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From top-dollar houses in the San Francisco Bay Location to sprawling hill homes in the Colorado Mountain ranges, differentiating property owners are demanding custom-made styles as well as finishes in their cooking areas. Specifically, they are looking to reveal their originality as well as distinctive layout choices with the quick growing style product of choice-- concrete.

As a matter of fact, concrete counter tops have actually become somewhat of a condition symbol for cooking areas, measuring up to granite and other high-end counter top surface area choices. Consumer Information Magazine (August 2004) ranked concrete highest possible for its "customization" and "exclusivity" among premium kitchen area countertops.

As a personalized item, the amount of time and craftsmanship required to create concrete kitchen counters places them as the most labor-intensive as well as most expensive among leading kitchen counter materials.

However, concrete kitchen counters are becoming extra easily accessible for those on a modest budget. The latest do-it-yourself (Do It Yourself) fad to mesmerize home owners and also contractors is building your very own concrete kitchen counter. This phenomenon has actually gained appeal greatly as a result of Cheng's best-selling publication Concrete Countertops: Layout, Types, as well as Ends Up for the New Kitchen and also Bathroom (Taunton Press, 2002). According to Cheng, there is little financial investment in making concrete countertops, yet the creative gains of working with concrete abound.

THE SHOWSTOPPER

Increasingly, house owners are relocating away from the monotonous, manufactured appearance of typical counter top surface areas and also picking concrete for its natural, classic charm. And also, the options for personalizing concrete countertops are unlimited: one can tint, gloss, stamp and tarnish concrete or imbed individual objects like rocks, seashells and also fossils right into the counter top's surface, including view and also personality. Useful features such as drain boards, soap recipes, as well as trivets can also be incorporated to match the home owners' own requirements and way of life.

Concrete is gradually ending up being demystified as characteristically cold and also industrial. In contrary, this old-time product is cozy and remarkably responsive; individuals can not help but touch their smooth, refined surface areas. Real estate agent Pleasure Rasmussen, that has actually just recently sold her mountain home-- a temporary financial investment residential or commercial property in Steamboat Springs, CO-- states her visitors' experiences with concrete: "When I had open houses, visitors gravitated to the concrete countertops-- many individuals around here have actually never ever seen them".

Joy's 2,265 sq. ft. hill house was custom build by her spouse, Ken Otterman, along with KJ Otterman, head of state of Classic Unique Custom-made Homes. They developed pour-in-place concrete counters for the residence's kitchen and also 3 shower rooms by utilizing Concrete Countertops as their overview. The sand-colored concrete kitchen counters were brightened smooth, then paired with all-natural slate of varying shades-- like charcoal, corrosion and gold tones-- that forms the backsplashes in the kitchen and also baths. As a design accent, little rectangle-shaped slate tiles were added to the rim of the shower room sinks, which supplied an unique information to the personalized vanities.

When Delight how can i update my kitchen countertops without replacing them and also Ken chose to sell their house, their investment in concrete countertops proved its worth. "We had the ability to provide your home $20,000 over market value, as well as had no problems offering it," remarks Joy, while going over the long listing of upgrades throughout their home, consisting of knotty yearn solid doors, natural slate wall surface accents and also hardwood floorings. "The concrete countertops were conveniently one of the most distinct as well as impressive of all the finishes. I believe they were a massive part in including value to the house. Around right here, all you see in houses are granite kitchen counters-- as well as I actually think buyers are obtaining rather numb with granite."

" Concrete counter tops are an one-of-a-kind offering to homebuyers that see the same finishes made use of in residence after home they check out," clarifies Happiness, supplying her monitoring as a skilled realtor. "Having concrete kitchen counters virtually provides you bragging rights-- you have something various from your neighbors."

BREAKING THE MOLD

Another benefit of concrete is its versatility in either modern-day or typical setups, particularly when coupled with various other materials like diverse metals, timber or stone. "Concrete adds many [opportunities] to rock, and the combination with slate, which is widely prominent right here, gives the mountain residences an overall warm, natural touch," says Pleasure.

Delight and also Ken have actually given that built a much larger home (4,000 sq. ft.) that uses large views of the Boat Ski Resort as well as is meant to act as a long-term financial investment for the pair. They have actually also expanded their list of customized surfaces, consisting of hand-troweled walls, stylish oil-rubbed bronze hardware, knotty ache doors that arch at the top, closets in a natural, knotty alder, and their preferred-- concrete kitchen countertops.

Unlike in their previous home, KJ and also his specialty staff put charcoal-colored counter tops making use of the pre-cast method in the unfinished cellar of the brand-new house. Prior to putting the concrete, they sprayed a variety of semi-precious rocks in the mold and mildew including Leopardskin, Moonstone, Mother-of-Pearl as well as Turquoise. After the surface was ground and gently brightened, the completed outcome was an impressive mix of shades, "By far, the Mother-of-Pearl was one of the most extraordinary," says Delight.

The L-shaped concrete kitchen counter has a rough, rustic stone appearance, matching its tough country surroundings. An integral drainpipe board and also trivets provides feature as well as added rate of interest to the concrete counter top. Natural slate backsplashes, unique wall surface accents, and a butcher block kitchen counter at the kitchen area island all reverberate with the conventional heat and also earthiness of the concrete counter tops.

Joy as well as Ken's respective histories in property as well as personalized homebuilding, and as investment buyers, have actually helped them understand that concrete kitchen counters can include tremendous aesthetic as well as economic worth to a residence. Concrete's personalization and also "show-stopping" allure resembles no other countertop surface area. Cheng is a supporter of psychological looks and also developing residences that capture these feelings, as when it comes to Pleasure as well as Ken Otterman. Cheng concludes: "People really want distinction, something personal, something customized-- and concrete can do that for them."