M. Teixeira is coming on Monday to template. I'll have the Barocca installed about two weeks after that. I can check back with you later if you like.

I too have a sample of barocca that seems pretty soft - m.t. website offers deals but there are no deals at our anaheim dealer = she just sells slabs . The guy that installs, etc for her does granite and everything else. she even couldn't give me a pre-fab or install price - I've been reading the soapsone forum for years and am finally going to get stone. I'm going elsewhere - soapstone werks of escondido they have a wonderful black minas stone which is not real hard but the slab seems hard. My husband is a mason and stone hardness varies among the same types - you would be best to pick your slab.

I've been looking at Cobra and Barocca for my new kitchen. I'm also in Portland and have been very disappointed in the stone suppliers in the area that have no idea about soapstone!

I'm planning on purchasing in the next few weeks (DIY slabs). I feel much more confident after reading about the recent post of someone DIY'ing and how nice the stone was, and how easy it was to cut and install.

I'd be interesting in hearing anyone's experience with Barocca from M. Tiex as well.

hi, am pretty sure that my soapstone from Bucks County soapstone is barocca - and we are very happy with it. not scratches or dents yet and we are NOT careful people. you can certainly call them.

We too are in the final stretch of a kitchen face lift, we just picked up a Barclay 30" farm sink today locally the next pieces are counter/faucet and then back splash. (also in PDX)

We've talked to a few places and probably looked at all of the slabs that are available in town, found a slab we really liked until we got the bid from the fabricator. They wanted 2X the price of what we can do it for DIY from M. Teixeira including buying the few tools we need.

Sounds like one person in town needs to be brave and go first and have the rest of us over for "help" installing :)

I was also wondering about the barocca vs santa rita, we happen to be going to NJ for a wedding but we (my wife) don't want to wait until August to finish the kitchen.

xipper-When I talked to M. Teixeira they said the Santa Rita looks a lot like Barocca but is softer. I don't know if this is true though. My sample pack from them didn't include a sample of Santa Rita

I'm in Seattle and am just about to have my soapstone counter top installed. Like most northwesterners I've been disappointed at the lack of selection and SS knowledge among stone industry people in the area. I ended up buying my slabs from Soapstone Werks in Escondido, CA. Though I'm not doing DIY, they did offer to fabricate the slabs for me there and ship them up already cut for my kitchen. It would have saved a lot of money, too, as they would have only charged me for the actual stone I ended up buying (most places charge you for the whole slab whether or not you use it all). But my kitchen is full of strange angles and niches and I decided it was wiser for me to buy the whole slabs and have them cut by my chosen fabricator in Seattle.

But if you're thinking DIY and you're shipping to Portland as it is, I would definitely give the Soapstone Werks people a call. Talk to either Wendy or Greg. They are INCREDIBLE. The most helpful people in the world! I just can't speak highly enough about them. And I'm just about to get the most beautiful SS put into my kitchen, largely thanks to them :)

I have a sample of the Santa Rita Venata and it's very soft. I did not get a sample of the Barocca.

I had barocca from M tex installed in my kitchen about 2 months ago. It is soft, but in my opinion that is one of the reasons we wanted it. Our house is 100 years old (built in 1910) and we wanted a kitchen that looks like it's been here since forever. We are hoping it develops patina sooner rather than later.

We have two small chips -- one where our kitchen installer dropped a huge metal tool onto the edge of the counter as he was adjusting something (not sure what). We have another tiny chip where the SS fridge handle bangs into the counter every single time you open it (we don't have great clearance).

That being said, I love the soapstone and would do it again in a heartbeat. We had friends over this weekend, and we were partying until 4am. The next day, there was tons of stuff spilled all over the counters... red wine, strawberries (from the tarts I made) lime wedges, etc. It sat for at least a full day while I got over my hangover. It cleaned up incredibly easily, no staining or worrying about the SS reacting with the acid or other foods. I was baking like crazy and pulling hot cookies out of the oven and putting the baking sheet directly on the counter...never had to worry about the soapstone scorching.

I only have some crappy pictures from my cell phone, but promise I will post some actual pictures soon... I am planning on joining the "finished kitchen club" in the next week or two!

Counter (backsplash was installed, but not grouted at this point)

Penninsula

Portland_renovation- I now remember seeing pics of your kitchen before the SS was oiled. You did the fabrication yourselves didn't you? It looks great! I love the story about the party and mess left on the counter. That is our house to a "T". Our house is a 72 year old cape cod and we want the counters to look original also. Thanks for your input, I really appreciate it.

We ordered DIY slabs, but had our carpenters do the fabrication. They used regular old woodworking tools on the SS... We hired the same guys to do a bunch of stuff around the house (back deck, replace some windows, etc), so we figured we would throw in the SS installation as well. I think they turned out fantastic! :)

Here's another close-up of the counter.

I've had the Barocca in for about a month now and it is softer than I thought that it would be. I have a few small chips and several small scratches. I found that if something really bothers me then I can use either sandpaper and mineral oil or just mineral oil to remove it (even chips). Someone had mentioned once that they used a black sharpie on a chip and I tried it just for fun. It worked! But mostly I find that it's hard to tell the scratches from the pattern. They just blend in. Like Portland Renovation, I'm really happy with the soapstone and wouldn't give it up for anything right now.