Countertops are no longer boring wood slabs with glued on tiles

10/27/2005

Whether you are thinking of upgrading the countertops in a restaurant, the kitchen in your home or a barbeque area, or if you are starting any of these from scratch, and you need some inspiration, don't worry, help is at hand with one of the most versatile materials to ever have graced a commercial or domestic property - concrete.

The word 'concrete' often conjures up a wrong impression because of the uses it has been put to in the past. The first mental image picture that comes to mind when the word 'concrete' is mentioned is a dirty gray workshop or garage floor with perhaps a few oil stains to break the monotony. Not so with decorative concrete countertops. The effects that can be created by a creative artist using this medium are quite spectacular and leave the observer speechless when the truth about the nature of the base material is revealed.

An exotic "green stone" concrete counter, similar in color to a patterned stone found in Zimbabwe Africa, graces a bar counter in the Campanile Restaurant in Los Angeles. The countertop has been a talking point of its clientele ever since the enthusiastic technical experts at Ace Concrete in Sun Valley Southern California installed it. Here too, the standard response when told that it is concrete is one of disbelief.

Ace Concrete has created many excitingly different countertops, which are not only practical in their function but very much a fashion statement promoted by designers and architects alike. Examples of these artistic creations are a kitchen sink and countertop that has a 'draining board' feature of embedded copper trivets, a granite inlay and a broken edge sink detail but one of the most dramatic countertops also made entirely of decorative concrete, is a bar top fabricated to look like rawhide leather stretched over wood.

"To fully appreciate the versatility and quality finishes of the many counter tops that we have made over the years," said Blayde Penza, CEO and founder of Ace Concrete from his studio workshop in Sun Valley Southern California, "You need to pay us a visit at our showroom or have a look at our website at www.aceconcrete.com where our gallery of finished and installed countertops are bound to give you inspiration in your quest for functionality and uniqueness."