Donna - nope, I haven't yet, and our courtesy hold on our Minas will end in a few days. What to do, what to do... Karlarock - Can you tell me if your stone is oiled in the photos? I really need something that will say, "Hello, I'm a black stone, and only at strange angles and bright sunlight can you see my hidden greens." ;o) Mustbnuts (I love your username, BTW!) - we'll have white beaded inset cabs on the perimeter with *some* variety of soapstone, and carrara marble on the island. Whether the island will be stained or some other paint color (green, perhaps?) is still up for debate. Further complicating things is that I have two very different carrara slabs from which to choose - one very calm one which I have seen in person, and one very veiny one I've only seen in photos. I'm leaning toward the veiny one, but I couldn't have a very veiny Minas in the same kitchen. We got photos of some new Minas slabs this morning which have even fewer white veins than the very quiet ones we have on hold, but it still appears to have a lot of the little white "spots," and I'm not sure I want that. In all of the finished Minas kitchen pictures I've seen, the stone appears solid black with white veins, without all the splotchies. Am I wrong about this? Do you Minas owners have those little spots, and they just aren't apparent in the photos?

ndvweb, Thanks for the feedback. Your kitchen is beautiful and it's partly your pics that got me thinking about Minas again. The problem I'm having is that the Minas that Dorado is getting in right now is heavily veined. Yours is exactly what I would love, but all of their slabs are much busier right now. We won't need our tops for another two months or so, so I keep hoping maybe they'll get in some quieter slabs in the meantime. We also got some "duro Minas" samples (a new variety for them, I think) and were told it was less veiny, but I'm not seeing much of a difference. It has far more veins than yours. Anyway, I'm glad to know you haven't noticed "weak veins." That's very helpful info!

We actually used central new England soapstone fabricators - they were awesome, and fabricated right in our driveway! You can google them if you want a competitive quote. Owners are Dave and Benjamin Brushett. Thanks for your compliments, it does feel like this remodel is never ending! I'm thinking carrera subways for the bs, but haven't totally decided yet. The faucet was inspired by other gw kitchens - it's Danze Opulence and I love it. Fabric is terrible to choose! I love both, the right side is a eagerly and the left is Kravet. What to do! Best of luck with your remodel, post pics when you can!

Your counters are beautiful, Prill! I noticed that the vein on the slab we chose was turning a bit green or turquoise at the end of the slab. I figured I would probably notice some more of that color in it once it's installed. I love yours, so now I really hope so! I'm ok with scratches and dings. I figured that comes with any soapstone. But when she said it was the softest one they had right now, it made me wonder if I was making a bad choice. The place we looked at the slabs was a small family business. The husband, who has the ability to move the slabs around with his equipment, wasn't there and we could only look at the first slab in the group. The woman that helped me explained that he had already sorted them so that the slabs behind were nearly identical as they were just slices of the same stone taken from the mountain. The explanation seemed completely logical to me, but I was kind of bummed that I didn't get to eye my slab #2 (and maybe #3 as we are having them make a sink for us as well...). Did you have the same sort of experience when you looked at slabs? This is our first time, so I didn't know what to expect.