We poured our concrete countertops in place. We did seal them afterwards with counterkote (an epoxy sealer). We used bagged concrete from Lowes. Not the cheaper stuff with large aggregate, but a high tensile strength concrete grout type product used for construction. The aggregate was sand, so it flowed better. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't pour in place. It made a mess of the house and the kitchen. If I had to do concrete counters again, I'd build my forms outside with smooth melamine and carry the pieces in. I'd do the pieces in small enough sizes that a few of us could carry them in. Then I'd fill in the seams with concrete, and once the epoxy was on (which we'd definitely use again) the seams would be smooth. I've posted a link below to the website showing our kitchen being done. Click through to find the page where we installed the counters. A lot of work, but worth it. Good luck. Jennifer Here is a link that might be useful: kitchen w/ concrete counters

icheer, my cousin has marble countertops made with tiles usually used for floors. Her brother is a tile setter. The one thing they did differently with the marble is put it real close together. You really can't see the seams unless you get your nose right up there. I don't think they used grout because of that. I am out of town and so is my cousin so can't get anymore details for you. My daughter also has marble tiled floors and it is the same, the seams are so small there isn't any grout. So you might want to check this out because it might be different for marble.

I'm one of the few on this forum who actually has concrete countertops. You'll hear a lot of "my neighbor/friend/whatever has concrete countertops and...." but there's not a lot of first hand experience with them. Below is a link to a previous post of mine on the topic. I don't have much to add to it, but will be glad to answer any questions you might have. I opted to go with undermount stainless steel sinks so I can't really comment on the durability of the cast concrete sinks. They look beautiful and do allow you to easily incorporate features like runnels. I was just concerned about how the sealer would hold up to the abuse that a sink is subject to. And I also wondered what would happen if I dropped a heavy cast iron pot in a concrete sink. For that reason, I opted to go the stainless steel route. Having already dropped a very heavy soapy pot (leaving an ever so slight dent in my stainless steel sink), I think it was the right decision for me. Here is a link that might be useful: Link to earlier thread

I personally would look for the least-maintenance material you can find. If you like the looks of marble or concrete, one option would be Neolith. It is super low maintenance, but has a potential problem with chipping if impacted. There are other synthetic materials that do a passable job at looking like marble or concrete and that don't suffer from the chipping problem, but might have other issues (e.g. possible heat damage). It's all a trade-off. I actually think that there is a big advantage to making the second oven smaller than the first one. I can't envision any situation when I'd need two large ovens. Having a small oven that pre-heats super fast is great. And yes, a combination steam oven (e.g. Miele) is a wonderful option. You should consider getting a plumbed version, if that's possible in your situation. Also, if you are anywhere close to a Miele experience center, do take the introductory cooking class. It's fun. We are in a very similar situation with really little coffee consumption in our family. I don't even own a coffee maker. Instead, I buy cold-brewed coffee and dilute it. I love the taste and it works really easily. But I am sure there are plenty of coffee aficionados who'd detest me for it. Ultimately, only you can decide. I am not a huge fan of trying to perfectly baby-proof everything. The only times we had accidents was when our kids found a baby-proofed part of our house -- and where we just once had forgotten to lock things perfectly. In general, we have had much better luck with not baby-proofing and instead educating our kids from the day they started being mobile. Takes more effort, but worked much more reliably for us. Anecdotally, our friends who did baby proof had a lot more accidents. But this gets a little off-topic for GardenWeb.