How To Create Gorgeous Countertops With Recycled Glass Bottles

Distinctive and unique countertops often come with a hefty price tag, especially if you are looking for the durability and style of natural materials like thickly veined marble or speckled granite. Concrete, a lesser-known countertop material, can be a great alternative to natural stones, but can often feel cold or sterile in comparison in some kitchens. To make a concrete countertop stand out and feel more homey, try embedding materials like glass. This can give a stylish terrazzo look with texture and a little sparkle to even the heaviest concrete counters. Even better, you can actually create your own DIY counters for far less money and with less concrete-pouring expertise than you might think. YouTube channel Cement Craft Ideas shows how to create your own custom recycled glass counters using a quick-setting concrete designed for countertops and some old, broken-up bottles. 

These fabulous counters are not only eye-catching, but with a little glazing, can be very durable to use. This technique for making countertops not only uses sustainable materials, but can be fully customized to your kitchen aesthetic in terms of color, density of glass, and color of the glass pieces. It's also a great technique for making other things like outdoor accent tables and planters using various molds. 

To create your glass countertop, begin by deciding which kinds of glass you'd like to use. Break the glass bottles with a hammer or mallet inside a bag for safety and to keep it all contained. Once you have broken down the pieces to the sizes you want, set up a simple concrete-pouring mold. The YouTube tutorial uses several bricks and a thick plastic liner to create a large mold. You can also use 2 x 4 pieces of wood nailed together and covered in plastic. Making your countertop from several smaller segments will be easier to move around and install, but you can customize the dimensions of your mold to whichever size you prefer. Put the glass in the bottom first, spreading it around to create your desired arrangement. Mix the concrete according to the directions and begin adding it into the mold, pouring it until you reach the planned thickness of your counters. Quikrete is a quick and easy mix available on Amazon for $15.75 per 10 lbs.

Allow the slab to set for the duration determined by the instructions. Once you have removed the slab from the mold, flip it over to the side with the glass. While much of the glass will not be visible at first, you can work to clean it by running water and a damp cloth or sandpaper over to remove the dust and film from the glass. Seal the surface with a few coats of concrete sealer to prevent chipping and damage. If you are planning on cooking and handling food on the surface, you can also use a product like Cheng's Food-Safe Concrete Sealer ($37.95 on Amazon).

This concrete and glass counter is completely customizable. You can vary the number and sizes of your glass pieces, as well as using varied color combinations that can be coordinated with your kitchen aesthetic. For a mid-century modern vintage look, opt for small flecks and pieces that mimic terrazzo. More rustic kitchens can be stunning with larger and more uneven fragments of glass. There are also ways to experiment with color, like creating a sea glass mix of blues, greens, and grays for a coastal-inspired kitchen. 

For more color, tint the concrete with various pigments to create a lighter, darker, or more brightly-colored medium as a background for the glass. While the glass looks stunning alone, you could also incorporate other materials like beads, mirrored tiles, and other mosaic elements for an eclectic or maximalist look. Achieve a glossy finish by waxing your concrete countertops or applying an epoxy resin layer. For a quick project with a similar look but faster results, you can also create a faux concrete countertop on the surface of your existing counter and embed the glass pieces randomly within it.