1904 Southern Colonial - Soapstone is in (pics!), & backsplash Q?
All,
As mentioned last week in another thread, my 1904 Southern Colonial's soapstone finally, finally, FINALLY got installed -- and wow am I *so* happy I went with this over granite. I can't even tell you how many times over the past year i grappled back and forth between soapstone vs. a black-ish honed granite (ie, Nordic Antique Black). In the end, those magic words really are true: go with your gut, with what you really want. Seeing and feeling the installed soapstone, it's hard to believe I ever doubted the initial instinct. Hindsight is, as always, 20/20...
So this is two parts. First, the pics! Bear in mind I still have not acquired any mineral oil, and so what you're seeing is the pure, raw, unoiled soapstone. It's actually darker in its raw state than I would've initially figured, but it's definitely begging for an oiling :-) The pics seem to give it a bit of a blue-ish hue, but that's inaccurate as it's just a medium grey in reality.
The sink in that last pic... is the Ticor S105-8. It's the one where the left bowl is 17-3/4" and the right bowl is 13". I hotly debated that vs. the Ticor 405D (21" left, 10" right).... and in the end opted for the "more useable right sink". So far I like what I see, but I'll have a better feel when I start using it. The installers did a great job with the sink cutout, and the very slight negative reveal I requested --- the distance from the front of the sink to the edge of the counter overhang is exactly 4".
Also, I ordered the faucet today -- after a brief dalliance with the "antique nickel" finish of a specific Jado faucet (ultra-$$, btw), followed by a detour towards a Moen, I went with my original choice of the Delta Victorian. Opted for the stainless steel finish instead of chrome, because my kitchen has a mostly "soft/matte" theme going on with the white cabs, matte soapstone, SS appliances, saturated yellow wallpaint, and 100-yr old heart of pine wood floors.
Here's a pic of the Delta Victorian, in the SS finish:
So now, onto the final question, with regard's to deee's marble tile backsplash: I think your backsplash is exquisite, and goes perfectly with your black counters and white cabinets, maintaining that neutral theme. For those that haven't seen it, here's the pic:
My question to everyone here: those beautiful grey-ish marble tiles have that fantastic veining/movement to them. Would that be a good fit above my soapstone countertops, or is there reason to be concerned about the grey tiles' veining competing/clashing with the soapstone's veining?
Also, I have read that marble tiles require lots of regular maintenance, sealing, and are prone to cracks. Is this mostly a concern for floors and counters, or are these concerns valid for counter backsplashes as well?
Cheers!
Supra92
BTW - more pics to follow, once the faucet set arrives and is installed, and after I get the soapstone oiled
Comments (31)
gglks
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agoremodelfla
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agoRelated Discussions
Thoughts on subway tile going up entire wall
Comments (63)Sherriz. I absolutely love your kitchen design, color, lighting, faucet, hardware, hood! It is so so so beautiful. I was just in the Circa showroom drooling over your island lights. I wanted to use them in my upstairs hall but this size too large, and small too small. Perfection in your kitchen though. Love every square inch! Thanks for sharing this pic. I haven't been on GW in awhile so I missed your kitchen if you recently posted. awesome! Sandn, new glitch re: when tile goes in. My builder built a scaffolding over my soapstone so the tile guy wouldn't have to stand on stone, which would mean he will have to start 4 inches above the counter since this "thing" is screwed into the wall. I know GC meant well but it is too obtrusive to work around and tile person would have to come back and do the bottom section next day, adding another day to labor etc. So he is upcharging $400 for another day. Searching for another tile person and retro fitting the scaffold to work better. thanks y'all! d...See MoreWhite Beveled Arabesque In Our Kitchen? Bee's opinion please!
Comments (52)OK, no pictures yet, but here is where we are at: 1) Installed beadboard (the wood stuff that comes in 6" (or so) tongue and groove strips. 2) It was a pain for our contractor to get it all laid in tight with no seams etc. Cost us more than I had hoped, but still worth it. 3) Painted with oil base primer 4) One coat of oil based topcoat in the same color as our cabinets. It looks very good - we think the verticals in the beadboard go nicely with the vertically fluted columns (which I didn't think would work so well at all). We had bought some Utilitech LED under cabinet lights from Lowes and we returned these as they were 1) not dimmable and 2) Kinda ugly. We are looking to purchase a different set of "softer light" dimmable LED lights so we will only have "landing strip" illumined countertops when DW really wants everything "lit up". Our hope is that with dimmable "soft white" under cabinet LEDs the white beadboard will give us what we want (not too bright, and predictable) until we have time to replace the Staron countertops with some sexy granite or soapstone and a different backsplash. I promise to post pics after the final coat of oil piant and after UC LEDs are in place! At this point we really think the beadboard looks nicer than we had hoped esp. for an interim solution....See Moreour soapstone is in!!!
Comments (30)Supra92 -- I just got an email from our fabricator (we used Alpha Granite, btw, and they did a great job -- we only had one seam but it's really well done) and they found a piece 24 x 48" that they're keeping for us -- they're even going to finish the edges so we could use it as a table top or something like that. We'll try oiling it when I get it next week and I'll post some pics. Now if I could just get my dishwasher and new range operational. The plumber showed today but not the electrician so we're still on hold with that til Monday. Is your kitchen actually finished and up and running now? If so, I envy you. And where, may I ask, are the pictures of your stone (and your kitchen)? I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd like to see it....See More1904 Southern Colonial - 2 years later, an update!
Comments (7)Your kitchen is stunning! The things you still want to do will be great, but, honestly, it is quite beautiful as it is today....See Morelaxsupermom
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agojulie92
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agosupra92
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agosupra92
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agoQuick question for Deee and Bikey, if you're following this thread.
What exactly are the brand/colour names of your respective backsplashes? Deee's grey marble is shown earlier in this thread, and bikey's is pictured here:
Bikey's is a bit at a distance, and I can't really tell if it's similar/the same as Deee's or not.
Any brands/colour names, or (better yet) links to the actual products online, would rock!
Cheers,
Supra92rmkitchen
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agopluckymama
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15 years agolast modified: 9 years agocookin45
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mustbnuts zone 9 sunset 9
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agoalice462
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15 years agolast modified: 9 years agoalice462
15 years agolast modified: 9 years agosupra92
13 years agolast modified: 9 years agoWell, now just how horrible do I feel, replying now over 2 years since the thread's last posting? Or for the fact that so little has been accomplished in yet another 2 years' time? I've read back over the ensuing posts a number of times over the past year however, and really appreciate the positive comments and words of encouragement. Although I've been AWOL for too long, rest assured that all of you at GW come up each and every time someone comes over to my house and asks about the kitchen. Few people believe me when I say I couldn't have done it without you!
Also, additional apologies to jwm211, gam51, cran, marybeth1, cookin45, and anyone else who was unable to see the pictures for a period of time. I run a webserver out of my house, so whenever lightning strikes (literally) or TimeWarner has an outage, the pics go down. Thankfully TWC is actually pretty good about uptime.
Now for the update. Since my pics from the first part of this thread, the following have been done:
- installed faucet for sink (Delta Victorian, SS finish)
- oiled the soapstone (duh!) :-)
- installed weathered-iron cabinet knobs/pulls on all cabinets
- replaced old wood ceiling fan with overhead light
- bought a (very) small kitchen table so I could sit/eat!
- installed handle on dishwasher
- installed garbage disposalHere's a picture I took standing from the back area of the kitchen (it's shaped like an "L") looking at the main portion, from late April. It's pretty similar to how it is now, and gives a good feel for what it looks like "lived-in" on a day-to-day basis. Soapstone had just been oiled too, considering how dark a charcoal it is. :-)
As you can see, it's still not quite finished -- namely, it *still* needs the tile backsplash (deee, yep still planning on the Sylacauga Alabama marble tile you have, assuming it's still available), undercabinet lighting, and a pendant light over the sink. Plus a new set of outlet/switch covers. Once those are done, the kitchen will pretty much be complete as far as I'm concerned.
Meanwhile, a two-year update on the soapstone: is it possible to love soapstone even more now than i did in 2008? Time has done nothing to diminish my passion for those soapstone counters -- maybe that's an odd word to use, but I couldn't think of a more-accurate alternative. It does require periodic oiling -- for anyone thinking they can oil soapstone twice a month for the first 6 mos and then it's basically done, that's not been my experience. It doesn't fade to as light a chalkboard-grey as it was when I first got it, but it lightens enough that I'm compelled to oil it every, say, 2-3 months now. It certainly doesn't have to be done, but... I love oiling the soapstone and look forward to it. Nothing beats that just-oiled near-black charcoal colour with the veining 'popping' :-)
I apologise once again for the excessively-long AWOL, really appreciate the kind words. If anyone would like any specific info on any of the parts, or would like to see more pics or closeups of anything, by all means just ask and I'll put them up!
Cheers to you,
Supra92
Xochitl
8 years agoXochitl
8 years ago
Rudebekia