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From top-dollar homes in the San Francisco Bay Location to stretching hill residences in the Colorado Mountain ranges, discriminating house owners are demanding custom layouts and finishes in their cooking areas. In particular, they are aiming to share their individuality and also unique design preferences with the fast expanding style material of choice-- concrete.

As a matter of fact, concrete counter tops have ended up being somewhat of a status icon for kitchen areas, matching granite and also other high-end kitchen counter surface choices. Customer Reports Magazine (August 2004) ranked concrete greatest for its "customization" and also "exclusivity" among premium kitchen area countertops.

As a personalized product, the amount of time as well as craftsmanship required to create concrete counter tops puts them as the most labor-intensive and also most costly amongst leading kitchen counter materials.

However, concrete kitchen counters are coming to be extra obtainable for those on a small budget. The current diy (DIY) pattern to captivate home owners and home builders is building your very own concrete kitchen counter. This phenomenon has obtained popularity mainly because of Cheng's very successful publication Concrete Countertops: Design, Kinds, as well as Ends Up for the New Kitchen as well as Bath (Taunton Press, 2002). According to Cheng, there is little monetary financial investment in making concrete countertops, yet the innovative gains of collaborating with concrete abound.

THE SHOWSTOPPER

Increasingly, house owners are moving away from the boring, manufactured appearance of typical kitchen counter surface areas as well as picking concrete for its natural, classic appeal. Plus, the choices for individualizing concrete countertops are unlimited: one can tint, polish, stamp and also discolor concrete or imbed personal things like rocks, seashells and also fossils right into the countertops las vegas counter top's surface, including view and also character. Functional functions such as drain boards, soap dishes, and trivets can additionally be incorporated to suit the house owners' own requirements and also way of life.

Concrete is slowly becoming debunked as classically cool and commercial. In contrary, this olden material is warm and remarkably responsive; individuals can not help but touch their smooth, polished surface areas. Real estate agent Happiness Rasmussen, who has actually lately marketed her hill house-- a temporary investment building in Steamboat Springs, Carbon Monoxide-- states her visitors' experiences with concrete: "When I had open homes, site visitors moved to the concrete countertops-- many individuals around below have actually never ever seen them".

Happiness's 2,265 sq. ft. mountain home was customized develop by her husband, Ken Otterman, in addition to KJ Otterman, head of state of Classic Special Customized Residences. They constructed pour-in-place concrete counters for the home's kitchen and also three bathrooms by utilizing Concrete Countertops as their guide. The sand-colored concrete countertops were polished smooth, after that paired with all-natural slate of differing colors-- like charcoal, rust as well as gold tones-- that creates the backsplashes in the kitchen and baths. As a design accent, little rectangle-shaped slate ceramic tiles were contributed to the rim of the restroom sinks, which gave a distinct detail to the custom vanities.

When Delight and Ken made a decision to sell their home, their financial investment in concrete countertops verified its value. "We had the ability to note the house $20,000 over market value, and had no worry marketing it," remarks Happiness, while talking about the lengthy checklist of upgrades throughout their house, including knotty want strong doors, natural slate wall accents and also wood floors. "The concrete countertops were conveniently one of the most one-of-a-kind and also outstanding of all the coatings. I think they were a significant component in including worth to the home. Around right here, all you see in houses are granite countertops-- as well as I truly believe property buyers are getting quite numb with granite."

" Concrete countertops are an one-of-a-kind offering to property buyers who see the very same coatings utilized in house after residence they go to," clarifies Happiness, providing her observation as a seasoned real estate agent. "Having concrete countertops nearly offers you bragging civil liberties-- you have something various from your next-door neighbors."

BREAKING THE MOLD AND MILDEW

An additional advantage of concrete is its versatility in either modern or conventional settings, specifically when coupled with other products like varied metals, wood or stone. "Concrete adds a lot of [opportunities] to rock, and the mix with slate, which is extremely popular here, gives the hill houses an overall cozy, natural touch," says Joy.

Joy and Ken have actually since constructed a much larger residence (4,000 sq. ft.) that provides expansive views of the Boat Ski Resort as well as is meant to serve as a lasting investment for the pair. They have actually likewise increased their listing of customized surfaces, consisting of hand-troweled wall surfaces, stylish oil-rubbed bronze hardware, knotty pine doors that arch at the top, closets in an all-natural, knotty alder, as well as their favored-- concrete kitchen counter tops.

Unlike in their previous home, KJ and his specialty team put charcoal-colored countertops making use of the pre-cast approach in the incomplete cellar of the new residence. Prior to putting the concrete, they sprinkled a range of semi-precious rocks in the mold consisting of Leopardskin, Moonstone, Mother-of-Pearl and also Turquoise. After the surface area was ground and also gently brightened, the finished result was a remarkable mix of colors, "Without a doubt, the Mother-of-Pearl was the most unbelievable," claims Joy.

The L-shaped concrete counter top has a harsh, rustic rock appearance, matching its sturdy nation environments. An essential drain board as well as trivets offers function and included interest to the concrete counter top. Natural slate backsplashes, distinct wall surface accents, as well as a butcher block countertop at the kitchen area island all reverberate with the conventional heat and also earthiness of the concrete countertops.

Delight as well as Ken's corresponding histories in property and also custom-made homebuilding, and also as financial investment buyers, have helped them recognize that concrete kitchen counters can include remarkable visual and also economic worth to a residence. Concrete's customization as well as "show-stopping" allure resembles no other kitchen counter surface. Cheng is a proponent of psychological aesthetics as well as constructing houses that capture these feelings, as in the case of Pleasure as well as Ken Otterman. Cheng ends: "Individuals really want distinction, something individual, something personalized-- and concrete can do that for them.