hi Aaron .

i did a lot of work for a large company that sold marble, stone and alike counters and we used to tell people that concrete is not great to be sealed as it does not last long and will need to be resealed.

my suggestion is try to lavender that every one is talking about.

As i have said previously i personally would never recommend concrete but some people say its not a big deal cleaning it.

Good luck as i honestly dont have a lot of suggestions but call up a builder of installer of counters and they may give you better advice so you can deal with it

thank you Breanne. I do know that. I guess i did not make it clear in what i said.

Its only my opinion but as i said i really am not keen on it and many designers agree.

I hope every one that buys it is explained what they need to do to care for it prior to installation

Hi Sonia - could you please post some photos?

We’ve been in our house 4 months now. I chose Fresh Concrete for the kitchen, all bathrooms and laundry. I freaked out at first. Don’t do this, don’t do that lol. I have come to realise that the marks do come out. Finger prints do come off. I don’t stress so much now, as a quick wipe over and polish with a tea towel cleans it well. My husband thinks differently. It’s driving him nuts. Especially after the grandkids have been here. He’s talking if replacing it but I’m not ready for that yet. I’ll just have to make sure it’s 100% spotless for his highness lol. Having said all that, I wouldn’t get it again but I never get the same thing twice anyway.

I am just about to get raw concrete caesarstone benchtops but after reading this i a worried- is it all that bad to clean? What is it like around the sink with water splashes??

Just watching my 10yo wash his hands as I’m reading this. This is a real-time photo of my fresh concrete benchtop

I’m still bitterly disappointed with this product. Like many others we chose it to avoid the high maintenance of natural stone but this is far worse. It is NOT fit for the intended use and I will change it when I can. I will never use Caesar stone again

Enjo are chemical free cleaning clothes. Enjo.com.au

Hi all. After scouring the net for photos and details on how Caesarstone Raw Concrete (4004) stands up to daily use in the kitchen, and reading varied, mixed, and mostly negative reviews - I decided to conduct my own scientific experiment to see if I could get some concrete results ;) Last week I ordered 3 4x4 in samples from Caesarstone and they just got here today. Here is the lineup:

1. Raw Concrete (4004) - honed finish

2. Sleek Concrete (4003) - honed finish

3. Nougat (6600) - regular gloss finish

Here's how they look on day one fresh out of the bubble-pack.

And from this angle you can see the matte look of the two honed samples on the left compared to the slightly glossier Nougat sample on the right.

I plan to test out the following common offenders tonight:

1. Water

2. Olive oil

3. Coffee

4. Red wine

5. Greasy fingerprints (yes, I'll be forced to consume a slice of pizza for this)

6. Pot/plate scratches

7. Cilantro (only because I read a bizzare scathing review about this one)

Stay tuned for more!

Love it. I'm looking forward to the results. I have been testing my samples of Raw Concrete with a variety of stains, and for me so far so good, so it will be interesting to see your much more scientific testing!

I look forward to seeing the results. I have been conducting my own testing over the last month on the raw concrete samples i have and so far so good, so be interesting to see your results. Avocado is also a good one to test.

You should have ordered the Fresh Concrete too Stuart! What I find is it doesn’t “stain” so much - it watermarks.

I don't think we have Fresh Concrete as an option. We're purchasing from IKEA in the US and I don't think they offer that.

Ok, so here we go. Day 1 stain test. 2pm PST. I decided to add in an additional test of lemon juice since we use a lot of citrus in our home.

Initial observations:

1. The surface definitely makes a difference. The drops of liquid dispersed immediately on the Nougat sample, whereas they stayed in place on the honed surfaces.

2. The water, lemon juice, plate scratch and greasy fingerprint were nearly invisible on the smooth surface.

I decided to give it about 24 hours as a worst case scenario of a mess being left on the countertop, so I'll check back in tomorrow evening.

great to see that you are testing it first.

very smart choice

If you want the look of concrete but without the maintenance try a laminate like Formica 'Weathered Cement' or 'Elemental Concrete'. This is from their special effects laminate range and has a textured finish (images below). Unlike porous surfaces like concrete and marble the laminate does not absorb stains and does not scratch. Modern laminates have gone beyond the bland boring finishes and have been able to perfectly replicate the look of finishes like stone, timber and concrete without any of the maintenance issues associated with these materials. The concrete laminate look is very authentic and being high pressure laminate the maintenance is minimal. Formica also have marble and granite laminates for those looking for a marble finish without the issue of staining.

Okay, sorry this took a few days. We're in the middle of moving. Here are the results after about 26 hours of sitting:

My first attempt at cleaning was with a wet, nonabrasive paper towel. It did a decent job on all three, better than I had expected. Nougat was nearly wiped clean except for a hint of green from the cilantro. The major offenders seemed to be the oils and the pot scratches. See below.

awesome that is such a great test and helps me also confirm my decision to go with raw concrete and live with the industrial look. Thanks for your time and effort!

Arden, thanks very much for the photos and write-ups. Your experiment has been extremely helpful to me.

Ours is a heavily used kitchen. We don't use any chemical cleaners at all, so before we get this, we need to understand what natural cleaners will work best on this raw concrete look.

Great to see arden_stuart. Thanks for sharing these photos, I was interested to see there is a bit of "veining" which I like. Our top is due to be installed within this month.

Just a follow up, we have now completed our extension and we are loving the Caesarstone Raw Concrete top. Interestingly we have a plain white on the rear of the kitchen and it is much harder to look after, showing stains and harder to clean than the Raw Concrete. Bonus is the Raw Concrete is now available in a larger size so we didn't need a join. I just bought the cleaners from Caeserstone and so far these seem to be doing the job fine and we have had a few red wines and dinners on the bench.

Any colour recommadtions as to a white polytec thermal wrap that will go with fresh concrete?

@arden_stuart, can you tell us how you like the countertops now? :)

It has been almost 4 years since we installed the Raw Concrete in our kitchen. I love the LOOK of it but hate the maintenance. I’ve learned to live with it, but honestly if I had it to do over I would find a different material. It shows everything and needs to be buffed dry if you don’t want water marks. BUT it all depends on how much natural light you have — I have TONS of windows in my kitchen so it shows everything.