A good friend of ours has done many concrete countertops and they look amazing. We seriously considered it for our remodel. The staining/etching is what turned us off. To be perfectly frank I'm a slob in the kitchen. A countertop that would be damaged by red wine or lemon left on it overnight is just not feasible. Instead we went with soapstone. If it can hold up to legions of teenage chemistry students I feel it can hold up to me. :D If you do decide to go with concrete have you seen the books by Fu-Tung Cheng? They're excellent. Soapstone can be a lot more affordable as a DIY project. The quarry we bought from has DIY kits for about $25/sq ft or you could make it even cheaper by using tiles. Soapstone seams incredibly well.

I love 'concrete gray'. The floors will warm things up a lot and I don't think you'll have to worry about the room looking cold. Is your white creamy and warm at all? I think you have some classic material colors planned and can go many ways with backsplash. What is the overall style you're going for? Classic? Contemporary? Whimsical? Organic? What is the style of your cabinets? If you're using a cabinet style that is somewhat classic, I could see adding some color like burgundy subways. You could even do something wilder like painted Mexican tiles....Something modern like glass...or older like brick. Sticking with something the color of your cabinets with a little pizazz added in accents or a liner would be elegant.

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm really liking the tangerine idea, and the yellow green/eggplant. I dont think I want to go white, as it won't have that same bold statement. This display is visible right when you walk into the showroom. Even though it may not be something many would choose in this area (I've done soooo many rustic "up north" kitchens it's sickening), it's more of a statement to show our ability to think outside the box, and hopefully get clients to do the same. The gray tone leads more towards taupe than periwinkle. We picked a tone that would be more widely accepted for our demographic. Figured we could still make a bold statement while trying to appeal to the general color tastes around here.

Hi @maggieterry! No regrets at all on the BM Simply White + Cambria Britannica, and I would do it again. The color seemed to match well, and I actually think your lighting choice (warm or cool) in the kitchen will have a bigger impact if you are sticking with the more neutral whites (even if they have slight tints). Having Britannica as a backsplash looks stunning (and works great too when cleaning up oil splatter), but I highly recommend you work with your fabricator to make it as seamless as possible (using as few transitions as possible). Cambria Britannica has some pretty bold veining, and so it can be very obvious where the transition points are if done without care. By the way, one thing that I discovered about Cambria (if you are still choosing between manufactuers), is that their countertops are one of the few that are rated for commercial use spaces, and they also have a really great lifetime warranty on chips (which they do not widely advertise). We bumped a heavy pot against the edge of the sink and it chipped, but when I called Cambria, they sent a repair person over that week to patch it without any questions asked or any extra cost to me. That gives me great peace of mind knowing that they will do that.