I think they both go just fine but I do like the looks of the venatino...if you can't make up your mind, how about a stain test tiebreaker?

Based on looks alone I'd say the Venatino, but truly; I'd be delighted with either. I second the fori's idea to stain test each one.

I like the softness of the Bianco Carrara since your gorgeous soapstone has so much veining. But maybe the Venatino is good because it's vein pattern is smaller, while the Carrara has a similarly sized vein pattern to the soapstone, so may compete? I'm a big help!

Really, what a 'terrible' dilemma to have! :-) Fori has a good idea.

What happened to that gorgeous stone your husband loved?

Oh, my usual tiebreaker is "whatever's cheaper", but I'm trying to be helpful today. =D

rhome - My husband got out-voted by my vision and our budget :)

At first I thought the Bianco because it was muted and more similar to the soapstone veining, but now Im not sure. It has more of a cloudy look to it.

Maybe the Venatino would tie in better with the stainless steel appliances? The gray lines seems to be more defined and stand out more. But is it too bold?

I have no samples to test unfortunately :(

I like the Venatino a bit better, but they are both so gorgeous I don't think there is a "wrong" choice whichever way you go.

Oh my both are sooo pretty! I'm loving that big yummy vein on the Venatino! But I love bold. Do you love bold??

Good news is that they're both gorgeous, so you can't lose either way!

Erika

I like the carrera better--seems to compliment your soapstone rather than competing for attention. But then, I'm not a real "bold" type of person. Good luck on your decision!

We are currently putting Venatino tiles in a master bath and love it, however it does seems to be bolder than the Bianco Carrera. My first thought would be to balance the soapstone with the Carrera since it looks as if the soapstone has a lot of veining. The Venatino is gorgeous marble though, so since it's not being used that close to each other, you could easily do either - whatever appeals to you most :)

I like the Venatino better, but either would work.

BTW - what is the software you used for that redering?

First of all I love your soapstone and you can't go wrong with either marble, but the first one, the Venatino says "marble to me" and I really like that. To me it is the complimentary opposite of the soapstone, light stone/dark veins and dark stone/light veins. I guess I'm a bold person too! As everyone has said, I think you'll have a winning combination either way!

Kat :)

The good Lord knows I am a very bold person (and that design tendency will be quite evident to all if and when I ever get around to showing my completed kitchen! LOL!) As such, I really like the Venatino. However, in this case, I think I'm liking the Carrara more. One of the design concepts that my ID continually drove home to me was to strive to achieve balance in my finish choices. That is, he would advise me to try and interweave my naturally bold design inclinations with those that are considerably more neutral or "conservative." The point being that if too many things are attention-grabbing, they will all cancel each other out, thus diluting the overall design statement. Since I have no idea where you're going with your total kitchen design, all I just said may be so much unnecessary rambling. However, IMHO, any marble in the kitchen makes a strong statement in and of itself. As such, and looking only at the "quiet" of the Carrara in contrast to the boldness of the soapstone, and nothing else, the Carrara looks more complementary than the Venatino. My vote is for the Carrara.

I like the Venatino - somehow the "character" of it seems to work with the soapstone. Not very articulate, but just my gut reaction to the photos.

We have soapstone perimeters and a "veiny" carrera for our island. This was not my first choice slab, but they mis-measured and the first slab was too short....discovered after delivery to the fabricator, of course. It was divine intervention and I love the grey veiny island with the soapstone. Also, the veins for me are a bit more forgiving -- I think I has helped camouflage the etching that is inevitably occurring.

Good luck, I think either would look beautiful, your soapstone slab is great!

i like the venatino on its own, but with the soapstone, i prefer the carrera. i think with the venatino, there will be too many vein variations going on. i am in complete agreement with marthavila on this one.

marthavila - when are you posting final pics????

That is a really nice slab of soapstone! I am having a really hard time finding one I like locally-the few that are available that I've seen are lacking those nice veins.
I like the venatino's that I have seen lately, since they have a bit of brownish veiing, but that slab of carrera you have looks really nice with your soapstone. I think the veins look more in scale or something to your soapstone.

alice462 - Do you have a photo of your counters? I would love to see!

marthavila - Your post makes total sense. Thats what Im afraid of. Too many bold things happening all in the same space. I think the Venatino is gorgeous, but I think the Bianco may "blend" better. However, an island is sort of the "centerpiece" of a kitchen, so should it be bolder? Im looking at that beautiful slab of soapstone thinking IT should be on the island. Is the soapstone and all its beautiful veining going to get lost in the perimeter, all cut in pieces? I mean, the only really large section of soapstone will be on the hutch, about 6 1/2 ft long, but only 25" counter depth. Im second guessing myself. Should I put the marble on the hutch only? Soapstone everwhere else?

We will also have marble in our master bath. Its a Venatino. Its going on a 7ft vanity, tub surround, shower bench and some other small pieces. Maybe I should use more soapstone in the kitchen then, I dont know? Heres a pic of the slab for the bathroom. It shows polished, but will be honed.....

Oh TGBT, I understand! Second guessing oneself on nearly every decision in the kitchen reno process seems to be a mandatory rite of passage! I also understand that you would want your island countertop to be relatively prominent since it will be command a center stage position in the room.

So, let me ask this question: assuming you've already been on a somewhat maddening search for the right island countertop material are you totally firm on having narrowed your choices to either the Venatino or Carrara? I ask only because it seems to me that the Calacatta family of marbles might work well for you in this application. Although Calacatta is a very dramatic kind of marble (as is your soapstone), my sense of it is that the veining patterns come pretty close to resembling the patterns in the soapstone you have chosen. Closer than the Venatino or Carrara, IMHO. The Calacattas also come in a variety of colors.

At any rate, don't let me go off on trying to talk you into going into a different direction than you intended! OTOH, if interested, check out the link below that shows many photos of different type of stones in the Calacatta family.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Calacatta Marble Gallery

marthavila - Funny you should say that. I took some photos of a Calcacatta Gold slab they had. Its polished and I never even really considered it because Ive heard how expensive it can be. I assume they could have it honed. I dont have a clue on pricing. What do you think? Too gold?

Calacatta is definitely a "premium" grade marble. It's hard to say what the pricing will be -- depends on where you are in the country, the business you'r'e dealing with etc. But you can bet it will be more expensive than Carrara. Still it doesn't hurt to ask!

In my case, my soapstone countertops are Green Mountain Original PA and, like yours, the veining is not white. Only this past week, I visited the stone yard twice looking for a piece of white marble remnant to make a top for my table in the dining nook. Although I went there specifically looking for Calacatta Gold, I ended up falling totally in love with Calacatta Vagli! (In the end, though, I chose the considerably more conservative Imperial Danby because the Calacatta would have been way too competitive with my dining chairs). At any rate, I digress. Turns out that the difference in cost between getting the top in Carrara and getting it in Calacatta would have only been $125. Mind you, I'm dealing in remnants -- a whole other ball game when it comes to pricing. But, still, ask TGBT! You might find out that the Calacatta is not so much out of your ballpark after all. Also, have you tried searching at various yards? The diversity in stone choices, from yard to yard, can be amazing.

Twogirls, love the way your kitchen is coming together!

At first blush I was with the venatino, because of the complementary veining but after reading marthavila's suggestion for Calacutta, I would definitely explore that option. I especially love the top slab in your post with the Calacutta Gold.

As to whether the colour is right or not, have you thought about how the kitchen will come together once all these *big* decisions are done? Accent colours, backsplash etec etc - all of this will contribute to the overall effect and your thinking about the marble. Do you have pix of the soapstone oiled that you can hold up against your marble options?

I hope rmkitchen doesn't mind that I'm posting a pic of her gorgeous Calacutta Xtra backsplash for inspiration...

It is going to look awesome no matter which way you go!

Eliz

twogirls -- here are some pics of our soapstone and marble, I hope it helps. You have some beautiful choices. I was very worried about our "busy" marble, but now love it! I don't think our soapstone has quite as much drama to it as your slab shows, and, our veining is definitely white. Is your soapstone more green?

These photos were a while ago, and not the best to show the veining near each other, but we are living large in this room now and most of the counters are covered up!

You talked about the wonderful veining in your soapstone and wanting to capture that sense of it -- make sure your fabricator will set aside plenty of time to play with templating. I spent an entire morning with the fabricator and the three slabs we had to work with. I showed him which portions I wanted to highlight, he helped guide me, even getting the veins to match so they could go up the backsplash when they would be noticable. It definitely took some time b/c of the veining and I was so grateful not to be rushed through this decision.

One thought I had when looking at your floor plan -- the butcher block end is what will be directly adjacent to the largest portion of soapstone and therefore possibly give each of the stone counters some "breathing" room?? I'm certainly no designer/decorator, just a thought...

alice - Oh my goodness, your kitchen is beautiful! The soapstone and marble look perfect together! I think our soapstone is greener than yours. Your veins in the soapstone also seem thinner, similar to the Venatino. Definitely works. I love the stain on your floors and island....and the blue!. Do you have plans for your backsplash? I've already told the fabricator that I want a say in the templating. We wont really have any seams to worry about. The only one should be behind the farm sink.

Im going to ask about pricing on the Calacatta on Monday. We'll see. Im not sure what direction to go, but cost could help decide that. The Carrara & Venatino slabs are the same price.

Hi.

I'm loving looking at these slabs! Beautiful!

FWIW, we chose to do honed Calacatta Gold on the island and Green Mountain Original on the perimeter (with whitish thinnish veining-is that English?)

Since I fell in looove with the Calacatta (very spendy, but luckily my DH absolutely loved it when he saw it) & wanted it to be the focal point, we went with a quieter soapstone perimeter. All of this is a fingers crossed plan since walls are going up right now. I'll keep you posted.

I don't think you can go wrong with any of the above that you've shown. Your kitchen is going to be fantastic! What did you decide on the hood?

Katie

katieob - Cant wait to see your kitchen! Does your Calacatta look similar to the one I posted? For the hood, we went with the Modern Aire PS12 in stainless with two vertical hammered bands. It's 41" tall, tapering up to the ceiling. Dont have it yet, its being fabricated now.

twogirls -- you are sweet and hope that the pictures were helpful to you.

Our island is alder w/a walnut stain and the floors are rough sawn 4,5 6" width white oak w/a custom mix stain to match adjacent room. Really wanted reclaimed wood floor, but couldn't make it work in the budget. Am very happy with how this alternative worked for us.

You are looking at all the backsplash we are going to have - 4" "rail" of either marble or soapstone. We just couldn't figure out where to stop and start a "taller" backsplash, so made life easier and just deleted it. We just didn't have any natural wall area to tile, w/windows and so few uppers, was a headache I was not willing to have at that point in our project -- don't miss it at all.

Good luck, your kitchen is going to be BEE-UTIFUL!

Ok well the Calacatta is definitely out. Its over $1000 more - wow.

Then it wasn't meant to be, but it will still be beautiful! Go with the venatino; I love the way the veining echoes the soapstone and I don't think it will detract.

Good luck!
Eliz

Twogirls, just for what it's worth, our soapstone has green veining when it's freshly oiled, but after only a few hours or overnight it mellows to more of a grayish white. I love it both ways, but find that the green almost turquoise veining is only most noticeable when it's freshly oiled. Wonder if yours is the same? Originally I wanted NO green in my SS, but I am loving the green veining and almost wish it would stick around longer without having to oil to make it re-appear.

In my travels as a writer I can honestly say that I've never met anyone who said they wished they had gone more conservatively with their finishes, most say the opposite that they wish they had been a little more daring...just for what it's worth.

Good luck, anything you pick will be beautiful! Alice and rmkitchen your kitchens are beautiful!

Kat :)