Concrete Countertops

Achieving a fine polished look in concrete countertops requires using progressively finer grits of diamond pads.

It's pretty easy to create a concrete countertop that looks like a garage floor. But branching out from flatwork to countertops means embracing completely different ideas on aesthetics and performance, not to mention learning different skills. Mike Moncrieff has made the leap.

After an afternoon spent walking around the Rocketown campus, Jason Geiser and his team saw a great opportunity to not only enhance the area but also showcase the unlimited possibilities of concrete.

It all started when I got a call from interior designer Julie Doran. Been a long time. Where you been? “Second career as a flight attendant, third career as a full-time mom. Now, I’m back into design.” What’s up? “Got a new client. I’m designing a tricked-out outdoor kitchen. I think you may be just the guy to do the countertops.”

Countertop artisans have many considerations to weigh while setting up their fabrication shops - location, size, work flow and equipment, to name a few. And they all have the same goals in mind: to create quality products and run a successful business. Experts from across the country have plenty of advice on how to achieve these goals.

Take a look at a few pictures from the winners of the 2010 Concrete Countertop Design Competition.

Three of the nation’s most beloved sports franchises - the New York Yankees, Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys - embraced decorative concrete when they built their new homes.

Outdoor kitchens are a popular request no matter where you live, but typically when you read a book or see a television show featuring outdoor kitchens, the contractor is doing them in a warm climate.

Scott Cohen, owner of Green Scene Landscaping & Pools in the Los Angeles area, has been designing and building concrete countertops for more than 20 years.

A job that began with a mere 80 square feet of overlay snowballed into a decorative concrete transformation — complete with faux hollow tree — for this restaurant and bar.

Glass-fiber reinforced concrete became a commercially viable material in the early 1970s. But it would take another decade or two before it became an economically attractive and faster alternative to the heavy and expensive materials traditionally used in commercial buildings.

The popularity of glass-fiber reinforced concrete (GFRC) has grown in the past few years as more and more people discover its versatility, strength and relative ease of manufacture. GFRC makes it possible to create stronger and lighter elements and complex 3-D pieces easily.

One of the most common questions I get asked is, “What is the best sealer?” My answer to this is, “It depends.” While this may seem like I’m dodging the question, it really gets to the heart of the issue. Selecting a finish solely based on how good it is said to be can often lead to undesirable results.

The DIY Network is taking the lead in producing TV show episodes about decorative concrete.

Cheng Concrete announced the winners of its fourth annual Members’ Circle of Distinction Design Challenge at the 2008 World of Concrete show in Las Vegas last January. More than 100 entries were received for the contest from 25 states as well as Canada, Mexico, and England.

Crafting countertops and sinks out of concrete brings out the best of the material’s chameleon-like qualities.

Everyone knows you should use white cement to bring out brilliant colors in your concrete projects. What isn't so widely known is how to prevent white specks from appearing in some of those deeper colors.

There are more choices and considerations with concrete topical sealers than there are with penetrating sealer treatments, and I believe it's because of this that so many people are confused, frustrated and bewildered. Let me clear up concrete countertop coating confusion

Scott Cohen’s company, The Green Scene Landscaping and Pools, is a premier outdoor living construction firm in the Los Angeles area, specializing in resort-style swimming pools and spas, fireplaces, fire pits and outdoor kitchens.

The concrete industry at large designs mixes using the volumetric method. Fresh concrete is sold by volume, generally by the cubic yard, which is how we will look at it. Divide cubic yard volumes by 27 to get cubic foot volumes.

Boyer is the owner of ConcretiZen, based in Apache Junction, Ariz. She does it all — art pieces, driveways, pool decks, countertops, floors. She takes residential and commercial jobs, coloring, texturing, stamping, polishing, sandblasting or engraving concrete.

Every concrete countertop fabricator is after a smooth, clean finish on his or her work, be it a kitchen island, fireplace mantle or sink basin. Achieving a flat, shiny surface often comes down to the type of grinder that's used, and with so many machines on the market, many fabricators can feel overwhelmed by the choices.