it a day. I'm sure proper concrete counters wouldn't be nearly as bad, as mine appear to be made from raw concrete with no sealant whatsoever. That said, I will never in my life willingly choose to install concrete in my kitchen. Stains are unavoidable and totally impervious to any amount of feverish, tearful scrubbing (I have the destroyed sponges to prove it).

So I guess my advice is...if you do it, seal it thoroughly or you'll be sad and crazy.

I could write almost the exact same post as pedalpowered. (BTW, are you in the Denver/Boulder area, pedalpowered? It sounds like perhaps we had the same now-defunct manufacturer). If getting concrete countertops, be sure to THOROUGHLY vet your manufacturer/installer. We went through a reputable green remodeling store, but weren't told our manufacturer/installer was brand-new and didn't know what the f*%& they were doing. I'm sure there are some great concrete countertops out there, but I think there are also a lot of companies jumping on this trend that are installing bad products. I wouldn't think about making them myself, and I am pretty into DIY stuff (I'd happily lay my own tile, paint the outside of my house, etc.)

Our countertops stain easily, are cracked in multiple places, and are buckling severely due to improper installation.

I looked at a number of countertop options when we re-did our kitchen, including concrete and stainless. I do a lot of baking, including gluten-free baking, and ended up going with caesarstone, because it was the best non-porous option for rolling out pie-crust and working with doughs. The big worry about the concrete was the fact that even sealed, it remains a little bit porous, which raised concerns about gluten cross-contamination. Worth every penny! If you like the look of the concrete, caeserstone comes in a dead-ringer colourway

I've lived with my DIY'd concrete countertops for four years.
It is NOT the material for people that want a pristine, perfect looking surface 100% of the time.
My taste leans toward character, patina and things that look like they are used and functional, so I love mine. They are what I think of as a living surface.
They are not maintenance free. Even if well sealed, citrus juice or other acid will etch them, but this is easily polished away with a 600 or 800 grit diamond hand pad. Oil can and will soak into them. The effect of this probably depends on the color and finish of the tops to begin with. It doesn't bother me (mine are plain, uncolored concrete), and eventually it evens out.
I roll out pastry and work with very wet doughs on mine at least once a week. I think it's a fabulous surface for that, comparable to marble.
They do require re-sealing and waxing a couple of times a year, but the frequency of this totally depends on the sealer you choose and your tolerance for shiny vs. dull.
Mine have NO cracks after 4 years. Cracks are a fabrication issue that CAN be prevented in almost every case. I would absolutely demand some kind of a warranty or guarantee if I were paying for a professionally fabricated product.

I would do it again in a heartbeat, both the decision to use them and the DIY. I've made several other tops since, in fact.

We considered concrete but went with limestone for a similar effect but easier care. We don't mind the issues with etching - it goes away.
For us it's the perfect solution!

We have both soapstone and concrete countertops in our kitchen (currently being enjoyed by our tenants...).

We lived with our concrete island for 4 years before renting out the house, and except for tiny scratches (which you could only see from certain angles, close-up) the island looked great. It is off-white, very shiny with little pieces of multi-coloured recycled glass embedded in it; very pretty. Wish I could show you a picture of what we had done, but the website we bought it from (FormWorks concrete out of North Carolina) no longer exists -- instead, the guy who created it has set up a "concrete institute" to teach others how to make concrete pieces that last and don't stain.

The key to our counter is the finish, which is impervious to most stains, but can scratch. I am afraid to see what the tenants have done, although when my husband was in the house last year, he said it still looked good.

So, in our case, we would do it again, and loved the effect. I think it all depends on the technique though, so maybe check out the "concrete institute".

p.s., should add that the soapstone is next to the stove and sink (the sink *is* soapstone, actually!), and that we abuse the soapstone in a way we wouldn't abuse the concrete. For example, we are not afraid to put a hot pot down on the soapstone, although we would never do that with the concrete (oh, I wonder what those tenants do...). So there is that consideration.

I have nothing to add, other than to say that this post could not have come at a better time. I was seriously considering concrete countertops because I love the look and finish. After reading the comments I think I will pass and maybe look into caeserstone. I love this site!

I'm about to complete a huge kitchen reno. Countertops options have been weighing on me for a while now. The Home Depot marketing imagery for granite that showed it being mined from these big, gorgeous mountains just really turned me off from the idea of a natural stone surface.

I'm leaning towards concrete, and my contractor has agreed to help us make them. We're all reading Cheng's book. I know there will be a learning curve, and I'm OK with that.

My question to add to the "Good Question" is... those with concrete counters, did you pour them separately or in place (meaning on top of your cabinets?) We're considering the options.

p.s. should add that in 4 years, our counters never needed to be resealed, and were always shiny.

The issue with concrete seems to be that there is a vast area of concrete countertop products, whose performance differs significantly.

It's sad that someone has decided not to get concrete counters based on the comments here, when in many people's experience, it is a fabulous product.

Midwife Megan,

We had our countertops shipped from North Carolina. I think if they are made in situ, they cannot be polished the same way.

Check out our guy's website; there is a section for homeowners.

http://www.concretecountertopinstitute.com/

http://www.concretecountertopinstitute.com/

We have them in the bathrooms of our rental; they are a gorgeous shade of orange and have a lovely feel to them. I have no idea why the building owner would have gone to the expense of putting them into an apartment building, but I'm very glad that he did!

With regard to all the comments about watermarking, staining, etc. - most countertop materials, such as marble, granite, stone, etc., are naturally porous. The sealer is what protects the surface, and like everything else, there are good sealers and bad ones. Properly sealed concrete should not be any more vulnerable to staining than these other materials.

To MidwifeMegan: Good question! We poured our countertops in place. My husband's braver than I am. He built the forms w/Melamine boards, right over our brand new cabinets. We laid the rebar and "practiced" on the smallest surface. The larger surface was about a 12' run and included an L-shape. I don't know how he got it right, but he did, w/no drips down the cupboards. If I remember right, we used silicone caulk to seal the joints in the boards. Pouring the counters in place may take more forethought, because there's no easy undoing if something goes wrong (like you forgot that the top drawers need to open), but there's no way we wanted to lug a pre-made slab into the house. Counters "stain" came to around $200. (P.S. We did the other side of the kitchen in IKEA's cutting board-type slab.)

We just finished installing our DIY concrete countertops this past weekend. The process was long and hard, but the end result is gorgeous. Even my partner--who did the lion's share of the finishing work--said she'd choose to do it again.

I recognize that, even with high-quality sealer and appropriate maintenance, the surface is still a bit porous and will probably stain. I expect I will be okay with that, particularly since my kitchen is really well-used. I also believe that the visual variety in the ground-and-polished surface (from the exposed aggregate and decorative glass, stones, and seashells we embedded in the molds) will minimize the appearance of stains. Even if it doesn't, however, the countertops would have to go a pretty drastic change in appearance to outweigh the pride of having fabricated them ourselves.

I have experience with doing both formed and cast in place tops and both have their pros/cons. I built forms and cast my kitchen tops and did most of the finishing work off-site, then set them onto the cabinetry and did the final finish and sealing.
Formed tops give you more flexibility and options for making recesses or edge details if that's something you're interested in. I cast in a recess to seat my 4" thick Boos chopping block, but forming is also the way to go if you want to embed objects into the surface. Friends of mine did a coffee table top with a gear in it that is neato.

With cast in place tops, you can achieve a similar surface finish (more effort depending on how much aggregate you want exposed), but the look will always be different from that of formed tops.

I have a flickr pictorial of the process: http://www.flickr.com/photos/splatgirl/sets/72157594221836338/
and blogged about both this and other my other cast concrete projects at http://moderninmn.blogspot.com

I also wanted to add that the options for concrete sealers have drastically multiplied (and improved) in the past few years because of the popularity of concrete for interior surfaces. There are literally hundreds of specialty sealers now that didn't exist a few years ago...something to keep in mind when reading about the experiences of those of us who have had our tops in use for a while.

I just finished a class in interior design that focused on materials. Your BEST bet is soapstone. That is the horse of counters in any kitchen and it has the dark grey look of concrete. Concrete was labeled by all architects and interior designers as a material that stains, is not very friendly and so on. But I think if you really are thinking of doing something like it, you should go with terrazzo. Someone above is talking about their soapstone and white concrete top with specks of glass - actually that is terrazzo, which basically is concrete mixed with other materials like recycled glass in diff colors and then the top 1inch is sown off and highly polished. You need a professional to do that.

I seriously considered it as well - then found out about the cost and maintenance. I then decided on the Caesarstone that looks the same - I even think it's called "concrete". There are a few nice grey colors to check out. In the end, I fell in love with the white Caesarstone and I absolutely love it!

Anusha 73 --

Our concrete counter really *is* just concrete with some glass aggregate, and not proper terrazzo. There is a difference in the two materials, the way they are made, and ours merely approximates the look of terrazzo. However, since it looks like terrazzo, that is the name given to the pattern.

I did a search on the internet, and interestingly, found a company that has the exact concrete options (I'd swear they are the same pictures) that FormWorks used to have, but this time they are in MD.

Here is our countertop (the confetti terrazzo):

http://www.customconcreteds.com/colors

I have experience with concrete counters and with baking. They do wear well. For baking? Oh, I don't think so - remember concrete counters have sealer on them with things like wax or polyurethane, etc. Buy a big 1" -2" marble slab or stainless steel slab instead. Those are your best bets. (and much cheaper than replacing a whole counter as well as much easier to clean).

I do have to recommend Skimestone counters for a very cheap alternative to concrete that wears very well and looks good and mimics concrete in many ways. You can cover formica, tile, even wood or plastic and it comes in several colors and shades. I just redid my kitchen counters for an investment property. Total cost for 25 square feet was about $250.00

When we moved into a brand new office, the owner of the (food) company I worked for wanted to put concrete countertops in the "show kitchen". Unfortunately, I know nothing about the specifics, but, knowing him, I am certain he made sure to hire very skilled and professional people to install the countertops. They did look beautiful, but after a week of normal use by the relatively small staff, there were chips in the finish along with a quite a few stains just from basic stuff like putting your coffee cup down on the counter.

We had a heavy, professional deli slicer on one of the countertops (put there several months after moving in) and the first time I moved it to clean underneath, the feet were practically fused to the finish and big chunks of it were taken out when I finally lifted the slicer.

It didn't take long for them to look pretty bad. I can't really say who's to blame. Were the countertops poorly installed or not sealed properly? Could people have been more careful? Or a combination of the two? Not sure, but they did seem to be awfully high maintenance. Personally, I wouldn't install them in my own home.

My husband and I made our concrete countertops in molds two years ago and are very pleased with them. We get compliments all the time and we were able to integrate cutting boards and granite pieces, making them truly unique. We also followed Cheng's book and video and sealed the counters with his products. We don't have any stains or water marks. We do apply a coat or two of wax every 2-3 months (it takes 20-30 minutes), which probably gives them extra stain protection. The only complaint I have is that the seams are pretty noticeable, something you can't really prevent when the tops are poured in molds. I work in the concrete industry, so I had some experience going into the project. I highly recommend finding a skilled professional and make sure the tops are sealed/waxed with a quality product.

We did our own poured in place concrete countertops as well. It is a messy process, but a rewarding one. As stated numerous times in this thread, concrete is not for you if you want your countertop pristine forever. We like the fact that our counters have a few imperfections and color variations. We do have to be careful about acid - it will leave a mark. I have not noticed other substances staining though... and we do periodically wax them. Good luck!

Fwiw, I have read that concrete does not have a very good green status. I'm not sure what does, tho I spect if one were to track down remainder pieces of granite, wood or stainless it would be at least moderately better. I think the This Old House magazine had an article on various countertop materials. And I know that there was a makeover done on HGTV that used either the Skimstone mentioned above or something very similar. It came out looking lovely and the guy doing the work was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to achieve a good result. Don't know it's green basis either. Not everyone cares, just throwing it out there.

Concrete counter tops are very durable and can be made stain/acid proof with the proper know how. The issue is there are a lot of companies that are doing poor work and they are the ones giving concrete counters a bad rep. Most of the companies I've seen that are doing bad work are companies that have done other types of concrete (driveways, sidewalks...etc) and decided to try counter tops. I've completed well over 60 square feet of concrete counters for my home and they are stain proof, durable and my wife has had no issues rolling/baking on the surface. Before making my own, I visited many companies and did lots of research.

If the proper reinforcing is done and the mix proportions are done correctly, the concrete will have a psi well over 10,000 and can actually flex before cracking. Granite has a much higher psi but it is brittle. I made a 6 ft slab of concrete, put my weight in the center and it flexed over an inch without cracks...granite can't do that.

Things to watch for...if the company says their concrete is stain resistant but you should clean up spills as soon as possible...stay away from them. Ask for a sample, take it home, leave red wine, cut citrus, vinegar and coffee on the sample over night and see what it looks like the next day.

Also, many places will use epoxies, these are often fantastic for fighting stains...but they scratch really easy. I'd never go for an epoxy seal. Many sealers often have a heat resistance that is not very high...you can damage the finish from a hot pan.

Watch for business that are doing other types of concrete. Places that don't specialize in counter tops seem to do lesser quality work and don't fully understand the design aspect. I've seen several in this boat...

As for being green...it is true that cement (the key ingredient for concrete) is far from green. However, most high end fabricators are using partial cement replacements like fly ash for as much as half of the cement. Fly ash is waste from burning coal. So the concrete can be made much more green by eliminating a lot of cement and replacing with waste. Other materials like recycled glass can be used as well for aggregates.

Basically you need to confirm they do nice work, test their product and make sure they give some sort of guarantee. Like anything these days...you just really need to do your homework on the company.

If done properly, you can't beat the look and durability of concrete. The design possibilities are endless compared to other materials.

Good Luck!

I just wanted to thank everyone for the great responses. Although a number of you seem to like your countertops, there are too many issues here for me to feel completely confident in concrete. I like the appearance of concrete, but to be honest, I don't think I'm the type of person who would regularly re-seal a countertop, which I think would cause me to be disappointed in them. Your comments have instead encouraged me to reconsider stainless steel. I think they can stand up to the most abuse, and I like the industrial look of steel.

Thanks again,
Amber

I'm a little surprised no one's linked back to this yet.
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/kitchen/these-countertops-arent-made-from-wood-104430

Our family moved around quite a lot because of my dad's job. One of the houses we stayed in did have a concrete counter-top. I remember acid from lemon juice leaving pretty bad stains on it. We did get it sanded by machine after that, and they held up quite well after that. Pretty easy to clean-up spills. I think the secret to a good concrete counter-top is to have a well waxed, and sealed surface, so that its easy to clean. But watch out shoddy jobs which use small slabs of concrete and join the together. The cracks in between slabs are murder to clean, besides looking shabby.

I have one question... If concrete is pigmented (not stained) a dark color, does it stain from normal use as well?