The outside walls will be covered with a backing board designed to have tile or stone veneer applied to it. In my case it will be stone. The counter tops will be 3"+/- thick stained concrete. I did consider the weight of the counter tops and chose to space the wall studs on 16" centers rather than 24". The backing board will also provide shear strength and prevent lateral movement which should keep the structure from collapsing from the weight of the concrete tops.
