Kitchen surfaces
Microcement In Kitchens, Beyond The Worktop
Kitchens are the most demanding room a decorative finish can be asked to live in. Microcement can do beautiful things there, but only if the specification is honest about which surfaces take punishment and which ones simply have to look good.
The appeal is continuity, not novelty
What draws designers to microcement in a kitchen is the ability to carry one surface from the floor, up an island return, across a splashback and around a window reveal without introducing a trim, a silicone line or a change of material. In an open-plan space that continuity calms the room down considerably, particularly where the kitchen is visually part of a living area.
It also solves awkward geometry. Curved island ends, angled returns and deep window reveals are all straightforward to a trowelled finish and expensive to a slab material. That is often the real reason a scheme lands on microcement rather than any particular preference for the look.
Surface by surface, what holds up
Floors and walls in a kitchen are unproblematic and behave much as they do anywhere else in the house. Splashbacks work well provided the sealer schedule is specified for the zone behind a hob, and the run of the surface is planned so the sealer film is unbroken behind the heat source.
Worktops are the surface that needs a proper conversation. A microcement worktop is a genuine option and is chosen for continuity rather than for toughness. It is not a chopping surface and it is not a landing zone for pans straight off a burner. Households that want a hard-wearing, forget-about-it worktop and are not attached to the seamless look are usually better served by a slab material, and we will say so.
- Floors
- Well suited, sealed for wear traffic
- Walls and reveals
- Well suited, wide choice of sheen levels
- Splashbacks
- Suited with the correct sealer schedule behind the hob
- Worktops
- Possible, chosen for continuity, needs boards and trivets
- Cabinet fronts
- Not recommended, movement and handling are against it
Colour behaves differently in a kitchen
Very dark pigments look extraordinary in a photograph and show every water mark in a working kitchen, particularly around a tap. Very pale tones hide water and show cooking splashes. Mid-tone warm neutrals are the pragmatic middle ground, which is why so many finished kitchens land there even when the mood board started somewhere more dramatic.
Sheen level does as much work as colour. A matt surface absorbs light and disguises marks but shows finger oils around handles and edges. A satin sheen wipes cleaner and reveals more of the trowel movement. Seeing a sample board in the actual kitchen light, at the actual time of day the room gets used, is worth more than any digital rendering.
Sequencing on a live kitchen fit-out
The finish needs the carcasses in position and the services first fixed, but it needs to happen before the final worktop template if the worktop is landing on a microcement-finished return. Getting that order wrong causes more programme pain on kitchen projects than anything else, because a late change forces either a rework of the finish or an ugly junction detail.
Curing time also has to be respected. Sealers reach handling strength quickly and full chemical resistance more slowly. Loading a kitchen with appliances and cleaning products before the sealer has fully cured is a common way to mark a brand new surface in the first week.
On a design-led kitchen, put the finish on the programme alongside the joinery, not at the decorating stage.
Kitchen questions, answered straight
Specify the kitchen, then choose the surface
Tell us how the kitchen will actually be used, who is cooking in it and where the water lands. From that we can tell you which surfaces should be microcement and which honestly should not, before anyone commits to a colour.