Concrete Counter Tops

[nelsonic]

@iteles as discussed on our walk today, I'm trying to decide between Birch Plywood (coated in Epoxy Resin) and Concrete Countertops. The plywood+epxoy is well within my comfort level (I've built a lot of plywood furniture over the years...)
I've not done Concrete Countertops before but I have worked with concrete/cement before and I understand it's strengths/weaknesses, mixing ratios, reinforcing, curing etc. (I've done the homework)

The reasons I'm considering Concrete are:

1. Durability - it will last a very long time provided we follow a checklist and seal it well.
2. Seamless on the L-shaped kitchen (no visible joins)
3. Minimalist aesthetic
4. Bonus: Learning a new skill that I can apply to create cement planters for outside

This is a good article on the topic: https://www.bobvila.com/articles/concrete-countertops
This one has some detail on which concrete (cement) to use if you are DIYing it:
https://www.thestonehead.com/what-concrete-to-use-for-concrete-countertops/

I've probably watched all of the Concrete Countertop videos on YT at this point ... 📺 ⏳
One of the best (IMO) is Robin Lewis' How To Make A Concrete Countertop, It's Easier Than You Think: https://youtu.be/9866dmfJxUU

Cement is quite cheap in PT: €4.49/40kg
https://www.leroymerlin.pt/Produtos/Construcao/Cimentos-betao-agregados/Cimento-cal/WPR_REF_12442311

If we decided to use white cement because we wanted a more bright look/feel it's slightly more expensive: €5.19/25kg
https://www.leroymerlin.pt/Produtos/Construcao/Cimentos-betao-agregados/Cimento-cal/WPR_REF_12730774

The only "review" on the Leroy website is this 4-star one where the twit didn't explain why he only gave it 4-stars:

It the product works as expected and the person recommends it, why only 4-stars? 🤷‍♂️
Anyway, cement is cement.

The "glue" cement is also cheap (if we need it): €6.99/25kg
https://www.leroymerlin.pt/Produtos/Construcao/Cimento-cola-betumes/Cimento-cola/WPR_REF_81928502

The aggregate (sand) we would use is this fine sand which is also dirt cheap:

https://www.leroymerlin.pt/Produtos/Construcao/Cimentos-betao-agregados/Areias/WPR_REF_12156802

To seal/protect the countertop we would use this sealant: SECILTEK MICRO ART AD91 1L
Sealant: https://www.leroymerlin.pt/Produtos/Construcao/Argamassas/Microcimento/WPR_REF_18673270

This is the most expensive part, but we would only need 2 tubs of it for the whole kitchen (all three zones!)

Fibreglass reinforcement (to avoid cracking):
https://www.leroymerlin.pt/Produtos/Construcao/Isolamento/Acessorios/WPR_REF_82201261

Cheaper if we buy 50meters:
https://www.leroymerlin.pt/Produtos/Construcao/Impermeabilizacao/Paredes-e-fachadas/WPR_REF_17270680

In addition to the "consumables" we would aslo need to buy a few tools in order to get the work done.
All-in I think the counter tops will cost us less than €200 and we could do the setup in 2 days and the pour in 1.
Then we would need to wait 2-5 days for the curing and spend few hours sealing it all.

Pros and cons

An Honest Review {3} years after DIY Installation: https://youtu.be/qlKNc0X3lSQ

This is quite a balanced video, but it's worth noting that this YouTuber sells a $97 DIY Concrete Countertops course, so they might be biased ... Still worth watching as the pros/cons are accurate.

@iteles please share your thoughts after you've watched a few videos and read the links.
If you watch other videos and read more content, please share that too.
Thanks! ☀️

[iteles]

I'm a big fan of the look of the light grey concrete tops on wooden furniture (like ours, especially with our grey floors) and this would be a lot more fun to make than just wooden tops with expoy resin. It's a little less accessible for the average person but I think that if anyone wants to build a simple wooden countertop, there isn't much to it and could be done with the aid of any of our other videos!

Did you factor in the cost of the melamine mould into the €200 you mentioned above?

My only concern would be weight, particularly of that L-shaped top #56, we'd really have to pour it inside and use the empty kitchen as our work area for that one! All the others we could pour just outside and bring in via the kitchen door. Although it'll be winter so indoors might be our best bet.

I really enjoyed the first video and it has a ton of useful links too and I knew nothing about how to use rebar in reinforcing concrete so that was fun!

I was wondering about all the holes we would need on the tops as there are a few of them but the next videos I watched used rubber or fibreglass moulds. This is mostly because they're built-in sinks, we could just add another section of melamine and seal it as we would need sharp rather than rounded corners anyway.

Although the 'built-in' (as in, out of concrete) sinks are beautiful, I like the idea of using the IKEA ones which will facilitate the work and make it more accessible (including the fact that you need less tooling like fibreglass or rubber sink moulds)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlB1WlecU8Q

We could also just go ahead and build the undercounter storage/frames during the drying process for the tops!

All in, these would probably take us 3 more days in total than making them out of wood (effort days rather than time elapsed, there's a lot more drying involved here!) I reckon.

[nelsonic]

Sadly, we weren't able to do this @home because we decided to use an IKEA kitchen for maintenance. But I will 100% be doing this for the Garden. 👷