ROKA

Concrete worktop finishes: cream or salt and pepper

Every worktop comes in one of two standard finishes. Cream comes straight from the mould and is sealed, for the deepest colour and a flat, even face. Salt and pepper is honed to 800 grit, showing a fine speckle of sand. Same colours, same mix, same seal.

Seven ROKA concrete sample pairs, salt and pepper finish above and cream finish below
Seven colours in both finishes: salt and pepper on the top row, cream below.

What is a cream finish?

We cast face down, against a smooth mould. The finest part of the mix, the cement paste, settles against that face and sets as a thin, dense skin.

A cream finish keeps that skin. We demould, clean and seal it with SureCrete XS-327. Nothing is ground away.

You get the colour at full strength and a surface as flat as the mould it came off. It suits a quiet, pared-back kitchen, where the worktop reads as one solid block of colour.

What is a salt-and-pepper finish?

We take that skin off with diamond pads, working up through the grits to 800. It opens the surface just far enough to show the fine sand in the mix.

The sand reads as a soft speckle, which is where the name comes from. Deep colours sit a shade lighter and pale ones a shade darker, because the sand has a colour of its own. Either way it looks more like stone. The surface is smooth and honed, with a slight sheen. Then it's sealed exactly as the cream is.

Pale grey ROKA concrete samples, salt and pepper finish above and cream finish below
Pale greys: honed, they sit a shade darker.
Terracotta, red and charcoal ROKA concrete samples, salt and pepper finish above and cream finish below
Reds and charcoal: honed, they sit a shade lighter.

Why does the colour change between the two?

Pigment colours the cement paste. It doesn't colour the sand. The skin is almost all paste, so it carries the colour at full depth. Hone through it and part of what you see is sand.

We've written up why the colour changes in the Journal.

Which finish wears better?

Salt and pepper. Cream is a thin skin, and a deep scratch or a hard knock can go through it to the sand below. That shows as a lighter mark.

Salt and pepper already shows its sand, so everyday wear blends in rather than standing out. Both are sealed the same way and cared for the same way: see looking after your worktop.

Which one should I choose?

For a kitchen that gets cooked in hard, salt and pepper. It's the more forgiving of the two.

If colour and flatness are the whole point, and the kitchen is calm, go cream. Nothing shows a colour better.

Angled close-up of ROKA concrete samples in grey, charcoal and terracotta, showing both finishes

Can I have a polished or terrazzo finish?

Yes, as a special order. Polished and terrazzo take more work than our two standard finishes, so we talk each one through with you first. Ask us and we'll send a sample.

Will my worktop match my sample?

It will, because the sample is made the way your worktop is. Same mix, same finish, same XS-327 seal. Every sample goes out in both finishes, labelled, so you choose from the real thing and not a photo.

We cast by hand, so no two pours are identical. Your worktop will sit close to your sample, the way two pieces of the same stone do.

From the Journal
Why Every ROKA Sample Is Fully Sealed

Order free samples in both finishes →