love industrial..all for it as long as they don't crack..

I love the feel of concrete and of course the textured look. The rawness.

Expensive! But can be beautiful.

Not for me. That grey is so cold looking in that otherwise warm setting.

I would love the industrial look bench but think the picture is just too much and way too heavy. perhaps only on the top, as it is a beautiful surface if you don't mind the imperfections and are aware that they stains can set into the finished product, fairly porous.

looks terrific visually against timber joinery. That said, i am of teh opinion that it is totally impractical as a working surface, with staining cracking and yes germs settling into such a porous surface. best kept on the floor methinks

I don't like this particular kitchen bench – just too much and too heavy. But I do like polished concrete as a material and, in fact, we put one in our en suite bathroom where it doesn't even look particularly industrial or brutish. It has a lovely smooth, almost velvety surface that is a pleasure to wipe over with a cloth and the bowl is all of a piece, i.e. we didn't just plonk a ceramic wash bowl into, or onto, the bench – rather it is a perfect hemisphere that is also a pleasure to wipe around. Having a seamless vanity top is both highly functional and it looks terrific too.

PS And for those who are worried by the colour – you can actually choose what shade of concrete you want from white through a myriad of greys to black. And, I assume, that you could also request various oxides if you actually wanted a colour that wasn't in the black to white range. Our vanity top/basin is actually a warmish possum grey so it doesn't look particularly cold or forbidding at all.

The questions says 'concrete benchtops - yay or nay?' but the pic has a lot more concrete than benchtops - I'm a 'yay' for just benchtops but a 'nay' for that overdone look in the picture.

Not my cup of tea.

I love polished concrete as a surface material! My dining table, coffee table and TV unit all incorporate polished concrete with walnut timber (photo from our first night in the new place, a bit bare!)

That one is a bit brutalist to me but I could live with this one as it seems blended with and more part of the overall design...

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I chose "other" because I know that, though these benchtops look amazing, they are not as hardy as we expect concrete to be... or more precisely the sealant is not. Beware any acid (lemon juice, vinegar) which leaves a permanent mark. Can be polished out and resealed but a bit of a hassle, so if you go with a concrete benchtop you have to learn to live with imperfect!

Such a fan of the industrial look- I know a lot of commercial places and restaurants are doing this style now- and I always find myself thinking about how I can recreate these spaces at home!