So we did it. We concrete’d our kitchen’s laminate counters. Sherry shared this quick peek at our first coat in Friday’s post, and we’re back with the final results, the details of how we got there, and an in-action video to hopefully help explain the process.
We’re really happy with how they turned out. Pictures don’t do it justice, but the whole room feels a lot more updated and less laminate-y. It’s giving off kind of a stark/cold vibe in these photos, but after we add some colorful window treatments, stuff on the shelves/counters, and remedy that bad faux brick flooring (and that almond stove) we think it’ll feel like a whole new room.
I’m not going to sugar coat it, though. It was a lot of work. And a lot of dust.
Here’s a reminder of what the counters looked like before. We had creamy-yellow laminate (with the occasional burn mark or scratch). In addition to the main kitchen area, we also gave the concrete treatment to the nearby nook by the eat-in part of the kitchen. We haven’t sealed the counters yet (we haven’t been able to track down either of the two products that our research points to using), so the color will probably get a bit deeper after that step.
We did this using Ardex Feather Finish, which we’ve been really interested in trying since seeing a few other attempts like these from Kara Paslay, Little Green Notebook, Sarah’s Big Idea, and A Beautiful Mess. Somewhere between all of their pretty pictures and the low price tag for Ardex ($19 per bag) I had assumed this would be a quick and easy task. Oh silly me…
Maybe it was because we’re first timers, or maybe it was because our work area was especially large (we were dealing with 45 square feet of counters thanks to the U-shaped area in the cooking zone and the nook area by the table), but it turned out to be a tiring and messy job that spanned across five days. It wasn’t very complicated or difficult, just more labor and time intensive than we realized we were getting ourselves into. So let’s dive into the process. Forgive our photos for not being chronological. We took a bunch throughout our four rounds of applying/sanding the Ardex and I’m just using the ones that are most helpful. Let’s begin with supplies!
- Ardex Feather Finish, obviously. It’s not easy to come by, but you can hunt for a local distributor on their site or just follow this affiliate link to get it on Amazon. We ended up using 2.5 bags, though I think we applied it a bit thicker than necessary.
- Mixing buckets: We used one of these small red buckets for mixing our Ardex (it mixes with water). We made pretty small batches, so this was a great size.
- Measuring buckets: We used these (one for water, one for Ardex powder) to make sure we were mixing the right ratio in our red bucket.
- Sandpaper: A variety of grits – both high and low, as well as a sanding block for easy gripping. We used mostly 60, 120, and 220 grit.
- Spreading tools: We used the flat trowel (on right) for mixing in the bucket, then used the other three for spreading. The big 10″ drywall knife was good for big flat areas, the 4″ putty knife was great for backsplash and edges, while the small guy helped us get into tight spots, like around the sink.
- Stuff for keeping walls clean: We kept a sponge and paper towels on hand to clean up any drips or splatters on the wall. We also taped off some areas too (more on that later).
- Protective gear: During the sanding process the glasses and dust mask helped keep stuff out of our faces (Sherry preferred our heavy duty respirator) while the gloves were great for keeping our fingers from getting crazy raw.
Speaking of sanding… the first step was to rough up the existing counters with some high grit sandpaper. This was before we realized our fingers would be taking a beating from all of the sandpaper gripping. We wised up and added gloves and used nice big sanding blocks wrapped in high grit paper about ten minutes into it. It went much easier after that.
The Ardex bag suggests a mixture of 2-parts powder to 1-part water, but we found that balance to be a little bit on the thick side – making it hard to spread and what we believe led to our first layer being, well, on the thick side too. So we erred on the side of a bit more water from that point on.
Like grout or thinset, the goal seems to be a toothpaste-like consistency. Thick enough that it doesn’t run or drip off your blade, but thin enough to spread easily. If you’re mixing larger batches it suggests a paddle mixer, but we did just fine by hand (Sherry took a turn mixing things too and didn’t have any issues doing it by hand). Since it starts to harden within about 15-20 minutes, we never wanted to mix up too much at once anyway.
Spreading it on the flat surfaces was kinda fun, in a weird way. It was like icing a giant cake and using a big 10″ blade made it pretty fast to get the big areas covered. The backsplash was another story, but we’ll get to that in a second.
Here’s a quick video Sherry took of me applying the third coat, since we thought it’d helpful for you to see the stuff in action. I’m not claiming my technique to be great or anything, but we did find we got a bit better each round (Sherry also thought we got better at sanding/smoothing each layer as we went). Which is good news because your first couple of layers will get covered up anyways – so they’re kind of like low-risk practice rounds.
When it came to doing the sides, we switched to a smaller putty knife. We usually did these after we had applied most of our mixture to the top, that way what was left in the bucket had set a bit more and was less likely to slide off the vertical surface.
At first we found the edges to be challenging since it was easy for stuff to build up there. What we realized a couple of rounds in was that after about 20 minutes the Ardex had hardened to an almost clay-like consistency, and Sherry or I could come back and smooth the edges with a damp finger. My favorite part was sneaking up behind Sherry all Ghost-style to smooth them from behind her back. Who says there’s no romance in DIY?
Here’s our first round after it dried. You can see Sherry taped off the wall to protect it when I lamented how much was getting on them as I went. In hindsight we’re still unsure whether that ended up being a smart decision. It certainly made us less paranoid about being messy as we went, but removal was a bit of a pain and not perfect since we were essentially concrete-ing the tape to the wall in a few spots.
We decided to ditch the tape after our second round of counter smoothing, so we slowly worked our way around the room peeling it off (we feared that too much concrete build-up would trap the tape in place forever). One thing that we found during this process was that pulling it down from the top (rather than ripping it to the side like we do after painting) did a better job of getting a clean edge and not just tearing the tape. But we did have to chisel it free in a few areas… so I’m not sure if it was a time saver in the end.
Things looked pretty rough after our first round (well, after every round actually). But that’s where the fun mess begins: the sanding step. Here’s where you smooth out any rough spots or ridges so that the next layer can go on evenly and ultimately get you to a flat, smooth finish.
After letting the surface dry overnight, first Sherry would go across the top with a putty knife and scrape off any obvious ridges that were left by the drywall knife during the Ardex application. Even though it had hardened, it wasn’t tough to do. Blobs and ridges just popped right off as she scraped back and forth over them.
The most satisfying thing was cleaning off the bottom edge. Sherry realized we could just run our smaller putty knife along those and sheer off any irregularities, which left us with an awesomely crisp line on the bottom. Best part of this project by far. Could’ve done it all day.
That step was quickly followed by our least favorite part: sanding, sanding, and more sanding. We chose to do it all by hand, since we feared that our power sander would just sand everything down to the laminate again (or leave rough ridges or marks as it traveled around the counter). Plus, with all of the tight spots like the backsplash and around the sink, we figured it would be easier to maneuver by hand.
We used a sanding block (for easy grip) wrapped in fresh sandpaper each time. For sanding every layer except for the last one we used a really rough 60-grit paper to make smoothing ridges and rough spots easy, but after the last coat of Ardex (we did four coats) was all smoothed on and dry, we switched to 220-grit paper to make sure we didn’t leave big/rough scratches in that top coat of concrete.
Sherry also realized that it was helpful for us to pause while sanding each section to vacuum off the excess dust as we went (thanks shop vac!). This was especially helpful because sometimes the dust would disguise an area that needed a bit more sanding. Plus, it just helped for sanity reasons, since we felt like we were keeping the mess more contained that way.
Speaking of which, the mess was the biggest surprise to us. Despite reading other people’s experiences with it (and obviously, we knew sanding was involved), I don’t think either of us had mentally prepared for the fact that there’d be a fine gray build-up of powder EVERYWHERE. And since the kitchen is such a central and highly traffic area of our house, keeping it clean ended up being a big time suck (after each round we would sweep, then vacuum, and then mop the floors to be sure nobody tracked anything throughout the house when they passed through over the five days that we worked on it).
After our first coat, we noticed the laminate was peeking through in a few spots after our initial sanding step – mostly on edges where it’s really easy to scrape everything off if you’re not careful. But that’s one reason you do multiple coats, so we weren’t too panicked.
Here you can see a second coat beginning to get applied over the first. Note the difference in color between the wet Ardex vs. the lighter stuff (that’s how it dries). We actually think once we seal it, it’ll get closer to the wet color though, so that should be interesting to see.
Here’s a shot of our final counters (well, pre-sealing). You can see it’s still not perfect, which everyone notes is one of the charms of this Ardex technique. You get that sort of imperfect, industrial look, but it definitely feels more solid & stone-like (as opposed to plastic-y like laminate).
I’ll admit that I had to come around to the idea of appreciating the flaws of the finish. Sherry was immediately charmed by it, but the perfectionist in me resented the fact that this type of project doesn’t yield perfectly uniform results. I think once we seal it I’ll appreciate it even more (that will darken it a little and remove the chalky finish in favor of a more polished look) so I’m really looking forward to that.
By far the hardest area to get smooth was the backsplash, just because it was a small area that was difficult to reach and seemingly made up entirely of edges and corners. So both applying the Ardex and sanding it was challenging and required a bit of body contorting on my part (lucky Sherry was too pregnant to reach it in most areas thanks to her belly being in the way, which had me slightly envious by the end of this process).
Another tough spot was around the sink. If this were our “forever” counter, I would’ve gone through the trouble of removing the sink, but we’ve got some old copper pipes that are pretty much corroded together down there (which would mean bringing in a plumber to switch this out). So we opted to save that for Phase 2 of our kitchen update and just taped / sanded around it. The results were actually better than I expected.
Challenges and flaws aside, we’re happy with the overall improvement to the space. It feels good to rid the kitchen of another old yellowed surface and make the room feel a bit more updated. Just cover the floor with your hand and squint – ok?
And although the time that we spent on this update was longer than we envisioned (probably around 15 hours spread across five days, including prep and clean-up) the cost was still pretty fantastic. The three bags of Ardex (again, we only needed 2.5 to do four coats) cost $57 in total – and we probably spent another $20 in buckets and sandpaper. So for 45 square feet of countertops, we paid just $1.71 per square foot to update it – which is pretty hard to beat.
That doesn’t include the sealer though, which is next on our list. We’ve read a ton of sealer reviews since it seems that the wrong sealer can cause more scratches, stains, and even issues like bubbling down the line – so we want to get it right. The two most highly recommended products seem to be Ardex Clear Concrete Guard High Performance Sealer and GST International Satin Seal Water Based Acrylic Sealer. Does anyone out there have a preference between the two? We can’t find either of them locally so we’re going to have to order one of them online and wait for it to come, but we’ll definitely share what we end up going with, how it goes on, and what it does to change this finish – as well as updating you guys on how these counters end up wearing for us over time.
Update: You can check out what we used to seal them here, and read an update on how they’re holding up here.
Psst – Wanna know where we got something in our house or what paint colors we used? Just click on this button:
Kimberly says
Looks great! I love the gray, white, and blue together, and I love seeing y’all test drive something new. Good luck with the sealant step.
Stacie C says
I am in the midst of doing ardex on my kitchen counters as well. I wanted the black counter look but as i was searching the web for the pigments to mix with the concrete, i noticed the shipping charges were, in most cases, more than the cost of the product itself. I ended up adding regular ol’ black wall paint. The color ended up just as I had imagined. As far as the sealer, I used Siacryl 14 (i think i spelled that right). It is so easy to put on and thus far, I have had no complaints. I have only used it on one of my smaller countertops. It gives it a nice shine/sheen.
YoungHouseLove says
Sounds really cool!
xo
s
Sergio says
I’ve done quite a few of those, usually on outdoor kitchens and it always comes out great… even better if you guys have it Epoxy Coated !! Nowadays, there are several epoxy coatings meant to be used for FLOORING, yes Epoxy Floor Coatings – and these do a truly awesome job for concrete work tops. These Resinous Floors are available in many different styles and colors.. from simply “clear coating” to aggressive & tough finishes like Quartz, Mica or Terrazzo, or yet, “marble like” finishing using “Metallic Effects Resins”… You guys will find all about it including many pictures on my web site @ GarageAndStorageGear.com
Suzanne says
Staci, I wanted the black pigment as well. I went to the home depot store in our area and they had it in the concrete section. $6 for a 1lb box
Shannon says
Looks amazing! I can’t believe the transformation from the kitchen when you bought the house to now…and you haven’t evenspent a lot on it (just some serious sweat equity!). Very inspiring!
Laura @ Rather Square says
This is a great Phase 1 update! Even though it took longer than you thought (and was messy!), the end result looks really nice. Did you find the concrete layers measurably raised the height of the counters at all? Has there been any chipping or flaking since you finished? Although I’m sure sealing it would help with that.
We toyed with the idea of updating our white laminate countertops like this until we can afford natural stone, but in the end I think we’ll just live with the laminate for the next year or two (and envy yours at a virtual distance ;).
YoungHouseLove says
The surprising thing about this technique is that it’s such a thin thin coat each time. I’d say after 4 coats we built it up about 1/2 a centimeter! No chipping or flaking has happened yet, but I can’t wait to seal everything since I think that should help protect it too!
xo
s
kati says
I hope you like it after all that hard work! I think I like it. :-) I’d be nervous on the sealer – what if you concrete’d a piece of scrap wood or laminate something and then sealed that? Then you could have a safe test area.
Also, I can’t even keep my normal apartment kitchen space clean – which has roughly a quarter amount of counter space as you’ve got. So good job!
YoungHouseLove says
We did think about doing a little test sealing somewhere (we still have half a bag to mix up) but there have been such good reviews for those two sealers we think they’re the way to go, so we might just order one and dive in. A lot of family is coming over next week so I’d love to have them sealed by then.
xo
s
Heidi says
This is AWESOME! My husband really liked the look of granite countertops, but we found that they were a lot more expensive than what we initially thought. I wonder if we could use this to build an outdoor BBQ prep area/bar. I would think this would have to be lighter than solid concrete slabs and I’m always worried about the weight of concrete causing problems. Thanks for this idea!
http://jax-and-jewels.blogspot.com
YoungHouseLove says
Good luck Heidi!
xo
s
Robin says
How neat! How does it feel? Like is it rough or cold? I would think it would be those and it would bother me. I had slate tile like counter as a child and hated how cold it always was.
YoungHouseLove says
Hmm, it’s not as cold or rough as our slate floors in the foyer… it sort of feels like I’m touching our wood cutting board if I close my eyes. Sort of has that porous feeling like wood – but I think once it’s sealed it’ll be smoother and more polished feeling. Will keep you posted!
xo
s
Michele from IL says
Looks great so far! Did you have the Righteous Brothers playing in the background? ;)
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, totally should have!
xo
s
Mary | Lemon Grove Blog says
For $100 ish, you can’t beat it! I especially love how it looks with your white cabinet bases in the nook. When you’re looking to upgrade to your final counter, I can’t recommend quartz enough – we love ours!
Here’s a post where I break down some of the counter options we looked at, if helpful! http://lemongroveblog.com/blessed-be-thy-counters/
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Mary! We hear such good things about quartz!
xo
s
Susan says
Thanks for posting this, we are planning a kitchen remodel and we have laminate too, and are thinking of doing this. Does anyone know if you can add any kind of color to make the end result darker? Does the Ardex take stain like other concretes do? We want something more blackish…
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, I believe Kara (the first person we linked to in the mentions of other places we’ve seen this technique) has used stain to darken it. I’ve seen it done in black with polished sealer and it’s almost like black granite (I believe the link to Sarah’s Big Idea shows that too).
xo
s
Courtney says
You can use any color stain you want on it, keep in mind tho that the sealer actually can darken it quite a bit too!
Laurie says
If you want to stay in the gray family I would not worry about stain – the sealer darkened mine pretty considerably – the bathroom counter I stained before sealing ended up being almost exactly the same color as the bathroom counter I didn’t stain before sealing. (I did both bathrooms in one of our rentals.) That said, on the advise of a contractor who had done real concrete counter in outside kitchens,I used a sealer intended for outside since I was concerned about the amount of water that ends up on counters in a kids bathroom (Superseal 30). The downside is that it is a gloss finish. The upside is that 9 months in they still look pristine.
Sarah says
Susan, we bought our black pigment here: http://www.blueconcrete.com/dvd101-exf-hydrablack-liquid/. It comes in a gallon, and we only needed about a tablespoon per batch to make our counters black!
Susan says
Thanks everyone!
Diane says
Don’t like this look at all. Seems cold.
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yeah, concrete definitely isn’t warm and fuzzy, but I think once it’s sealed and I can add some pretty stuff to the counters, shelves, and some warm window treatments it’ll balance out. The warm woven chandelier over our rustic eat-in kitchen table is a nice balance to the counters too. Will have to share more panned out pics when that table isn’t full of kitchen counter junk!
xo
s
John @ Rather Square says
Looks great! I wonder if you can add a die to the mixture to get a colored look?
I was just doing some plaster work on our basement walls and had to learn how to trowel cement-like plaster. It is very similar to what you were doing, only vertically. I found that using a pool trowel that has rounded corners works really well at hiding the trowel marks to make a smooth surface.
I will be interested to see how long they will last. We may consider this for our kitchen as well.
YoungHouseLove says
Yup, while mixing it you can add stain I believe. And Ardex just came out with a “white” color too, but we hear this color is slightly easier to work with for novices.
xo
s
Cheerful Homemaker says
That looks fantastic! We have the old white Formica countertops with white gold flecks all over. We’ve been looking into the countertop painting kits. I think Rustoleum makes it.
Cortney says
Rustoleum does make a countertop paint! When we moved into a foreclosed home the counters were in great need of an update. However, funds were short so we ended up buying the countertop paint in Taupe until we had money to replace them. It smells absolutely horrible and will knock you down but keeping the doors and windows open will help. We have had our counters painted for over a year now and they still look great! Can’t beat it for 22 bucks!
Mina says
I’ve been waiting for you guys to do this! I’ve got plain white laminate in my kitchen with the same flat edge. I’ve wanted to update them for a while, but I didn’t want to do something too expensive (in our neighborhood, stone would be an overkill). I’ve just been worried about getting started on it and just completely messing it up and having to get completely new countertops! Hopefully, with your information I can get it done right! I don’t have the backsplash (they just glued a sheet of white laminate to the wall) and I want to tile that. Thanks so much for doing this and giving us the kick in the kiester to get started!
YoungHouseLove says
Good luck Mina!
xo
s
Helene says
Looks great. Just curious – why not remove the backsplash?
YoungHouseLove says
Good question! The backsplash was behind the counters if that makes sense. So instead of putting in the counters and then the backplash (which would make it easy to pop off, which we’ve done in the past), they put in the backsplash and then butted up the counters to it. So if we removed the backsplash we’d have a 1.5″ gap all around the counters, so we didn’t want to mess with that.
xo
s
Meredith says
I wondered the same thing! I’m reminding every person I know, when considering adding a tile splash to remove the 4″ backsplash (if it’s the granite or stone or quartz type that is just added after, not if the laminate molded one piece kind) because tiling all the way to the counter is truly custom, with the flat deck counter install. It makes me weep inside every time I see someone do a tile backsplash on top of the 4″ splash! Gah!!! Take it off! It’s only there for code. They have to out something waterproof 4″ up. But if you are going to tile, it can come off.
I bet here you are dealing with phase 1, 2, etc and if you ever do new counters you will do a tile installation all the way down to counter height….right???
YoungHouseLove says
Oh yes, tile from counter to ceiling (or the bottom of the upper cabs) is our preference, so we wouldn’t go with a tiny backsplash for Phase 2.
xo
s
Kara says
For WEEKS I’ve been looking for a solution to a buffet/office station that I’m building in my dining room. I was originally going to use Ikea butcher block, but I have a 9′ span and their longest piece is 8′ – I wasn’t all that thrilled with the idea of a seam down the middle. Any kind of stone is prohibitively expensive for this small project, and I just wasn’t thrilled with the idea of tile. But this? Whoa! This looks like the solution to my problem!
Do you know if the concrete can be stained or tinted (either before or after application)?
Thanks, y’all! :)
YoungHouseLove says
Yes, you can stain it/tint it and Ardex also sells a white variety (although that’s new and we hear it’s slightly harder to work with, but the stain-adding step seems really doable with this regular mix we used).
xo
s
Gretchen Brown says
Hey Kara – If you have a “Southeastern Salvage” near you, they have 10′ long butcher block pieces. We just did our income property with butcher block from there and it looks AMAZING!
Chrissy says
Lumber Liquidators sells butcher block in 12 foot sections. We used one (cut down ourselves) to build an entertainment center nearly 10 ft. long. But I would love to cover up my black laminate countertops in this concrete!
Kerri says
Definitely updates the space. You pretty much can’t beat it for the $$$ while you save up for phase 2! :)
E says
I left a comment on your other post about Ardex, as we just finished doing the same project (although our house is a total gut reno and we didn’t have countertops to re-cover, so we Ardexed over plywood).
Just wanted to throw out there that I HATED the inconsistent and rough finish on ours, so we ended up sanding with an orbital sander (has to be orbital… palm sander will make it look even worse) and it depeened and evened out the color, plus made it really glossy. We did seal (with Cheng’s concrete countertop sealer) and wax (with carnuba wax) but we had a great glossy finish even before sealing.
Obviously it’s more dust, but just though I’d throw that out there!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks E! That sounds awesome!
xo
s
Michelle says
I think the concrete counters look great and will look even better after sealed. What struck me was the picture of the built-in desk area….I thought it flowed so much more easily than the picture of the whole kitchen with the stained lower cabinets. Have y’all thought about going all white or maybe a darker blue on the lowers? Just a suggestion–I am sure y’all have already weighed all the possibilities. I am currently in this debate with my own kitchen…I have med/light stained cabinets and cannot decide whether to paint all white or go for the “tuxedo” look, as I have seen it called.
YoungHouseLove says
That could be fun! I think for now we like the warmth of keeping some wood in the counters (especially since we have a rustic wood eat-in table and a rope chandelier over it), but you never know where we’ll end up!
xo
s
Jessica says
I totally agree with Michelle. I loved the kitchen cabinets before and I love the counters now, but I think the three colors are a little jarring. I think all the same uppers and lowers would work better, but still, nice job!
Karen says
Totally think some Hale Navy on the lowers would look fantastic!!
Karen McAdams says
We just did a concrete skim coat in our house! We had knocked down a wall between the kitchen and living room and put a bar countertop there, and decided to test out concrete instead of laminate or other more expensive treatments. We used the Encore countertop kit in slate, and though we hated the pesky back splash too (so, so hard to get a coat on and sand!), we love the results! Ours has some actual smooth texture, so it is a bit reminiscent of soapstone. You have to plan that texture in at the very beginning, though!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B008YAR7DQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1395668790&sr=8-1&pi=SX200_QL40
YoungHouseLove says
That stuff looks really cool too Karen!
xo
s
Malissa says
Hi Karen,
We bought Encore and have been waiting for the right (read: child free) weekend to apply it. Do you have a blog? I would love to see how the slate color turned out as we got the same color for our kitchen. Also, what did you mean by “plan the texture from the beginning”?
Thanks!
Malissa
Mary Beth says
Wow that looks amazing you guys!
My neighbours did theirs as well and I love it…definitely a big job but totally worth it!
MB @
http://www.hystericallyeverafter.com
Treana @ treanastransitions says
Love it! We also went for an “in the meantime” countertop upgrade with this Rustoleum product. I blogged about it here:
http://treanastransitions.wordpress.com/2014/02/10/rustoleum-countertops-oooooohhhh/
For $100, you can’t really beat the upgrade away from RED/ORANGE laminate… I sumbit that anything is better. Our process was shockingly messy too!
YoungHouseLove says
Wow, that’s such an update! So funny it was shockingly messy since I thought that could be so much cleaner than all the dust from the concrete!
xo
s
Casey {The Maine Mrs} says
I love the new countertop! What an amazing update!
http://themainemrs.blogspot.com
Anele @ Success Along the Weighn says
OMG, I thought you meant you ripped off the countertops and did the whole form thing and I wanted to scream “NOOO! I just saw a Renovation Realities on that Saturday!” I didn’t know you could do such a thing! It looks like it’d be much less gray hair inducing than pouring forms and such. (But this is likely because that scares the bejezus out of me!)
Looks good! Can’t wait to see it all sealed up!
Katie says
I absolutely love the results! I have been going back and forth about trying this on our laminate counters. I love the look, but I think I would like them even darker. I am wondering if you guys have every considered staining the concrete? In your research have you heard of any great, or not so great concrete stain?
YoungHouseLove says
We’ve seen some awesome results with stain (the link to Sarah’s Big Idea shows how she darkened it and glossed it up so it almost looks like black granite). Looks really nice!
xo
s
Laurie says
I’ve been dying to try that too. On a much smaller surface. I love how it looks and it seems like a really satisfying way to get rid of laminate!
Cathy says
I’ve been breathlessly awaiting your results ever since you mentioned that you’d be trying this! I’ve got some righteous brown laminate counters to cover in a Virginia colonial that looks like your house’s twin; I’m now completely sold that this is a brilliant way to live with a kitchen kissed by the eighties until we figure out how to really revamp the layout. Thanks!!
betty says
i like the look of this! i’m not sure why people mention is being cold, because if you were to replace it with stone or granite, I would think it would still look ‘cold’. I think this was an awesome update, I can imagine getting behind the sink was a pain in!!
Nichole says
I’m wondering if either of you guys have any ideas if I wanted to try this on our counter, BUT I didn’t want the back board? I wanted the flat countertop straight into a backsplash… but would cutting that backing just leave a hole underneath?
YoungHouseLove says
You’d have to look at how your backsplashes are installed. In other rooms like bathrooms we have been able to pop them off and have a seamless look with just some wall spackle and sanding. Unfortunately in our kitchen the backsplashes were installed behind the counters, so if we took them out in this case there would have been a 1.5″ gap behind them all around the room, so that complicated things.
xo
s
Debi says
I love the look so much. Would love to do the darker look like Sarah big Idea!!!
Jill says
I wonder if you could use this technique w thinset. Everything is basically Portland cement so it might work the same. Thinset dries white, and I could see swirling colored grout in it to get a faux Calcutta marble! Lol. Just brainstorming…..
YoungHouseLove says
I could see Thinset cracking if it’s applied this thinly (each coat of this is super thin). I believe this formula isn’t just concrete, there are some additives to make it go on thinner and resist cracking I think (maybe some sort of more elastic thinner that allows it to flex a tiny bit instead of flaking off?). Anyone ever tried thinset?
xo
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Jill says
I did a quick google & found a couple results. This person used a fortified Versabond thinset w polymers. I can’t believe they stole my idea ;)
http://www.instructables.com/id/Faux-marble-concrete-vanity-top/
YoungHouseLove says
So funny! Gotta love google!
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GreenInOC says
Looking good!
Jocelyn says
http://www.designmom.com/2014/02/bargain-diy-concrete-floor/
I just recently read this post from Design Mom where she redid a plywood floor with the same stuff. Funny how I’d never heard of it before but a lot of people are using it right now. She didn’t seal hers but she did use a cement stain to add depth to the color. Of course yours will be coming in contact with food and liquid so sealing is important. But, if you’re wanting a much deeper color, stain might be the way to go before sealing it.
YoungHouseLove says
So cool! Thanks for sharing the link!
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Lindsay says
I love it! How do you think this process would work on laminate counters with a rounded edge, as opposed to a square edge like yours?
YoungHouseLove says
Good question! Hmm, I think it would work just as well. You’d probably want to use our 20 minute trick with a wet finger to smooth it and hopefully it would come out cleanly around the curves.
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Patty219 says
Yes, it works just fine! See my pic:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10201629334551276&set=a.10201629576597327&type=3&theater
YoungHouseLove says
Aw man, it’s marked as private. Would love to see it!
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Kirbee says
I would also love to see some people’s attempts with a rounded edge. We have a disturbingly yellow/green countertop in our kitchen. It’s just not possible to go for new now, and I have always assumed the cover-ups options wouldn’t work with our rounded edges. The mess of the concrete, though, just might chicken me out entirely. We have carpet all around our very small kitchen. That dust *shudder* might become a permanent addition to our beige, shaggy dining room carpet.
lisa says
Lindsay, the counter shown on A Beautiful Mess has a rounded edge, and they have some tips on dealing with it. I was thinking the same thing — our counter is just like the one they show, with a little bump at the edge. I’m really intrigued by this idea. I’d be happy enough to slap a new sheet of laminate on the counter if not for that stupid bump that makes it so we would have to rebuild the whole thing. (There are some beautiful laminates available now; not like the bad old days.)
Shannon @ River City Reading says
Wow, I never even knew this was possible! We did a phase 1-ish remodel on our kitchen about a year ago (our whole layout needs to be scrapped, but that’s way down the line), and I totally would have done this instead of installing butcher block if I knew it was an option. Looks great!
Paulette says
Looks great! I know this isn’t about your countertops but just wanted to throw this out there about your floors. I was just reading a blog post from Dear Lilly this morning and she put peel and stick floor tiles in her laundry room for a temporary fix until she can do something else. It was crazy how good they looked. Not sure if you guys want to do that or not, but I thought I would let you know about that option. ;)
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Paulette! We used peel & stick as an interim step in our first kitchen (even before we had a blog). It was amazing what one afternoon and less than $100 did to update that old floor, so we’d definitely be open to going that route again, just to tide us over and hide those old fake bricks ;)
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Christina says
I saw groutable vinyl peel and stick tiles used on thisdusty house.com in their back mudroom. Might look a bit nicer than standard peel and stick.
YoungHouseLove says
That’s a fun option too! John’s dad was mentioning those as well.
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Jaimee says
We used a wonderful, heavy duty peel and stick for our “good enough” (aka phase 1) kitchen makeover. We get so many compliments on it and folks can’t believe its not real stone! It’s hard to tell in the stock photo but it has a bit of a metallic sheen to it so it would look fantastic with your new concrete countertops!
http://www.homedepot.com/p/TrafficMASTER-Ceramica-12-in-x-24-in-Pearl-Gray-Resilient-Vinyl-Tiles-30-sq-ft-case-227111/202191237?N=5yc1vZaq27Zdg2Z1z11crp#customer_reviews
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the link! It looks awesome!
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Heidi says
Looks great guys! :) Do the counters feel sort of solid as though they were actual concrete? Or do you feel like you can tell that they’re still laminate underneath?
YoungHouseLove says
They feel completely dense and solid. I don’t think you could tell unless someone told you or if you saw laminate coming through somewhere (we tried to be extra careful to make sure all the edges and stuff were coated so there were no signs).
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MH says
I looooooove concrete countertops. Looks really great, what a nice update! :)
For the sealer, I would go for the Ardex brand, as it says it is FDA approved and safe for incidental food contact (I wasn’t able to find that info for the other kind). I have tile countertops and am very much used to being able to cut food and roll out pie dough and such directly on the counters (plus, since it’s a kitchen, it’s really impossible to avoid ever resting food on the counter). Though “safe for incidental food contact” doesn’t sound like it’s super recommended for say, rolling out dough and such (this might not matter to you guys but if it were my kitchen I’d have to change my habits), I definitely would want to know that either I or my kiddoes could at least like, set an apple down on the counter for a minute in the kitchen! :)
YoungHouseLove says
Great point! Thanks MH!
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Gene says
I renovated my kitchen over the last year and one thing I had done was concrete counter tops (everyone who sees them loves them, they’re gorgeous and not cold and cementy). They’re sealed with Rust-oleum Stoneeffects Protective High Gloss Clear Epoxy. Its a two part epoxy kit i purchased at Home Depot (in Canada). I could send pictures if you’re interested.
http://www.homedepot.ca/product/stoneffects-countertop-coating-kit/980213
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Gene! We’d love to see a picture. Sounds gorgeous!
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Arely says
Hi guys! It looks great!!! How about the cost of food?!? Did you guys do anything special to keep the outings down? That’s one of the scariest parts of renovating a kitchen, in my mind… Oh Lord…(cue the scary music) the restaurant tabs!!
YoungHouseLove says
Good question! We were lucky that it spanned over 5 days during my b-day week (we started on Wednesday, which was my birthday, so that night we already had plans to eat out with the family – and the next night we ended up having leftovers at John’s parents house). We also did easy stuff like microwave burritos (Amy’s brand = delicious) and did order chinese food on Sat, which lasted us through Sunday (we can never eat it all at one meal). Really extended kitchen renos are a lot harder I think, but setting up the fridge, microwave, and even things like a hot pot or griddle in another room (or grilling outside) can help!
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Patty219 says
I did mine with Ardex, in sections, and kept cooking! I have over 20 linear feet of countertop, broken up by sink, range, etc. I sanded all of the laminate, then finished one section at a time. I sealed them when all the sections were done (about 10 days later). As long as you keep the shop vac nearby, the dust wasn’t a problem at all, and we still had workable countertops to use during the process. I love my Ardex countertops, which are looking fabulous, wearing well, and drawing compliments after 7 months of use.
YoungHouseLove says
SMART!
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Jennie says
It is possible! We are finishing a very, very long whole-house renovation (almost a year now …) which included about eight months without a kitchen! We do not own a microwave, and don’t eat convenience foods as a rule, so a plug-in burner was a lifesaver. Soups were really fast and easy to make from scratch. My crock pot also saw a lot of mileage. I cooked in a lot of weird places during that time, including the bathroom! (Basically, anywhere that the construction wasn’t happening at that moment.)
In the warm weather months, the grill was great, and I cooked everything out there, and we ate as much fresh, non-cooked food as possible. Of course, we treated ourselves with a trip out from time to time to maintain sanity :) The key is to be really flexible, and know up front that it will be inconvenient. That way you won’t be surprised when you are chopping vegetables in the bathroom! If you can prepare things ahead of the renovation and freeze them for soups or crock-pot meals, you’ll be in good shape … I wish I had done that! If you have a countertop oven-toaster combo, those are great too. If I did it again, I would invest in one of those!
CarrieE says
Counters look great, guys! Good luck with the process of sealing them. You have really accomplished a lot since moving in and I always feel so inspired after checking in on YHL each morning. I am beyond excited to see where you are going with the Phase One kitchen floors!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks so much Carrie!
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Gabby {Cookie Cutter Unique} says
I love how that turned out! I sooo wish I could cover the faux-stone laminate counters in my rental with something like this. I have a feeling the property manager might frown upon that…a girl can dream though.
Nancy says
Looks great! Wondering if anyone has used this product on a tumbled tile countertop? Would love to have a smooth finish on my counters. Thanks,
YoungHouseLove says
Has anyone tried this on tumbled tile? I would think you’d really have to rough it up so it’s not too slick to hold.
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Kristy says
I’m so glad you posted about this! I actually have had this in the back of my head for our master bath countertops for some time. It’s our dream to gut and re-do that bathroom, but that’s a while off and the countertops are a mess. I thought this might be a good “Phase 1” if you will for us. What do you think about this for a bathroom?
YoungHouseLove says
I’ve seen people use it around a sink in a kitchen and in a laundry room with a sink, so I imagine it would be ok for a bathroom as long as it’s sealed well.
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Arely says
Look! I saw it on pinterest. It’s a full-blown cement shower. I guess it’s okay to use in bathrooms then? Seems like cement can do fine with humidity if a designer used it on a shower, no?
http://www.pinterest.com/pin/279012139388787737/
YoungHouseLove says
Wow! I guess so. I wonder if they used some special sealer? Or maybe it’s as strong as outdoor cement (that they use for patios that get rained on, etc).
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Marie says
Having not seen your bathroom, this might be ridiculous…but we just made a wooden countertop instead of concrete. We tried the Ardex way without success. You can read about both here:
http://lifebeyondsilicon.wordpress.com/2014/03/18/hardwood-bathroom-countertop/
http://lifebeyondsilicon.wordpress.com/2014/02/19/concrete-bathroom-countertop-fail/
Amy says
I used this technique on the countertop in my kids’ bathroom over a year ago. 5 kids, a lot of rough treatment, and the counter still looks great!
Stephanie says
Very interesting! It must be fun to take a risk on a look knowing you will probably replace it down the line; that’s the best argument for “Phase” renovation I think. I wonder if you are considering doing anything unusual with the floors like trying a floor paint? Thank you for making your kitchen our DIY science lab
: ).
p.s. did I miss the memo on why you know longer show a blog faves roll? I am too lazy to look up these blogs myself! : )
YoungHouseLove says
As for the floors, I would love to paint them (so simple!) but I worry they’d scratch off around the table where we pull the kitchen chairs in and out (the existing laminate is really scratched from that, so I’m not sure painting it would make it any stronger). As for the blogroll, we clicked a button to turn that off a few months ago (we received a few complaints about it not being updated, linking to blogs that were inactive or that people didn’t like, etc). It has always been a challenge to keep that current, and we noticed a lot of other blogs seem to have been phasing them out as well, so we’ll have to see where we end up :)
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Natalie says
We had painted floors through my teenage years at my parents house. One morning (right before Christmas) my mom just went postal on our orange carpet and green and yellow linoleum floor. We tore out the carpet and lived with bare subfloor until well after the next Christmas! Anyway, my mom always wanted a white and black checkerboard floor so that’s how she painted the kitchen and dining room. It stayed that way for years and held up extremely well. I know she primed, used a really good quality porch and patio paint and then put on a few coats of an acrylic sealer. The only place that ever showed any paint smoking off was by the door where the vlionoleum floor had water damage BEFORE we painted it, it was flaking before and continued to flake after. I should also mention, that we did no prep before we painted, no sanding or deglossing. We figured 30 years of shoes was enough sand paper!
I love your blog! You inspire me every day to kick some Reno butt! And I totally agree with doing as much before that little man makes his appearance. Our 13 month old just started sleeping through the night last month, and after dealing with his numerous back and neck problems, as well as finding out he’s gluten sensitive, we just haven’t had any time to do anything with our house, we’re still struggling to get sleep! I hope it isn’t the same for you at all, because you guys were one of the only ways I kept my sanity, so I wish no evil on you!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Natalie! I worry about where you said “it was flaking before and continued to flake after” since we have a lot of already-flaking spots.
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haverwench says
Okay, this may sound crazy to you, but have you considered a paper floor treatment? Basically, it’s decoupage: sticking overlapping pieces of paper to the floor to create a marbled effect. (I explain this in more detail in my Hub at http://amylivingston.hubpages.com/hub/Make-a-Cheap-Eco-Friendly-Floor-Surface-with-Paper.) We have had this in our rec room for about four years, and it has held up pretty well. We did have to patch a few small spots this year, but that’s not hard to do. Of course, our rec room doesn’t get as much traffic as the kitchen, so it might wear out faster there. But adding a couple of extra coats of finish might take care of that. This technique is time-consuming, but not difficult, and it costs less than a dollar a square foot. We did our room with brown paper, but kraft paper comes in other colors, so you could try something brighter if you had a mind to.
YoungHouseLove says
That sounds really cool!
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Megan says
What a fresh update! I love the look, great job. I too, disagree about it looking cold… in fact, I think a darker granite or quartz would make it look cold, this looks subtle and fluid with the rest of your decor.
Wondering how you have the stamina for these phase 1 projects (especially those that require the time and mess this did) when you have so many other irons in the fire? Is it for the love of DIY and blog material for the masses??? I give you credit… I would’ve spent those 15 hours in the show house and lived with the yellow til the final update! :-)
YoungHouseLove says
Aw thanks Megan! We have this weird fire under us with the baby coming, so I think we’re just inspired to do as many dusty/messy things that are on our list as we can before the baby’s here since that sounds like a bad time once we have a little one in the house. So since this was on the list and was something we really wanted to try for phase 1, it jumped the line to get done before this baby comes. I was telling John that I’d love to tackle the floors too, but he doesn’t think that’s realistic before the baby comes- but thankfully that shouldn’t be nearly as dusty/messy. Wait a minute, are those famous last words?
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Jen says
Interesting. It’s a bit hard to tell from a picture what it looks like in person. Interesting option. We have probably double your counter space, plus an island. I want to replace but it’s just not worth the cost in this house. This might be an option. I’m curious though, do you think it would work with a bullnose edge? Looks nice with your blunt edge, but I think the rounded might not look as nice. What do you think?
YoungHouseLove says
I think it could work, it just might be a pain to apply. Maybe wait for it to set up a bit more, smooth it on, and go back with a wet finger to try to smooth it again 20 mins later? Anyone else done it on a bullnose?
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Brigitte says
Curved spatulas exist for cake-decorating, there might be similar items available in concrete-spreaders that match the curve of your counter top edge.
YoungHouseLove says
Love that idea!
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Natalie Stachon says
Looks great!! I love concrete countertops because they are super functional yet super stylish.
Amanda says
This looks great!! I am so excited that you did this. I have been wanting to have concrete counters installed but they are pricey! This gives me hope I can do this DIY! I have used your tutorials for about every major project I have done in our home so I am ready to tackle this job thanks to your advice! I have the same ugly yellow white laminate counters!They clash with my white cabinets! I can’t wait to see yours sealed!! Thanks Sherry and Jon for posting!
Maryea {happy healthy mama} says
Wow! They look fantastic. I think it was totally worth the work. :)
Courtney says
When we re-did our kitchen we did our counters with concrete with bits of glass in some areas. We love it!! The mess is awful, we used an actual grinder so the amount of fine dust coming off was the worst! After we sealed ours we put some wax on ours…… Not sure if it makes a difference on concrete or the product you used. Our counters clean up so nice and the best part is, if it is stained/painted/crafted on too much we can grind them down, and re-seal again if need be! I think they look great!
YoungHouseLove says
That’s awesome Courtney!
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