Kitchen Reno VIII, Countertop Update

We've taken the forms off of our second test slab and it's much better.  To see the detail, you'll have to double click on images.

The edges with the melamine are very smooth.  I wish we could get our top that smooth without sanding it.  There are air bubbles which make pock marks.  I don't have a problem with that because I like the irregularity of concrete.  But, if we decide it will look even better without the pock marks, we can use a slurry method to fill them.

The "white" concrete mix is not what I expected.  It's not possible to achieve a true white because of the sand necessary to make the concrete mix, so I wasn't expecting white.  I was actually expecting just a lighter shade of the normal concrete gray color.  Instead, it is more of a creamy color and a lot of the sand in the mix shows with just a light hand sanding.  I'm sure it will still look great, but it throws the vision I had in my mind off just a little.

The veining is still there, but it is very light.  The feather made grooves in the cement that we don't want.  I'll try another method of painting on the marbling after we've properly sanded the concrete.  Unfortunately, it has been very difficult to find the sanding/polishing pads that we need.  We'll probably have to order them off the internet and maybe even buy a new sander.  We did not "tent" our slab with plastic to cure as was recommended by all tutorials.  I don't know if that has hurt our finished product, but we will be tenting the kitchen concrete as directed.

This is the set of cabinets in the barn that we've been working with.  There's another set just like them to the left of this one.  We'll eventually put a countertop on those, but right now we have to concentrate on getting the cabinets in the kitchen so that we can create the countertop in there.

We're getting close.  Nephew has been installing cabinets today.

Yay!  I'm so excited!