The Worth of Concrete Countertops: Customization Increases Visual Allure as well as Property Investment for Homeowners

1. From top-dollar houses in the San Francisco Bay Area to sprawling mountain homes in the Colorado Rockies, discriminating house owners are requiring personalized layouts as well as coatings in their kitchen areas. In particular, they are looking to express their originality and distinct design preferences with the fast growing style product of option-- concrete. In fact, concrete kitchen counters have actually ended up being somewhat of a status icon for kitchen areas, equaling granite as well as other premium countertop surface area alternatives. Consumer News Publication (August 2004) placed concrete highest possible for its "modification" as well as "exclusivity" among premium kitchen area countertops. As a custom item, the amount of time and workmanship needed to create concrete countertops positions them as one of the countertops with cream cabinets most labor-intensive and most expensive among leading counter top materials. However, concrete kitchen counters are ending up being extra accessible for those on a small budget plan. The latest diy (DIY) pattern to astound home owners as well as home builders is developing your very own concrete kitchen counter. This phenomenon has gained appeal mostly as a result of Cheng's very successful book Concrete Countertops: Design, Kinds, and Finishes for the New Kitchen as well as Bath (Taunton Press, 2002). According to Cheng, there is little financial financial investment in making concrete kitchen counters, yet the imaginative gains of collaborating with concrete abound. THE SHOWSTOPPER Increasingly, house owners are relocating far from the boring, manufactured look of standard kitchen counter surface areas and selecting concrete for its earthy, classic appeal. Plus, the alternatives for personalizing concrete counter tops are countless: one can color, gloss, stamp as well as discolor concrete or imbed personal items like stones, seashells and fossils right into the kitchen counter's surface area, including view and character. Useful functions such as drain boards, soap dishes, and also trivets can likewise be integrated to fit the property owners' very own requirements and way of life. Concrete is slowly becoming debunked as typically chilly and also commercial. In contrary, this old-time product is warm as well as surprisingly tactile; people can not aid yet touch their smooth, polished surfaces. Property representative Happiness Rasmussen, who has actually just recently sold her hill house-- a temporary investment property in Boat Springs, Carbon Monoxide-- recounts her site visitors' experiences with concrete: "When I had open residences, site visitors gravitated to the concrete countertops-- lots of people around below have actually never seen them". Delight's 2,265 sq. ft. mountain home was personalized build by her hubby, Ken Otterman, together with KJ Otterman, head of state of Classic Unique Personalized Homes. They developed pour-in-place concrete counters for the home's kitchen as well as three washrooms by using Concrete Countertops as their overview. The sand-

2. colored concrete counter tops were polished smooth, then coupled with all-natural slate of differing colors-- like charcoal, rust and also gold tones-- that forms the backsplashes in the kitchen area and also baths. As a style accent, tiny rectangle-shaped slate ceramic tiles were contributed to the rim of the bathroom sinks, which offered a special information to the personalized vanities. When Pleasure and Ken decided to offer their home, their financial investment in concrete kitchen counters confirmed its value. "We had the ability to detail your house $20,000 over market price, and had no worry marketing it," remarks Joy, while reviewing the long list of upgrades throughout their residence, including knotty pine strong doors, natural slate wall accents and hardwood floors. "The concrete counter tops were conveniently one of the most distinct and remarkable of all the finishes. I think they were a significant part in adding worth to the house. Around here, all you see in houses are granite kitchen counters-- and also I really believe property buyers are getting quite numb with granite." " Concrete kitchen counters are a distinct offering to buyers that see the same coatings made use of in house after home they check out," discusses Pleasure, using her monitoring as a seasoned real estate professional. "Having concrete countertops virtually provides you bragging legal rights-- you have something various from your next- door neighbors." DAMAGING THE MOLD An additional benefit of concrete is its versatility in either modern-day or standard settings, specifically when coupled with other products like varied steels, wood or rock. "Concrete adds so many [opportunities] to rock, and also the combination with slate, which is extremely preferred right here, provides the hill homes a general warm, natural touch," claims Delight. Happiness and Ken have actually since developed a much larger house (4,000 sq. ft.) that supplies expansive views of the Boat Ski Resort and is meant to serve as a lasting investment for the couple. They have actually additionally increased their list of custom coatings, including hand-troweled wall surfaces, elegant oil-rubbed bronze equipment, knotty want doors that curve on top, cabinets in a natural, knotty alder, as well as their preferred-- concrete kitchen counter tops. Unlike in their previous house, KJ and also his specialized crew put charcoal-colored counter tops making use of the pre-cast approach in the unfinished basement of the new residence. Before putting the concrete, they sprayed an array of semi-precious rocks in the mold and mildew including Leopardskin, Moonstone, Mother-of-Pearl and Blue-green. After the surface was ground as well as lightly brightened, the finished result was an excellent blend of shades, "Without a doubt, the Mother-of-Pearl was one of the most unbelievable," says Happiness. The L-shaped concrete countertop has a rough, rustic rock appearance, matching its rugged nation environments. An essential drainpipe board and also trivets provides function and also added rate of interest to the concrete kitchen counter. Natural slate backsplashes, distinct wall surface accents, as well as a butcher block counter top at the kitchen area island all reverberate with the standard warmth as well as earthiness of the concrete counter tops. Happiness as well as Ken's corresponding backgrounds in real estate and also personalized homebuilding, and also as investment property buyers, have actually aided them understand that concrete counter tops can include incredible visual and economic worth to a house. Concrete's customization and "show-stopping" appeal resembles no other countertop surface area. Cheng is an advocate of emotional aesthetic appeals and constructing houses that capture these feelings, as when it comes to Pleasure and Ken Otterman. Cheng concludes: "People really want differentiation, something individual, something customized-- and concrete can do that for them."