Pssst… update! Here’s how we removed stains and maintained our concrete countertops.
So, much has (luckily) changed in our home since my last post. While our original plan was to keep the house’s existing cabinets on the back wall and add new cabinetry for the island, our plans had to change, yet again.
The built-in spot for the fridge ended up being 2 inches too short for our fridge (which isn’t even that big). With the fridge built-in wedged between the dishwasher and a small load-bearing wall, there were only two choices: 1) Keep the existing stuff and just commit to buying tiny fridges for life or 2) Redo the ENTIRE kitchen cabinetry.
Since at some point we’d like to upgrade all of our appliances, we decided to go with option two. So more demo and lots of wood chips and splinters later, our kitchen is actually completely empty. Not for long though!
I have an upcoming blog post about which cabinets we ended up going with and why, but that’s another day and another story. The REAL story and star of the day are these babies, our DIY concrete countertops.
Oh my! Welcome to my new favorite thing: our concrete countertops! A dream months in the making!!
Back in July, Scott and I spent a few weeks on a super fun southeast road trip where we stayed in a cabin in Asheville and visited Scott’s family in Georgia. One day we were strolling around Biltmore Village and came across this quaint little restaurant called Corner Kitchen which I happened to hear amazing reviews about! We decided to skip the lunch wait and grab a spot at the bar, and here they were…
Up until this point we had already gone through several countertop options. My original choice was butcher block because I LOVE how they look and the warmth and rustic charm they add. Unfortunately, they are extremely high maintenance and can harbor bacteria so we crossed that one (sadly) off the list.
The second choice was marble which I really love, but knew we couldn’t afford. I ended up being right and that too was no longer an option. Our third choice was granite, and to tell you the truth – I don’t LOVE granite. I know it’s the “in thing” to do these days but I seldom run with the trends unless I happen to like the trends.
As my elbow casually leaned against the beautiful concrete countertop right there in Asheville, NC, a lightbulb went off in my head.
“Scott,” I leaned over excitedly. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?!”
My sweet soulmate leaned in and exclaimed “YES! We should totally order some drinks!”
So we did, but more importantly, we both fell in love with these countertops. So, many months and hours of research later, here we were, in a dusty garage at Gray Gables, finally executing our plan and making our DIY concrete countertop dreams come true!
The first step, obviously, was to create countertop molds. I’ve seen people do this a lot of ways – some even skipping the molds altogether and just pouring concrete directly onto their existing countertop. I cannot recommend that!
Even though not using the molds seems easier, I loved that our countertops turned out perfectly flat because we did use them. Scott’s dad even made an ingenious mold insert for our prep sink!
I won’t go into too many details on the entire process because there are a ton of blogs out there that have done a great job giving step-by-step instructions (like this one, this one, and this one in particular).
After the molds were built, we taped and caulked the seems, cut rebar, and began to mix and pour our concrete mix! (We purchased Quickrete’s Countertop Mix which I HIGHLY recommend – it’s formulated especially for this!).
Scott and his dad mixed and poured, I leveled with the trowel until the forms were about half full. Then we added the rebar and the guys poured some more.
After leveling the top layer, I used a hammer to bang on the bottom of the mold to bring the air bubbles to the surface, which prevents cracking in your countertop. That was the hardest part and my arms were aching by the end!
Notice all those air bubbles in the photo above? That was 20 minutes’ worth of forearm agony, but worth it! Like labor pains 🙂
For More On Countertops:
I love this blog! I am going to enjoy watching it all come together! Thanks for sharing!
I love this, because we did the EXACT same thing to our kitchen a year or two ago.
I love my concrete counter tops! We did butcher block on our island for some contrast, but concrete everywhere else, formed/molded method as you did, and without dye or color.
What we did to get the bubbles out (and maybe save on the arm) was run an orbital sander on them like crazy.. the vibration did the trick.
I think you are a kindred spirit.. I don’t care for granite either!! Never have. 🙂
Amanda I love your blog! Your countertops are gorgeous! We definitely are kindred spirits! 🙂 I wanted to do butcher block so bad but we knew we wouldn’t be on point with the upkeep. 🙂 love your photography as well! I will definitely keep reading!
HOLY FUDGE!!!!!!! I HAVE BEEN STALKING…..(and I DO mean stalking) websites trying to find my OMG I LOVE YOU counter ideas……YOU HAVE SAVED MY SANITY! The husband and I just bought a insanely outdated (1973) house with some really FUGLY counters, we have now found our TO DO!!!!! Thanks!!!!!!
I am looking at DIYing my counter tops to cement. What are you planning to seal them with so they are water and stain resistant? By the way your counter tops look great!
Hi Kristi! We used several sealers but the one I was happiest with and would recommend is the one from Buddy Rhodes. 🙂 I will tell you it’s almost impossible to keep NO stains on it, it’s sort of like marble in that regard, but it creates a lot of patina. 🙂
We stumbled over here by a different web address and thought
I may as well check things out. I like what I see so now i’m following you.
Look forward to going over your web page again.
Do you recall how much this project cost you?….they look great.
About $700 total! 🙂
Howdy! Do you know if they make any plugins to protect against hackers?
I’m kinda paranoid about losing everything I’ve worked hard on. Any tips?
Very helpful blog….. I’m gonna try……is there a particular thickness I have to have??? Or can it be thin without wiring or rebates in it??? …… Say half and inch to and inch thickness
I would definitely do the wires in it…otherwise it will have no internal support and could crumble!
So i love, love your concrete countertops!!! How are they holding up? Would you recommend & would you do it again?!!
I’ll be addressing this in an upcoming post, stay tuned—or feel free to email me at [email protected] and i’ll give you the scoop. The short answer is yes, but with a few cautions. 😉
We also did concrete countertops and love them. There are so many amazing finishes you can get with a variety of cool techniques.
Here it is June 15, 2015. How are your contertops holding up and would you do anything differently? I am seriously thinking about doing this to our kitchen and need advice. Thanks!
I’ll be addressing this in an upcoming post, stay tuned—or feel free to email me at [email protected] and i’ll give you the scoop. The short answer is yes, but with a few cautions. 😉
I live in West Africa and am moving into a new apartment that has no kitchen. Yikes. I will take one of the rooms and make a kitchen out of it…and thought I’d like to try to do concrete countertops. You say there are few “cautions” so I’d like to hear them and know if I should go the route of concrete or not.
Thank you!
I’d also like to know how thick the molds were that you used. 🙂
Yeah, what was the cost estimate?
About $700 total. 🙂
I seriously love concrete countertops. They are unique, inexpensive, durable and fairly easy to do. Then they can be stained and sealed however you like. The possibilities are endless!
Hi Tania,
I just emailed you about being featured over at Remodelaholic, but sometimes my emails get caught in spam filters, so I wanted to leave a comment as well. Drop me a line at [email protected]. Thanks!
Good work. ?
We are in the middle of deciding on countertops for out DIY remodel. Big fun project that has our entire main floor under demo and construction! I am so curious how your counters are holding up and was wondering if you would share some photos of the patina that they are gathering? Thanks!
I was just thinking about inexpensive options to redo our kitchen counter top next year in our family cottage. A concrete counter hadn’t even crossed my mind until I stumbled upon this post. Thanks for the inspiration. It’s definitely a top contender.
Superb, what a weblog it is! This web site provides useful
data to us, keep it up.
That is a great tutorial, I have a small kitchen island that I am tired of the butcher block top and am thinking on doing this. Thanks for the tutorial!
Your projects are awesome. I LOVE the concept of your concrete counters but the amount of ads made it impossible to read on my phone(ads covered the whole project) and unbearabe to get through the article on my PC 🙁
If you have Google Chrome you can get an app called AdBlock. I have zero ads.
Good post. I learn something totally new and challenging on websites I
stumbleupon on a daily basis. It’s always helpful
to read articles from other authors and practice a little
something from other websites.
Unbelievably beneficial article. Enable me comfort.
Our buyers at times knowledge a variety of situations in just street construction.
I will percentage this posting for my consumers.
I assume toward aid him.
Thank
Wow I love Natural Stone tiles countertop
Awesome! I plan on doing countertops when I get to the kitchen project.