Fascinating thread. It's so nice to see what everyone's up to, even if it is not all rosy! I'm sure we'll all get there in the end. We're doing a kitchen and bathroom remodel and we are into week 3. So far, we've had demo and lots of new plumbing put in place. Old galvanized pipes are gone, new copper in. We seem to have had a bit of a hiatus since yesterday when my contractor called at 8am and said he wouldn't be able to come because of a doctors appointment he'd forgotten to tell me about - er what the whole crew are going with you?? I asked him if he was working on another job and he admitted he was 'finishing up something' but that he'd be on my job most of the time. He said he'd pop round that afternoon, that was yesterday and haven't seen or heard since and they are no show today so far. I don't think he liked that I called him on his outright lie of doctors appointment. I thought things were going well, but I don't like this new development! We're mostly functioning ok with microwave and some kitchen basics in the dining room but I am getting a little tired of microwaved dinner which feels like I'm eating airplane food and take outs. Anyone have good advice about how/what to eat when you have no kitchen?

After reading so many good things about Joshua I contacted him in the hopes he might be coming out to PA in the near future. As luck would have it he was coming out in September and agreed to stop by and take a look at my soapstone counters. We just had these installed and were a bit disillusioned with the feel and the constant dealing with water marks. When we were in the showroom the sopastone felt silky. Ours had somewhat of a mat finish and just was not what we were expecting. We had some issues with the company that we purchsed the stone through and who also did the installtion. After reading all of the wonderful things about Joshua I contacted him and he came out last week. He did a fabulous job! Our countertops are now EXACTLY what we were hoping for. He is not cheap, especially considering we just had these installed, but it was worth the cost to get what we wanted. Thanks Joshua!!

Forgot I'm going up the first week end in May.

Cluelessinva, I know this thread is from awhile back, and I saw the new thread regarding the "NE tour" (so bummed i didn't know about it until now), but i was hoping i'd be able to contact you this way and ask you how your ss is behaving now, after florida joshua worked on them? I initially heard about your ss on bayareafrancy's patina galore thread. I was one of the ones having the same issues as you -- oily spots that wouldn't get clean, shredded paper towels, sawtooth marks, etc. I ended up hand sanding mine, which improved the paper towel shredding issue and slightly improved the oily spotting issue, but then i also had resigned myself to being unhappy about my ss. It's been many years since install, and has patina'd ok, but i never felt like my ss was ever completely right. I started searching thru gw again to see if there were any new answers and to decide whether i should finally remove my ss. Sorry this is a little long, but i would love to know how your ss is afterflorida joshua worked his magic and whether you are happy with it in the end. If you wouldn't mind telling me approx how much it costs to refinish a kitchen full of ss, that would really help as well. If it is over 1-2k, i might as well just remove the darned thing and put the money towards new countertops.... If it was "reasonable" and you are happy with the end product, i am going to wait for florida joshua's next trip! Thanks so much for your help.