Kitchens
Kitchen concrete countertops can be just about any color, any shape and any size.
With the addition of decorative inlays you can customize your tops to complement the rest of your kitchen and give your tops a truly personal touch. Items such as inlaid trivets and integral drain boards add interest and utility to your countertop.
Some ideas to consider when designing your tops can be:
- Add an integral drain board
- inset metal trivets
- Add recycled glass and expose by grinding and polishing the top.
- Include larger pieces of recycled exotic wood, marble, granite to create and interesting contrast between different materials.
- Recessed area for your cutting board next to the sink.
Many more ideas can be viewed by going to Fu Tung Chengs’ web site at www.concreteexchange.com and click on Design Gallery.
Care and Maintenance:
- A water based penetrating sealer is usually the sealer most often used.
It provides good abrasion resistance and chemical resistance (think lemons and wine).
- Other urethane based sealers and poly aspartics provide better chemical resistance and thermal shock resistance (think hot pans). Poly aspartics are used on commercial kitchen floors where pots of hot water spill on the floors. Poly aspartic sealers can actually withstand a pot of boiling liquid placed on it. I have also used poly aspartic sealers on commercial restaurant bar tops. These sealers can create a less organic looking finish on your countertop however.
- Solvent based sealers are sometimes used but since they are petroleum based most customers reject this product for their countertops.
