I love the look of concrete countertops. Probably because I am an industrial decor fanatic, but also because they are so practical! And it turns out they are pretty simple to DIY!
Here is the process we used-
Steps:
1. Sand countertop surface to roughen it using a low grit sand paper.
2. Clean the surface well to get all of the dust picked up.
3. Mix together a small batch of concrete using the feather finish and water- we found that it does dry quickly so working in small batches is best. We used Henry Featherfinish from Home Depot (sold for $16.97 for a 7 lb. container).
4. Spread a very thin coat to cover the surface. Chase found that the best way to spread the concrete was with a wide putty knife (6 inches wide or so).
5. After the layer is dry, sand the surface to smooth it out.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 until you have your desired thickness and coverage- for us this took about 3 layers of concrete.
7. Let the concrete dry at least overnight.
8. Seal the concrete. We used a DuPont Stone Sealer from Lowe’s ($10.97 for a 32 ounces). We “painted” 3 layers of sealer on with a paintbrush, letting the sealer dry for 2 hours between each coat.
9. Wax the counter, if desired. I recommend to use a natural wax, as we used a synthetic wax and it left white streaks in the counter. I am fine with the added white, but it drives Chase nuts! Ha.
The total cost for the countertops was less than $100 and I love the drastic change it gave the kitchen. And from the supervisors point of view, it was quite an easy fix- but Chase may not agree with me on that!