well I'm glad you're asking it because I was thinking it. In my upstairs bathroom, done in 2003, we simply have laminate and I was seriously thinking about soapstone...

We just did a counter with an undermount kohler sink in our MB. We aren't living in the reno yet so all I can say is I like the way it looks.

we have a SS counter in our guest bathroom. its beautiful, easy to clean. we got a remnant from a local stone yard fabricated and installed for $35/sf (and put it on top of a kitchen cab). As in a kitchen, i think it would work wonderfully with different styles -- modern, traditional, etc

here's a pic (the "gap" in the border on the wall now has a mirrored cabinet there):

It's beautiful mayland! is that ss tile on the floor or a porcelain? This bathroom is heavily used tho. It's DH's bathroom. I'm in and out of there during the day because of it's location and the one company uses. I guess all the various products used in a bathroom wont't hurt/etch it?
Toothpaste, shaving products, first aid products, hairspray/gel, etc??

Thanks Monika! The floor is Daltile Continental Slate (porcelain) in black. We had the counter installed in August but have had guests staying for 3 months so it has seen quite some daily use, and it was incredibly easy to keep clean (especially as the guests cleaned it!). This bath is also right next to the kids playroom and our back door, so I use that sink for cleaning up paint brushes, muddy hands, etc. I love it. I have only oiled it once and it still looks good (i am not sure what kind of soapstone it is).

from what I've read here from all the kitchen stoners (i had wanted to be one too, but our budget got in the way), it doesnt etch/stain with anything. Thats definitely been our experience so far (and our guests definitely used all of the bathroom products you list!).

mayland, side note: I love your bathroom! What a great juxtaposition of white and black and slate. Seeing white and slate together doesn't happen very often, at least not well. Best I've seen so far :)

OH, and monika, I'd have even fewer reservations about using ss in a bathroom as opposed to a kitchen. Chemically it's just about impenetrable. It's only scratches and dings/chunks that would keep me from using it in a kitchen, that would have to be resurfaced. You wouldn't have as many heavy sharp things or draggy sharp things (bottom of a casserole, e.g.) being dragged across it in a bathroom.

I just said the same thing to my sister. I noticed in the kitchen mags at her house, at least half of them have soapstone (or honed granite to look like it). I thought I was pretty original but I guess not for long. I think as granite increases in popularity, people start to look for more original materials (even though soapstone was probably one of the first stone countertops due to the ease of cutting; it did fall out of favor as harder materials could be used).

I am also putting it in my bathroom. Bucks County Soapstone (in PA) even has a soapstone shower base that I would love in addition to the counters. I am afraid to price it out though since I know how much my sink was.

mayland: Your BR looks great, especially the border with the soapstone.

Gosh, thank you Flyleft and Cleo! Fly, the base cab is an IKEA kitchen cab (i know you have used a lot of IKEA cabs too!). We used the same floor tile, white wall tile (DH is color-phobic!) and base cab in all 3 bathrooms, and varied the "accent" tile and countertop in each (this was the only one lucky enough to get soapstone). Made the decisons a little easier ;)

I used it for the vanity top in my laundry room lav, which is the only bathroom on the main floor, so it gets lots of use.

I went with it after seeing it used in the bathroom of our stone fabricator's MIL apartment. I gave mine an initial rubdown with the oil/beeswax paste when it was installed in August and have since let it fade back to charcoal. I just prefer the look and feel of it like that in the laundry area. In case I want to fold something on it, I don't have any residual oil, wax, etc.

Remember that they were used for decades as utilitarian laundry and mop sinks. I'd guess they can stand up to kids washing their hands and brushing their teeth!

I'm putting it in my powder room on the vanity, using the leftovers I am sure we will have from the kitchen.

We just went to the Dorado Soapstone in Tx. Its new so they dont have much of a showroom yet but the one thing they DID have was a bathroom vanity mockup. The stone looked amazing and it seemed pretty like straightforward stuff..... they have soapstone tiles too if you want to do the shower or floor etc. The sales girl was really nice too. I think they have one in Denver too if your not close to Texas

A lot of people on this board use soapstone but the vast majority of renovators do not. In fact, I know very few people in NYC that know anything about no less used it in their renovations. It just hasn't caught on here.

So amazing you would ask this question today! I'm currently on a business trip in San Francisco and was having lunch at McCormick and Kuleto's on Fisherman's Wharf. Well, when I took a trip to the ladies room, I could not believe my eyes. There was a long, gorgeous soapstone counter, with a 4" soapstone backsplash and 3 inset sinks! I kept staring at it, noticing the lovely veining as well as the color changes where water had hit the surface. Then I had to touch it, just to make sure it was really soapstone. It was and it was beautiful! Of course, I immediately thought of you GW Stoners and TKOs and whether it was worth it to share this major soapstone find -- in a restaurant bathroom, no less-- with you. And, now here's your post! How cool is that?

Of course it was worth sharing this bit of news, MV. How unusual! At the rate we are going, do you think we'll ever have our own to fondle?

LOL! But of course, Raynag! Any year now!

Soapstone makes great shower floors. It is non-slip when wet.

I live in CT and it's not popular here. I got mine installed in August(ish) and the installer was just here a couple of weeks ago. I asked if he's installed SS in any other kitchens since mine (they are primarliy granite and marble) and he said "No, people who really use their kitchens don't want soapstone". I was like, "Hello"? I cook more than pretty much anyone I know personally. I chalked it up to cluelessness. Anyway, I'm thrilled that I'm the only one I know (except for the educated here!)that has it.

I've found that soapstone has a lousy reputation for some reason. Every time I mention it around here the reaction I get has been "Oh, too hard to take care of, not practical". The only people who understand soapstone are people who are actively researching kitchens. I just don't understand it because from what I can tell there's so much to love about it, and very little to dislike.

Now that I've been reading this thread, I'm starting to think that I really need it in my upstairs bathroom......

Ha, Buffettgirl, we must, of course, be in an elite group since we are obviously soapstone educated! I think it must be the granite dealers who are spreading those rumors about hard to take care of and people who really use their kitchens want granite. What a joke! I'm getting it in the kitchen and the powder room.

BTW - your kitchen looks wonderful - especially with the blue haze - LOL. Try using your white balance on the camera so we can see the REAL color of the soapstone.

Brilliant, mayland--love the through-composition with variety idea--really smart. We're trying to bring our kitchen and bathrooms more into a through-composed look as well--the kitchen and master bath have Hallarum (with more coatings), although I think we'll have to use the Nexus Brown for the powder room and wetbar, since the H. has been discontinued.

back on topic: I did also want to emphasize the not-slippery-when-wet quality of soapstone that pamela brought up: for the longest time, until I decided that with a complete lack of natural light we couldn't really have a lot of black in our master bath, I was planning to have soapstone as many places as possible, including shower floor and benchtop. Yet another reason it would be wonderful in the bath.

Although if you go to the baths forum, you can see a thread right now with reasons *not* to have soapstone in your bath (it chips and scratches). My feeling would be that if you don't plan to drop or drag a lot on your counters (or shower bench or whatever), it would be such a wonderful warm texture to have in there--would make it so cozy.

I confess I have mixed feelings when I respond so positively to queries about soapstone. On one hand, I'm so pleased I followed my heart and instincts, did some research, and put it in my home that I'm eager to share encouraging info with people who are drawn to it.

On the other hand, it's nice to have something that is different from what is in everyone else's house. Already, someone who went to look at our sunroom windows with our contractor came away dazzled and decided on a kitchen redo to include SS. Yeah!.....kinda....

I do like sharing my experience and delight with people on this forum, though. Seems the people who come here are really interested in learning about what will work in their kitchens and are investing their time in creating a special space. It's not so much a case of "I want what she has because she has it."

I think SS will continue to grow more in popularity, but I don't think it will ever have the mass appeal that granite has had. I don't think it has the "Va Va Voom" that draws a lot of people to granite or the cachet that marble has.

I'm happy that I got my slabs before it peaks,though, while there were still some to be had!

Mayland, your bathroom is fantastic! May I shamelessly borrow your look?

Question

I have a 10 year old who has developed a fascination with nail polish. I has been planning to avoid marble as a result. Do you think soapstone could survive a nail polish incident?

You can sand anythign out of a soapstone counter. They are very durable. We practiced on a little piece we got from Dorado Soapstone. We scratched it, tryed to gouge it (to no avail) but we wanted to play around with it and it was incredible resiliant. I am so excited to get ours in!!! heres a pic they sent us (its just of a tile but they have this stone in slab form as well, just thought it looked cool)

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That's fascinating, ali, about the Dorado...we had a sample piece (which we still use as a trivet :)) from Tulikivi and it was SO scratchable/gougable... I love the look of what you have posted. Some soapstones must be significantly harder than others, although you'd think Tulikivi would want to use a harder soapstone for stoves...

All soapstone is not soft. We've had our Mariana installed for 2.5 years now. I have one small nick where a two prong cooking fork hit the edge of the counter top because it was sticking up out of the drawer when I went to close it.

A sharp pointy object dropped point side down will nick it. But I imaging that would happen with any surface, as did with our Silgranit sink. I even took a hammer to our scrap piece from the stove cut-out. NO DENTS. It was too heavy to lift to put into the trash can, so we used a sledge hammer on it, which finally cracked it in half. Still, NO DENTS!