Oiling makes the hugest difference with soapstone. I have two slabs that are very similar, you'll have to trust me a bit on that one because for some reason I can't find the "before oil" of the slab that I have the "close up after oil" and vice versa. Downloaded somewhere ... and lost. My apologies for that. Anyhow, the photo of the full slab is half oiled and from afar. Not particularly spectacular, unoiled looks grey with some white veining, goes dark with some white veining when oiled. Then look at the close up after oiling of my other slab and you see the underlying colour variations. Full slab, half oiled: Close up after oil: It really depends on the variety of soapstone of course. The slab in question may not be hiding much under there, but the point is if you are intending to oil your soapstone some of the time then you really need to see what it looks like oiled. If you can't be there in person with your mineral oil then ask them to oil it (or wet it, though water doesn't bring out as much as oil) and take a close up for you as well. hth

I love the furniture you've picked out. It will look bright and cheery and just the feeling of the inspiration pics you've posted in your other threads...once you paint! Paint the darn room already! :) My last house had muddy mauve and no natural light (houses on three sides and a big porch on the other). As soon as I painted, it changed everything. Even my mood was better. And if you have a front porch, I suggest you paint the porch ceiling blue. It made a big difference looking out my window and seeing Martha Stewart's Porch Ceiling Blue. Almost as good as being able to see the sky. :) Let your room evolve. Don't feel like it has to be "done" right away. Take your time finding art and accessories that you love. You're doing great and you're going to have a lovely space to enjoy.

I think raee put her finger on what I found "off" about it. It would pair up very well with a warm wood stained finish, its the white and the dark brown tile that is just a bit jarring to me. Having said that, romy718's photo of the white cabinets/dark backsplash does look lovely, so who can say? Choosing a backsplash is hard, I didn't realize it until we had to pick ours. We brought home several samples of tile, all which looked like they would be perfect for us in the showroom. Until we got them home, under our lighting conditions that is. Then, we found a lot of them were not even close to working for us. Finally, finally, after many trips back and forth, we found the right one. Take your time, no rush to get the backsplash done. Bring home samples, see how they look in your kitchen, with your lighting. But, when you do finally decide, get what you love and don't worry so much about what others think.

My terrible Thermador experience mirrors others here. Customer service is awful, wait times are regularly over 45 minutes and then you learn you can get more help from the hold music than from any of the Thermador reps. I'd purchased a Thermador refrigerator/range/dishwasher, all are junk (especially considering the price), recently the fridge started freezing while the freezer got warm, Thermador repair said it was an easy fix, ordered a part, except it turned out they ordered the WRONG part, then they ordered the WRONG part a second time, one repair appointment was cancelled without even notifying me (I found out when the repairperson didn't show up), and after months of follies, my fridge is still broken and Thermador has held me up for $650 in "repair" costs. Their own repairperson said his company was garbage, that the service software is dated, no one knows which parts are being ordered or if they've even shipped, he said he'd repeatedly show up at homes and learn that Thermador had sent the wrong part. Still, he wouldn't leave my house without collecting an additional $350 for his third visit, during which he again didn't have the correct part and didn't actually repair anything. And now Thermador CS is dragging their feet even addressing any of this, requesting all kinds of documentation, original sales receipts, etc., just wasting more and more time. I'm now getting rid of everything Thermador in my house, that's my happy ending.