OK, Remodelfla, soapstone is on the list to be considered! I think we'll allocate time next week to go up to San Francisco and check out M.Teixeira. We are very particular about the kind of sink we want for ergonomic reasons: offset drain, bottom no deeper than 27.5" off the floor, curved corners; and planned to have a stainless steel one made custom. I see they have carved soapstone as well, and for around the same price. I figure we use the kitchen sink so heavily, it makes sense to spend about as much on it as we do on a new PC (and that lasts for fewer years!). You are so right that we use our kitchen and kitchen appliances to death -- just last week we had 5 people trying to socialize in our non-open kitchen for 4 hours (think 4' by 7' central floorspace, with range across from sink, DW, and fridge packed side-by-side). Poor Mom even sat in the entry hall on her walker so she could converse through the doorway with those working in the kitchen! And then when one person went to the bathroom, she and her walker came in which meant that every change in cooking task meant a walker had to be moved out of the way. This remodel can't happen soon enough! cangelmd: interesting you mention burgandy with the River White. Our sectional/modular sofa pieces in the living room that will be open to the kitchen are burgandy leather. In this style: From this we have the center section (which we use as a corner rather than the more dramatic ones in the photo) plus one of the straight pieces. Each can be stand-alone (all sides are finished) or assembled next to any other. We currently do one long sofa and a love seat. It felt really comfortable (firm enough for our tastes), was easy to sweep under, easy to clean dog fur off of (our dog sheds a lot), and had a nice clean line that we both really loved. We initially only ordered 3 pieces but after we brought it home we loved them so much we ordered the other 2 pieces even though there was a chance the dye batch wouldn't match.

I am a fabricator. "Brand has no bearing on chipping; it's all the same stuff." for quartz this is exactly correct. For the harder natural stones a well rounded edge provides substantial protection from chipping. You really have to whack a rounded edge to chip it. Occasionally, even in hard stones, an inclusion can pop out. If you manage to save the popped out piece the repair is simple. For other chips the repair is also relatively simple with the fillers and tools available to the fabricator AS LONG AS the customer has realistic expectations. If you follow Joe you know he spends a lot of effort making sure the customers expectations are realistic before he starts a job. For softer stones like marble and travertine chipping is a greater risk simply because the mechanical integrity of the stone is much less than granite or quartz. Repairs can also be more challenging as matching light colors or white is more difficult. A trick is to grind up a bit of the stone and use it to color a clear adhesive but you have to have a scrap piece of the stone for this to be an option. All that said rounded edges are much less prone to chipping on any material. A competent fabricator has this discussion with a customer automatically as part of the edge selection process. My 2 cents.

We have had our honed AB countertops in for about 18 months. We have a large island 10' and that limited our choices. I may have gone with a Nordic Black or something similar if that had been an option, but I am happy with my choice. We have four kids and our kitchen gets a lot of hard use. The honed AB does show water rings, fingerprint smudges and anything else left on the counter - crumbs, jelly smudges, etc, but I don't mind that a bit. I want to know if my counter is dirty so that I can wipe it clean. I mostly use a water/alcohol mix and it takes at most 2 minutes to wipe down all of the counters. I do not wipe them dry and they look great. As long as I do this, after each meal, they look great. When they are wet I can see rings and marks, but those disappear as it dries. We do not have direct sun light in our kitchen and that may make a difference. Just in the way that streams of light show every speck of dust on a piece of furniture that looked perfectly clean before - it may make the counters look smudged. We have quartz in our kids baths and I love it there, but it doesn't quite have the look I wanted for the kitchen. I attached a quick phone photo - sorry for the poor quality, but hope it helps. Good luck

sdionnemoore - the best way for me to visualize space when I'm working on it is to take the elevations from my computer or building plans and actually hand color them in. My husband was very wary of me mixing the white and dark finishes on the same plane so it was also helpful for him to be okay with the idea! amcofar - wow, you have no idea how honored I am since I absolutely love sharb's work! THANK YOU!! I'm flattered too regarding your flow and soul comments - my last home was a labor of love (2 years in construction, custom from top to bottom) but my husband VERY unexpectedly took a new job just 18 mos after we moved into it and we had to move 1500 miles away. The week after I found out that we were moving, my former architect called me to ask permission to feature our home in a national speaking engagement he was doing about putting soul into a home - he ended up having the most amazing photo shoot done in the home and then told its "story" during his tour. Obviously having left it, all of that is very bitter sweet to me but I did feel a big sense of achievement because I poured my heart into that home and to have it recognized in such a way was very cathartic. Doing this project here helped me heal some wounds and many of our friends tell us that when they're in this house, they just don't want to leave - to me it's been an indication that we brought some soul into this space too! So, thank you for your kind comments....