No dishes broken yet and we are over 2 yrs. with our ss sink. Not sure what the builder is calling hard...there is no way that the ss is harder than any other sink of the stone type. Hope you decide on a ss sink. They are so beautiful. Ours is over 100 yrs old and still looks good to me. c

Around May of 08 and haven't broken anything yet.

I definitely broke more glasses in my soapstone sink then any other sink when I first got it. Once I got used to it and was more careful, I stopped breaking glasses. Keep in mind that I am always in a hurry and slightly accident prone (see below). I did get a grid for the bottom which helped, but I couldn't stand cleaning the grids so I put it in my garage.

Breaking more things is also a function of the fact that I definitely entertain and cook more in the new kitchen, so the probability of a break goes up if you are washing more dishes and wineglasses.

Last week was a winner...I dropped my Deruta utensil crock on top of my Le Creuset batter bowl in my sink and smashed both of them. That was a nice $120 accident. That was not the sinks fault since they hit each other. And I broke 2 glass pitchers when I accidentally swept the whole dish rack into my sink when I was cleaning. It sounds like I should cook in a padded cell.

I would certainly not let this advice from the dealer deter you from getting the sink you want. I noticed that a lot of builders and contractors would prefer you get the product through them and soapstone is something that most builders don't carry. My mom had a lot of cabinet stores misleading her about soapstone. We noticed that in every one of the cabinet suppliers, soapstone was the only surface they did not offer for sale thus they were encouraging her to choose granite or Zodiaq by slamming a product line that they did not carry.

trailrunner: I love your sinks. I am definitely going to look for a salvage one when we do the next kitchen.

I just wanted to elaborate that I have never had any sink besides stainless before which does have some give to it. All stone sinks should be around the same hardness however.

We haven't been in our new kitchen very long and nothing broken yet. Like Cleo above, I tend to do things in a hurry and haven't had any issues so far. I do love our sink!

Eliz

Hi All, Thank you for your replies. I did think it was a bit of hooey about breaking dishes in a soapstone sink versus other sinks. The contractor wasn't trying to sell me anything over the soapstone - I think he just didn't know and felt like he had to have an opinion. Like so many people out there not having correct information about soapstone. I can't imagine it being any harder than other stone either.

trailrunner, I love your vintage sinks. They are beautiful! (And your recent posting of your bread looked delicious as well.)

eandhl, glad to hear no breakage at your house - I would love to see a photo of your sink and kitchen if you could post some. Thanks in advance!

cleo2007, I can understand you cooking more in your new kitchen. I saw photo of your sink on another thread and it's beautiful!

elizpiz, I saw the close-up photo of your sink on another thread. Do you have other photos posted elsewhere? I didn't see any in FKB. Would love to see your sink in the cabinet.

Thanks for any other photos anyone wants to post. The more I see the more inspired I get.

garden18c, just got my island stools today (hooray!!) so once I can take pix of them, then I am ready to post my finished kitchen! Should be in the next couple of days. I am more nevous about showing it to the GW'ers than I was to friends and family :-)

Eliz

Thanks Eliz! Looking forward to photos of your newly finished kitchen.

trailrunner, those canisters on your baking center - do they have the words "flour, sugar, coffee, tea" on them? They look exactly like the set I have from my mother. Speaking of baking center, are you still baking bread? It all looks yummy!

:)