by Jeanne
Fields
 |
Above:
Concrete block overlaid with textured concrete
house the refrigerator and barbeque, and support
the countertop. Below:
Incorporating natural stone into projects
enhances the look of concrete and is a key
direction for Ralston.
|
|
 |
Photos:
Tom Ralston |
Second
kitchens are not a new idea. Before the days of air
conditioning, homes with basements sometimes had kitchens
downstairs to use during hot weather. If there was no
basement, a cook stove could be found off the back porch
of the house. Fast-forward to today and you discover
fashionable outdoor kitchens-no longer second best-but
all dressed up. The builders of the following two kitchens
used a variety of materials. They both have concrete
countertops but also include brick, Lannon stone, and
flagstone.
A COUNTERTOP INSPIRED BY FLAGSTONE
Tom Ralston, of Tom Ralston Concrete, Santa Cruz, Calif.,
is a concrete artist whose creativity influences the
decorative concrete industry. Recently, he became a
licensed masonry cQntractor with the goal of incorporating
rock and maximizing the natural look of concrete in
his projects. When Los Gatos homeowner John Hogan asked
for a unique backyard design for a kitchen barbeque,
Ralston created a curvilinear installation that included
a concrete countertop for the kitchen area, a textured
concrete pool deck with a spray of flagstone running
through it, and pool and spa copings with a sand finish.
"The problem, with stamping concrete patterns
is that it can become a poor imitation of what it is
trying to look like," says Ralston. When building
countertops the question is how to make it artistic
and not a mere stone imitation. Ralston created a 2-inch
thick engineered countertop, using his own mix design.
Cast upside down, the countertop has integral black
concrete against each end and leaves an open center.
He then placed polyethylene sheeting to form an irregular
border for the black concrete before placing a mix of
white Portland cement.
With the plastic separating the black concrete from
the white, he vibrated the countertop. He then pulled
up the plastic and vibrated the countertop a second
time. The second vibration caused a natural meld of
the two colors into an irregular pattern. The plastic
also contributed vein lines. A serendipitous accident
of white concrete in the black left splashes of white
like smaller crystalline color areas. The countertop
cured for seven days before it was removed from the
mold and turned over to allow workers to hand sand the
top. The white Portland was chemically stained with
a color mix of terTa cotta, padre brown, and antique
amber. Ralston's coloring techniques include using eyedroppers
and straws to precisely place liquid color for a truly
random pattern.
<<<BACK
TO PRESS | PAGE NUMBER:
1 | 2 | NEXT
PAGE >>> |
