OMG, love this! I wonder if I pour concrete directly over my yucky formica countertops.

GORGEOUS!

Good idea!

@Uccellini: They did concrete over laminate on Design on a Dime but they spread it like drywall compound.

Wow!

Wow! That is one hell of a job.

looks very nice! i wonder how it'll hold up.

Cooooooool!

Yup, I agree, very cool.

I love those! I am always trying to think of alternatives to granite, which honestly I think is overrated.

Nifty! Loved the in-between photo too!

AMAZING!!!! We have horrible tile counters in a rental and I would love to do this if landlord would let me.

OMG!!!!!!!
dream come true!!!!
What an awesome job!!

Looks awesome. That had to have been difficult, but it looks really smooth. How did you get it to stay in the frame of the counter top?

How clever!

That is gorgeous. And so smart!

Great results. But can you imagine future owners 50 years from now, cracking the concrete to happy-dance over the "vintage" tiles?

No, I can't, because cracking the cement will likely crack the tiles, too. Totally appreciate the joke, though...

bravo! xx

Lovely.

Oooo! Makes me wish I owned my unit, since I have tiled countertops too. While I appreciate that they are not the typical Formica of a rental, they really are NOT practical for a kitchen. I like the change!

wow, that frame better have been air tight! or else you would have ended up with concrete all over your cabinets and floors! Looks amazing!

That makes such a huge difference...the backsplash tiles are a nice update too....what a smart, and I'm hoping cost effective, if not time effective, solution!

There is a restaurant near me with a poured concrete counter top in the ladies' room. It's been in place about 3 years and its eroding! The binding material in the area under and around the soap pump and around the faucets is disappearing, leaving the sand and pebbles with lacey holes in between. This is now going fairly deep into the surface.

Do soap and water erode away the limestone-y parts of concrete? It makes me worried about having concrete counters.

Terry, perhaps the counters can be treated with something like polyurethane?

Looks great! I don't know why anyone would want grouted tile as a countertop. Too many places to catch dirt!

Concrete needs to be sealed properly to withstand the wear of heavy useage. Let's hope they did this.

Wow! I love it!!!

BRAVE, but with gorgeous pay off, omg!

Thin concrete is very prone to cracking. Either dropping something (like a pot) or a little flex in the foundation could ruin this. Putting a hot pot on it without a trivet could cause a crack. Although it's unlikely in Arizona, even a change in humidity could swell the cabinetry enough to crack it. There's a reason most poured concrete is recommended to be at least 2 inches.

Beautiful :)

Just to answer a couple questions people raised (and I noticed were answered in the blog post about the counter), they did seal it (two coats) with a concrete sealer, and it looks like they took out the top drawers and then used towels to protect the bottom cabinets while they did the concrete.

This is a really neat idea!

Very cool! Those tiles were the wrong kind of retro anyhow.

we actually painted ours for a quick fix to make them a little better. super easy to do.

http://midcenturymodernlove.com/2011/08/15/yes-virginia%e2%80%a6you-really-can-paint-a-tile-countertop/

My father in law makes concrete counter tops (and firepits, sinks, coffee bars, etc.) at h2concretedesign.com (he's in the process of working on improving the website). I helped design the gorgeous countertops in our home. I love them! Concrete sealer can take a couple weeks before it properly seals, so we had to be meticulous about wiping water off around our sink for a while... we left a wet glass out over the weekend when we first installed the countertops and we ended up with a gray ring on our almost-black countertop. It was easily buffed out, but I learned my lesson! My countertops are still shiny and gorgeous (even if I don't wipe them down all day) and we're constantly complimented on them. Much more striking than overdone granite, in my opinion.

we looked into doing this, but a friend who owns a concrete business told me that concrete is not practical for a kitchen: it is very porous, so you could never prepare raw chicken on it.

Friends of ours used a slab of fibre cement as a counter top (they tried to pour one, but failed miserably). It looks great.

This is great!!

This looks great but I find it hard to believe that it is cheaper than granite. (Getting my granite countertop was cheaper than formica from Home Depot.) And granite is not overrated.

WOW!! My husband and I appreciate your comments sooo much. We really try to do something different every opportunity we have.

I would like to address concerns about the concrete. It has been over 6 months and it is holding up really well. My husband decided to add a another coat of concrete sealer, just because its been 6 months and just wanted to do one last coat for extra strength.
They are really awesome.
I prepare food on them every day, and havent had any problems with the concrete eroding or anything like that.
The only thing I do suggest is if you have a family that is hard on countertops you will want to do the 2 in thick ones, but our kids are grown and can handle it.
Thanks again...
Cassie
www.designstocker.blogspot.com

I think you may have just saved me a couple thousand dollars...

Oh my gosh! Your new look of the countertops are so gorgeous and great job with poured the concrete.

Well done!