You should stick with the pre-mix stuff and DO NOT worry about any of the latex admixtures. TRUST ME. My DH has been in the decorative concrete business for more than 10 years. Do not use old cement. It WILL cause trouble down the line. Use up your bags of mix ASAP, don't use some then put it away for a year or you'll either have a hard rock or you'll end up with crummy concrete pieces. I like to paint my concrete, or you can use wood stain to give it a nice look. Do this once your piece is cured out...at least a few days old to ensure the paint won't peel off. If you're in California, you shouldn't have to worry about stones cracking, so no need for the latex stuff. Go as cheap as you can for better results. 8 years ago I made some stepping stones for my mom using the quick mix stuff. She's moved four times and taken those stones with her and they're still just fine.

First of all, I appreciate all of the sweet comments regarding my husbands work. This has been SUCH a labor of love. We have been in this house for 2 years with disgusting, original 70s cabinets and NO DOORS. I did not even store anything in the cabs, because they were so gross. I fashioned some pitiful "curtains" (basically panels of material velcroed to the openings) to cover the nasty looking innards of the cabs. We priced cabinets and got depressed. Some basic, china made cabs at Panda would have been minimum 12k. My husband has a woodworking shop in the upstairs area of his warehouse/office. He is great at making simple furniture and things. At first, he was going to make the boxes and we would buy the doors. Well, even THAT was expensive. I don't care for fine jewelry, we do not take exotic trips, I am not a "shopper" and I am not into fashion. However, I have always wanted and deserved a dream kitchen. My husband wanted to make sure it happened. We absolutely LOVE our house and plan to be here a long long time. We own a small business and he works 6 days a week. He started planning, measuring etc probably a year ago. We kept tweaking, and he started cutting and making cabinets, a little at a time. I saw nothing of this work, he would come home and tell me he was excited for the kitchen but to me it still didn't seem real. There are a few "flaws" that might not be fixable, but because they are small and also because they are from my husband's hands, I do not mind them at all. I can't wait to show you the interior of the cabs, and all the bells and whistles in this kitchen. That will have to wait, though! The pictures are dark because my kitchen is dark. I hate not having a window. We may add one of those "solatube" things eventually...I found out about them on the home decor forum here on GW. Hubby is adding some hi hats in the kitchen, plus we will have a light fixure over the peninsula (which is barely visible in the picture...it is jutting out at the bottom right.) We are getting a island hood vent (which I will start another thread about eventually, I am overwhelmed) and I am bummed because it is going to cause some of that "openess" to disappear, but I *need* an island hood vent! We are going to cover the gaps below and above the dbl wall oven. We are putting a curtain under the SS farmhouse sink, to hide all those cleaning products you see. Haven't decided the color or look just yet. Yes, that is a wood trim where the countertops meet the wall. My husband is going to stain it the same color as the countertops. You see...the counters...they are PLYWOOD! yes, PLYWOOD! We are eventually doing butcher block on the perimeter, and something different on the island (haven't decided yet) but the plywood looks so darn good, I told him let's just keep it until it falls apart! He rounded the corners and put a band on the edges, also. So, the wood trim you see, the backsplash will stop there for now and when the permanent countertops come in, he will finish the backsplash. We had discussed some sort of trim on the lower part of the cabs, but he got some undermount lights to put under the cabs that will not show at all, so we decided to skip it. Now I am wondering if maybe we should go ahead and do it. I am glad to see everyone was in agreement about needing something at the top of the cabs! I want to add that the ceiling is REALLY uneven so that is why you see such variations in the cab heights. I am worried that is going to make doing a trim even more difficult. My hubby curses the builder of this home every time he tries to do something to the house. He is sure he was an alcoholic, and says if he ran into him on the street he would punch him! lol. Walls are uneven, floors uneven, ceiling uneven, pitiful rigging of electricity, plumbing...you name it! As far as the help in posting pics...THANK YOU for taking the time to type that out and/or provide helpful links. I know how time consuming it is to explain these things (heck, I have already been typing this post WAYYYY too long, lol) so I appreciate the help. I think the problem is in the resizing, not the posting. Maybe it is indeed the picture quality as a few of you have suggested. When I see the pic in photobucket, it looks crisp and in focus, but when I try to resize it, it gets blurry. I will keep trying! Oh, and I do use a digital camera, a canon elph 7.1 megapixels purchased several years ago so I will see if that is the problem. thank you buehl, biochem, suzanne and htracey for the picture help! hollysprings-I will mention those terms and your suggestion to my hubby. Yes, def agree that undercab lighting is a must! still need our glass insert in the door of the corner cab...and shelves, also. Have 2 other cabs that have interior lights across from the island, not visable in this pic. But all cabs will have under cab lighting, for sure! And they will be on dimmer switches! kitchenkelly-thanks for the picture. Of course I need something smaller, but that look is very pretty! suzannel-my husband said if he knew how much work these cabs were going to be, he would have never been able to psyche himself up for the job! He also said he does not want to brag, but he even impressed himself! LOL! lascatx-I remember seeing that kitchen! Love it. I am not crazy about those tiles, but def considered something more "spanishy". BTW, my grandfather was born in Spain, and my husband is of Cuban descent so we do feel like we want to play up the spanish flair in our home. htracey-I *love* molding in general, but in this house, I wanted to stay away from it. Mainly because I grew up in a florida ranch home in the 1970s...and so did all of my friends, and I NEVER saw decorative molding EVER. I am trying to stay somewhat "true" to the era this house was built in. It's one of the reasons I don't want granite counters. I know might sound like a joke to some, not like this is a historic home from the 1800s or anything, lol. However, I have a "thing" for the 1970s...I just can't explain it! Of course, no one I knew had a double oven, or SS appliances for that matter. The other thing about crown molding is the ceilings are SOOOOO uneven it would be a nightmare for DH to install. So, in general I am NOT a molding fan (again, FOR THIS HOUSE) but I do see now that everyone agrees I need molding in this situation! Thank you again for your help. lynn, singingmicki, cmm and green-thank you for your input! And yes, I am definitely thinking something shimmery for the backplash. I don't think I want subway tiles, tho. Or glass. Maybe something mother of pearlish? Ok, I really like this...saw it at Home Depot and loved the sample, but after doing research, I am scared the product that gets shipped to me will not look like the sample. I know this is a marble and not sure how "70s" marble is...but I think it LOOKS very 70s. The 6x6 tile at HD was tubled and had a rough texture, which I really liked. here is *kind of* the antique mirror look that I like. Let's see if those S.O.B.s post, dang it! Ok, thanks again, everyone. I have neglected my family for far too long this afternoon, but I am so grateful for all the help, I need it!

"I do not like the kitchen at all but I love the rest of the house"-that's normal I'd say I think I didn't like 80% of the house, but still loved the house:) I pretty much hated the kitchen(and I'm kinda easy going person kitchen-wise). Why? These were my points: -it was too open a plan that didn't suit me or the house (I think they made it more open) -it didn't work with the house at all, in terms of style, color, anything. They put it in there for resale, and I bet whatever they had before, dated as it was, would make me happier. That just seemed a waste. It was new, or almost new-well so what? It didn't work with the space. -I would waste a lot of money trying just to paint it for example since it was laminated. Yes, I know there are special primers but I'd spend money on something that wouldn't hold anyway, would spend on changing hardware and what not-and be still left with the kitchen that didn't suit nor me neither the house. So. If you can describe what you don't like more specifically-it'd be very helpful I think. Because some of the things can be redone or tweaked very easily, and it will give you a lot of immediate satisfaction. And to tweak other things is a waste of money and energy and it's better to wait until you can just tackle it all. If you walk us through your list of dislikes-it will become easier for us, and I believe, for you, to decide what to do when. Maybe you'll see you shouldn't bother at all at this point with tweaks but new paint if you dislike this one, tea towels you love, teapot that you love, and a plant will make you much happier while you waiting to redo it. Or maybe you'll see that small tweaks suggested in the thread are worth it, or are actually enough. Big points are: -does the kitchen function as your family needs it to? -does it correspond well with the rest of the house? in terms of architecture, style, layout -does it make you feel you want to be in there, and if no, what will be helpful? the first two are harder if the answer is "no"

Thank you for all of your help and knowledge. I'm pretty new to this and you gave me excellent info and links. You also made me realize that the floor isn't the worst of the problems or the first thing I should focus on: it's those cabinets! I had no idea they were a known quantity. Ick! Regarding the cabinets: the easiest thing would be to temporarily remove the doors entirely as one blogger did, but honestly... I need somewhere to store my stuff. I already have about 20 square feet of open shelving and I've put everything attractive there, and used wire baskets with canvas lining to contain a lot of the less attractive. Even if I were to remove the doors 1) the gross interiors would still show; and 2) one of the cabinets is a deep corner one, which is just not going to look good at all (IMO at least). This post (a link from the brilliant Kylie link above sent by @nosoccermom--truly the best treatment of this subject I've found) is by a DIY owner who just painted the "wood" trim. Easy-peasy! But the white of her melamine was truly white, and as Kylie notes, it would be hideous to paint the "wood" white and leave the rest beige or try to match (matching to tobacco stains, omg whathaveigotteninto). Which leads me to two issues: I really need to use some heavy duty TSP/ammonia/OXY/goo be gone type cleaner to see if I can actually get them any whiter (not a lot of renovating experience, but I'm a great deep cleaner!). Part of the problem is that my landlord has painted all the trim white, which makes the beige-nic-whatever-ness so much grosser looking. I've cleaned them with regular kitchen cleaner and they're definitely not greasy, but maybe there is some level of filth that still needs to be stripped off. That's step one. If they're not white, I need to talk to my landlord about simply painting them white: just the beige area wouldn't be hard to do from what I've seen with the right product and some time/care (flat surface, right?--not the whole shebang including the "wood", and would definitely improve the look of the place. I think he'd be amenable. If not, maybe I could try finding some contact paper or adhesive to attach something that is either white or blue and truly removable. And clean well when I do move (don't worry @nosoccermom!). :) Question: is the "wood" on these cabinets actually wood? One blogger suggests that it is, in that she suggests a quick "helping" fix can be to use this product. It doesn't feel like it, and parts of the edges are crumbling. Even if it's not, is it possible to treat it like it is and stain it (after cleaning etc., of course)? Does anyone know definitively whether it is in fact wood on this type of cabinetry? The idea of adding hardware is great, thank you (@nosoccermom again!) I'm actually headed to Ikea this weekend and they have these pulls for (e.g. two 15" for $9.99). That's do-able! Larger pulls actually installed in the face of the cabinet would have a better "pull the eye away from the horror" effect per Kylie, but I know I can drill and then putty up these when I move. Maybe I'll talk to my landlord about putting in something more tho--if I pay for it he might be cool. They can't get worse. So in short, going to start with the cabinets, since I know that needs to be fixed and is the worst eyesore. As for the floor, I've said above I really don't want to put down any sort of rug, but I have found well-reviewed recycled plastic, reversible rugs from Fab Habitat like this one: (tried to make a collage lol--a link to the product here). NB: often listed at ridiculously high prices--a comparable FH 6x9 on Houzz is currently $329. They're machine made, out of plastic straws. But other stores (and the manufacturer) sell it for much, much less). And I already have an outdoor one that I've decided doesn't fit in my cyan-ized living room--just wish the nap was lower (can you seal a rug like a floor cloth so it has no nap? I bought it for a steal, I really don't care...), but maybe I'll do it :( If anyone has more advice I'd LOVE it! No Anglophile "pro" decorators tho, please! That elitist post bugged me all night :(. Thank you all so much. What a great community! :)