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From top-dollar residences in the San Francisco Bay Location to stretching mountain residences in the Colorado Mountain ranges, differentiating property owners are demanding personalized layouts and also surfaces in their kitchens. Particularly, they are aiming to share their uniqueness and also distinctive layout preferences with the fast expanding style product of choice-- concrete.

Actually, concrete kitchen counters have become somewhat of a condition icon for kitchens, equaling granite and various other high-end countertop surface area choices. Consumer Information Magazine (August 2004) ranked concrete greatest for its "modification" and "exclusivity" amongst premium kitchen countertops.

As a personalized product, the quantity of time as well as craftsmanship needed to produce concrete kitchen counters positions them as one of the most labor-intensive as well as most costly amongst leading countertop products.

However, concrete kitchen counters are ending up being more accessible for those on a moderate budget. The most recent do-it-yourself (Do It Yourself) trend to captivate house owners as well as building contractors is building your very own concrete kitchen counter. This phenomenon has gained popularity largely due to Cheng's best-selling book Concrete Countertops: Style, Kinds, and also Completes for the New Kitchen Area and also Bathroom (Taunton Press, 2002). According to Cheng, there is little financial financial investment in making concrete countertops, yet the creative gains of collaborating with concrete are plentiful.

THE SHOWSTOPPER

Progressively, home owners are relocating away from the boring, manufactured appearance of conventional counter top surfaces and selecting concrete for its earthy, timeless appeal. And also, the choices for individualizing concrete kitchen counters are unlimited: one can color, gloss, stamp and also discolor concrete or imbed individual things like stones, seashells as well as fossils into the kitchen counter's surface area, including sentiment and also personality. Practical functions such as drain boards, soap dishes, as well as trivets can also be included to match the homeowners' very own needs as well as way of life.

Concrete is gradually coming to be debunked as classically chilly as well as commercial. In contrary, this olden product is warm and remarkably tactile; people can not aid however touch their smooth, polished surfaces. Realty agent Delight Rasmussen, that has recently marketed her mountain home-- a short-term financial investment residential property in Boat Springs, Carbon Monoxide-- recounts her site visitors' experiences with concrete: "When I had open residences, visitors gravitated to the concrete countertops-- many people around right here have never seen them".

Joy's 2,265 sq. ft. mountain home was customized build by her partner, Ken Otterman, in addition to KJ Otterman, president of Standard Special Custom-made Homes. They built pour-in-place concrete counters for the residence's kitchen area and also three bathrooms by using Concrete Countertops as their guide. The sand-colored concrete kitchen counters were brightened smooth, after that paired with natural slate of differing colors-- like charcoal, rust as well as gold tones-- that forms the backsplashes in the kitchen and baths. As a design accent, little rectangular slate tiles were added to the edge of the bathroom sinks, which supplied a distinct information to the custom-made vanities.

When Joy and Ken made a decision to sell their residence, their investment in concrete kitchen counters proved its worth. "We had the ability to note the house $20,000 over market value, and also had no problems offering it," remarks Delight, while reviewing the lengthy checklist of upgrades throughout their home, including knotty ache solid doors, natural slate wall surface accents and also hardwood floors. "The concrete kitchen counters were quickly the most unique and impressive of all the coatings. I believe they were a significant part in including value to the home. Around right here, all you see in homes are granite counter tops-- and also I truly think property buyers are obtaining quite numb with granite."

" Concrete counter tops are an unique offering to buyers that see the same coatings utilized in home after residence they see," clarifies Happiness, supplying her monitoring as a seasoned realtor. "Having concrete counter tops virtually provides you bragging civil liberties-- you have something various from your neighbors."

DAMAGING THE MOLD

An additional benefit of concrete is its flexibility in either contemporary or traditional setups, specifically when paired with various other materials like diverse metals, timber or stone. "Concrete adds many [possibilities] to stone, as well as the combination with slate, which is extremely prominent here, provides the hill homes an overall cozy, natural touch," states Happiness.

Joy and also Ken have since built a much bigger home (4,000 sq. ft.) that supplies expansive views of the Boat Ski Resort and also is implied to act as a lasting financial investment for the couple. They've likewise broadened their listing of personalized coatings, including hand-troweled wall surfaces, sophisticated oil-rubbed bronze equipment, knotty pine doors that arch at the top, cabinets in a natural, knotty alder, as well as their preferred-- concrete kitchen area countertops.

Unlike in their previous residence, KJ and his specialized crew put charcoal-colored counter tops making use of the pre-cast technique in the unfinished cellar of the new residence. Before pouring the concrete, they sprinkled a selection of semi-precious rocks in the mold consisting of Leopardskin, Moonstone, Mother-of-Pearl and also Turquoise. After the surface area was ground as well as lightly polished, the completed outcome was an impressive mix of shades, "By far, the Mother-of-Pearl was one of the most incredible," states Pleasure.

The L-shaped concrete counter top has a harsh, rustic stone look, enhancing its sturdy nation surroundings. An indispensable drainpipe board as well as trivets supplies function and also added rate of interest to the concrete counter top. All-natural slate backsplashes, countertops cheap distinctive wall accents, and a butcher block counter top at the cooking area island all reverberate with the typical heat and also earthiness of the concrete kitchen counters.

Joy as well as Ken's particular histories in property as well as personalized homebuilding, and as investment homebuyers, have actually aided them understand that concrete counter tops can include incredible visual and monetary value to a home. Concrete's personalization and also "show-stopping" allure is like no other kitchen counter surface area. Cheng is a supporter of psychological visual appeals and building residences that capture these feelings, as in the case of Pleasure and also Ken Otterman. Cheng ends: "Individuals actually desire differentiation, something personal, something personalized-- and concrete can do that for them."