Kitchen Concrete Countertops Update

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Our Kitchen Concrete Countertops Update

We wanted to weigh in on our concrete countertops update and how they have held up. I don’t know about you but when we started our countertop I had wanted to see how they were holding up for others. So we are going to show you how ours is doing.

For the most part our Ardex concrete countertops have been GREAT!  And from far away they look AMAZING!

We do have scratches, marks, and nicks but considering it has been a few years and a lot of abuse it’s not bad. We have been cautious and always put a towel under our hot electric skillet and always use hotpads for hot things. We also always use a cutting board.

These countertops have been really easy to clean but some things do stain. Usually, if water is left on such as a cup of water with water dripping from the bottom it will soak in and look stained but once it dries it is fine.

Sink & Dish Washer Countertop

Concrete Countertop to the left of the sink

Big view of the countertop and backsplash by the phone

There is a lot of variation of color on this section. We like the industrial concrete countertop look so we are great with this. We think the variation really determined on the amount of water we added to the mixture of Ardex. So the more water the darker it was.

Close up of the countertop below the phone.

Another close up of the countertop below the phone

Around the sink

Around the sink there is some peeling. It’s really easy to repair. We just mix a little Ardex in a cup and then frost it on like we are frosting a cake, let it dry and then take a small tole painting brush and paint some seal on it.

The left side of the sink has a hairline crack on the edge of the sink as well as some small pockmarks. Probably bubbles that popped when the Ardex was wet. The color is probably from the soap dish that sits on it.

Concrete Countertop in between the fridge and stove

This is the counter by in between the fridge and the stove. I set my pot-stirring spoons here.

This countertop is to the right of when I am cooking at the stove. So when I fry or stir things I set my spoon, the lids etc. on here. I usually try to set things on a dish but grease and everything flies around this area. It has held up pretty well. I don’t think it looks bad because I like the industrial look so these few stains look like the variation of color from the Ardex.

The kitchen concrete countertop island NOW

Kitchen island countertop view from the right at eye-level

Kitchen island countertop eye-level view from the left

Marks on the island

The island gets the most use. This is where we set our electric fry pan. I usually put a towel here so it doesn’t get too hot. However, this was also doing this on our laminate countertop so it seems like its cracking in the same area. When I say crack I don’t mean it’s an open crack. It’s more like a lined drawing. There is no depth or indentation. It just looks like a crack.

 Countertop BEFORE

Our Final Judgement

Would we do concrete countertops again? Most definitely YES!  If money was a factor in our cost and had to do a super cheap kitchen remodel this is the way we would go for sure!

What would we do differently? We would do more coats, especially around the sink. Because we didn’t follow the original countertops and created a straight edge instead of the original rounded we believe that made it more susceptible to chipping on the edge. However, the only chunk out of the edge is on the island and more of a result from pounding the rolling pin on a Ziploc bag full of nuts to crush them.

Since most of the kids are gone our countertops don’t get as much wear as they would when the all the kids were home. They are soft and had the kids been home to color, craft and cook on them they might show more wear, but if you take really good care of these and cautious with what you do on them they hold up fine.

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