I am planning to use Soapstone and too, am wondering who to use for them. I am in the Nashville, TN area and my GC has installed soapstone once before, but that supplier is no longer in business. I actually went and looked at that house just this morning (my first time to see soapstone in person) and am even more in love with it. I called Bucks County Soapstone and they can take measurements from your GC and ship the soapstone via FedEx Freight to you. I am considering them, but will probably go look at some local suppliers too. I am interested to hear what others on GW have done for their soapstone if they don't live near one of the major dealers.

I am considering using a soapstone counter and sink in a powder room. Good to see the feedback, thank you. I do wonder about using it for the sink as well but have been assured (by the supplier/installer, that is) it should not be a problem.

bireland: What brand are your ovens? And do you like them? I have been looking for a similar design (black glass with just the stainless strips at the top and bottom) for two regular/convection ovens that will be installed side by side. I have been looking at Wolf. Also found some Dacor, but a friend who uses Dacor does not like them at all - her oven heats unevenly and is slow to come to temperature, which may of course not be typical at all.

wildebloem, I have a Wolf 30" Single Wall Oven-L Series (Unframed) and a Wolf 24" Microwave Oven Non-Convection, with the 30 inch trim kit. I love the oven. It heats evenly and well and self cleans well. It is a bit slow to come up to temperature. I was surprised that I had to buy the roll out shelf separately. The roll-out is worth having for heavy pots, roasting pans, etc. I went with Wolf because of problems I had heard with electronics (after self-clean) and Wolf has the reputation of standing behind their products. However, I have self-cleaned and had no problems. The microwave is fine.

If you live in Brooklyn, I would go with M. Teixeira. I have used them twice and think they are EXCELLENT!

I want to second M.Tiexera. I've used their DIY slabs before, but have also heard good things about their full service and they are close by you in NJ. Make sure you price compare because I'm in Upstate NY and the VT shops I've looked at were far more expensive than what I wanted.

No pictures yet as the construction--new and reno are not quite done. We had our soapstone countertops installed a few months ago and we LOVE them. We live on LI and used Garden State Soapstone. Jay was professional and accommodating and we can recommend him.

Strongly recommend Bucks county soapstone, and you are not so far away that you cannot visit - they have a great shop and will show you everything - and, their website has lots of great information. We are very happy with our countertops from them.

My best advice is to deal with someone who specializes in soapstone as lots of others have posted about problems iwth contractors or stone yards used to dealing with granite etc who did not go a great job with soapstone.

Regarding using it, we picked it because it WAS NOT granite - we prefer the non-shiny, matte finish, like the lovely veins in our soapstone and the feel of it. I had expected to keep it oiled but actually really like it gray as well. So, like others, we sometimes oil for company.

we have an undermount sink (kohler cast iron) and got a slightly recessed drain board instead of runnells.

Using it is great - you can put any hot pot on it without worry, frozen items defrost really fast. I have dropped a few heavy things on it and gotten a tiny ding but i cannot see it and esp when oiled, never see it. do not get rings or anything that cannot be wiped out. and it does not stain (we had laminate before it and it both got dings and stains and was not heat proof)

Back to bucks country, they were a pleasure to*w ork with, very patient and understanding with my crazy, picky questions, real craftmen -

good luck and welcome to the Soapstone Club!

L

We are considering Soapstone for our Laundry room. I like the oiled look  will the oil transfer to the clothes I will be folding on it?

We got DIY slabs from M Texiera and had our carpenter install them. The counters are the first thing that everyone who comes in my kitchen comments on... they turned out awesome.

A very newbie question: how much are soapstone counters installed?

Near Boston anyways, they are $85/ sq ft installed. That is a good question about the oil. When you oil or beeswax the counters, do you have to worry about putting things back on the countertop? I know you wipe off excess, but is there still an oily residue that remains? Would it get on your clothes if you bend over the counters to reach in an upper cabinet?

Sandlll, where did you get your soapstone? I'm getting ready to build our retirement home on Martha's Vineyard, and I'm curious about soapstone experts in the area.

I have Bucks Co Soapstone and use the mineral oil they brought along when they installed, and the countertops are oily right after I apply it. I don't use much, I keep the cloth in a plastic bag and generally there is enough oil on it that I don't need to reapply it from the bottle each time.

I would not fold clothes on them right after they are oiled. The next day would probably be OK. And a beeswax formula might work better as well, but I don't have experience with anything other than the BCS mineral oil.

Let me also give high marks to M Texiera - we got our gorgeous slabs from them. Excellent to work with!

We however made a mistake and went with a local fabricator who does not usually work with soapstone and they did a poor job of finishing the stone. I had water rings and scratch marks from just setting a glass down on the counter.

Thank goodness for GW! I found out about Josh from Creative Soapstone and he came up and re -finished my stone. Scratches rarely happen now and water rings are almost no existent!! Same stone, different finish technique!! He is a master craftsman!!

I highly recommend soapstone as kitchen counter, but be sure who ever installs it understands how soapstone works, it is different than granite.

Here is link to my finished kitchen with before and afters.

Best of luck - let us know what you decide!

Here is a link that might be useful: Willow's kitchen

caiquemom, I haven't bought them yet, but I went to Dorado Soapstone. They have a few different fabricators they work with. They recommend an 80 grit for the finish. It seems nice to the touch when I went to see them.

Ebean - we just completed our reno in May and used soap stone for the outer cabinets. We love it, but the one thing I noticed is that it chips easily! We're not too worried because you can sand it down and oil it. We used Brazilian soapstone and chose our slab from M. Teixeira in NJ. Good luck...attached is my blog link with the soapstone.

http://mnkitchenrenovation.blogspot.com/