Grouting Tiles on a Countertop

[xgarb]

Hi, First post from long time lurker..

I'm building a kitchen for my mum and we've gone for ceramic tiled countertops. Originally I planned to use epoxy grout but I'm told Bal have discontinued Easypoxy and I was struggling a bit to get Kerapoxy in a colour I wanted.

So I've gone for a standard grout and intend to use Aquamix to seal it as they have a good range of colours and I need to seal the grout.

My question is...

The surface looked fantastic when I was scrapping the excess grout of. It's hard to describe but it looked like more like aged stone than tiles. It also had a flatter appearance. After wiping with a damp sponge the effect was lost and it looks a bit clinical to me.

so.. If I stop at the scraping stage and don't use the damp sponge will I be able to seal the grout still with Aquamix? Or can I scrap Aquamix to get the same effect? I'm guessing Aquamix is a liquid rather than paste so this probably won't work. Is there another way to seal the grout if it's spread over the tiles at the corners and edges? I have a grout sealer for the floor.

This is a countertop so I have to be careful about not getting mould. My mum won't be putting food directly on the surface.

I tried to mock this up to show what I mean (tiles and grout less yellow than pics)...

It's not very clear but the grout is scraped and is level with the tiles and smeared in the corners

Where as here..

it looks to clinical to me

This is sort of the effect...
Link removed, doesnt work anyway
but more smeared!

Any advice greatfully received.
Thanks

 

[xgarb]

I've made up another sample and got an improved picture.. This is how I like it, before sponging..

I've got three work surfaces to grout.. The one I did first and used a damp sponge to wipe I found today the grout had sunk..

so I could do with a recommendation on a suitable grout or technique to get the grout as level with the tile as possible.

 

[DHTiling]

Looking at that last pic...you have mixed the grout too wet..

 

[doug boardley]

noticed the air bubbles too Dave

 

[marbleman]

i would say epoxy only for worktops, and yes you have the grout to wet agree with dave

 

[tilestars]

I would recommend epoxy on work tops, this was quite fashionable a few years ago when hand made tiles were popular in kitchens, whether you are preparing food on the tiles or not, epoxy grout will protect the tiles from water penetration around the sink area and will be far easier to keep clean than cement based grout on you work tops