LITTLE ROCK — Industrial kitchens are all the rage. Just look at the number of stainless-steel refrigerators, dishwashers and stoves on the market today. So it makes sense that another industrial material - concrete - would also be on the rise.
Concrete countertops are becoming more prevalent and are particularly attractive to those who want something high-end that offers more than the basic colors and patterns of natural stone surfaces.
“Concrete is becoming a lot more popular because people are wanting something different,” says Lucas Van Der Merwe, owner of Concrete Creations of Northwest Arkansas. “With concrete, you have a lot more options.”
Indeed, concrete countertops come in all shapes, sizes and colors - including granite- and marble inspired earth tones, crimson reds and moody blues. Concrete countertops can take on a rustic, rock-edged character or they can be molded into something sleek and modern, with clean lines and smooth edges. They can be stamped with Harley-Davidson emblems or smoothed until there are no rough edges. They can be polished until they shine or have a matte finish. And that doesn’t include the bells and whistles you can put into the concrete.
“With concrete countertops, you can embed LED lights in it. You can embed glow-in-the-dark aggregate,” says Kimberly Carroll, owner of Innovative Concrete Systems in Little Rock. “You can embed recycled glass.”
Todd McPhail, co-owner of Renaissance Concrete and Hat Grabber Inc., and his crew even embedded fiber optic cables into a concrete countertop at a house in Alma. The cables hold lights that come on when activated by a motion sensor.
While that may all sound snazzy and fun, there are a few things to consider before spending anywhere from $45 to $65 a square foot or more installing concrete countertops.
See past the stereotypes.
“There’s a misconception that concrete is impervious to problems,” McPhail says. “It’s actually the complete opposite.” First and foremost, concrete is porous. That makes it prone to staining, etching and abrasion, and hot pans are a no-no for concrete that’s been treated with a sealer since the heat will melt or discolor the coating. Neutral cleaners - those that aren’t too acidic or alkaline - are required to clean these counters.
Choose function over form.
Consider how you plan to use a countertop before you make the commitment to buy. “The first question I ask anybody is ‘How are you going to use it?’” McPhail says. “Are you a real chef? Do you really cook in your kitchen?” Cooking on a concrete countertop requires chefs and wannabe chefs to be sensitive about things like cross-contamination and food safety since the surface is porous. Likewise, cutting boards are recommended - as they are with most other countertop surfaces - so the counters won’t scratch or develop hairline fractures.
Get to know the contractor.
Of course, it’s important to make sure any contractor has a contractor’s license and business license, but there’s more to choosing a good contractor. Ask how they make countertops and what kind of training they’ve had.Ask to see a list of customers or jobs the company has completed, Van Der Merwe says. “There are a lot of people jumping on the bandwagon,” he says. “People will say they have 20 years’ experience in concrete, but it’s not necessarily in countertops.” It’s also important that your contractor be able to visualize and create the look that you want, McPhail says. “It’s my job to get in your head and figure out what you’re really telling me,” he says. “If I can’t figure that out, neither one of us is going to be happy when this is over.”
Pour in place or precast?
There are two ways to build a concrete countertop - pouring it in place or building it off-site. “Generally, you use one or the other based on the outcome the customer wants,” McPhail says. To embed aggregate, fiber optics or LED lights into a countertop, for example, you almost always have to precast. Countertops are typically cast in place if the customer wants a seamless product, McPhail says.
Some contractors like Van Der Merwe choose to make only precast counters. “I get a lot better quality when I precast,” he says. Van Der Merwe says that’s because the stouter concrete settles to the bottom of the form, which means that the denser surface becomes the top of the customer’s counter when it’s flipped over during installation.
Ask about the psi.
Pounds per square inch, or psi, is the rating used to measure the compressive strength of stone and concrete. The higher the psi number, the sturdier the concrete will be. McPhail estimates Renaissance Concrete’s countertops measure anywhere from 5,000-7,000 psi, while Carroll says countertops produced by Innovative Concrete Systems top out at 11,000-12,000 psi - effectively, the same hardness as low-end granite.
Consider a diamond polish instead of a coating.
There are two ways to seal a concrete countertop - with a topical sealer or through a process called diamond polishing. Most professionals prefer diamond polishing, but some still use coatings. Diamond polished concrete has several benefits over concrete that has been chemically treated. First, the former is less prone to scratching and is more heat resistant, Carroll says. Chemically sealed concrete is also more susceptible to chemical damage, McPhail says. “The problem with a topical sealer is it’s sitting there in a cured state, and you can interrupt that cured state with chemicals or with heat,” he says. However, topical sealers work best for stain prevention, according to Consumer Reports.
Do it yourself - with a little help.
Sure, it’s easy enough to go buy a mix from Lowe’s or Home Depot and mix it up, but does that mean your countertop will look like a pro created it? Probably not. Carroll and her crew offer help to do-it-yourself concrete installers - for a fee, of course. “We basically help them through the process of what to look for when mixing it, how to form it up and which colors they can use,” she says. People tend to need help most with pouring the concrete, she says.
HomeStyle, Pages 29 on 06/23/2012