Soapstone is a lot of things, but no porous. Granite is porous and can, accordingly stain. Soapstone cannot absorb stains. However, it does take more attention than granite if you want it to be glossy like granite. That amounts to putting some mineral oil on it once in a while (every couple of months, depending on the amount of traffic) just as you season cast iron pans. If you aren't looking for glossy all the time (you can always dress it up for company), then there's very little if any maintenance.

Sheesh! Soapstone is not porous! Nor will it react to acids, etc. It will scratch, but scratches can be easily "oiled out" or even sanded out.

BTW...for "oiling" soapstone, a better product is Bee's Oil. Last fall, Florida_Joshua experimented with several different oils/waxes/pastes to determine which one had the best "staying" power and his results showed Bee's Oil lasted the longest.

Perhaps Joshua will chime in on this thread...

I think he got his Bee's Oil from "Holland Bowl and Mill".

However, many people here prefer the light gray look of unoiled soapstone and never oil their counters. It just depends on the look you want.

Interesting, the other contractor is installing soapstone in his showroom and told me he is sealing it so that light gray look remains. I don't mind it turning black and don't need it to be glossy but maybe he's referring to the patina? I don't have a problem with that especially if most of it can disappear with an oiling.

The contractor doesn't know soapstone. Yes, it requires oiling to make it look its best, but NOTHING hurts it, so you get to decide when to oil it (when company is coming) to make it look like new. We've had it for 3 years and it is the best thing about our kitchen (aside from the full extension drawers). Give me 3 minutes, and I can make my counter tops look like they were just installed!

I just want to clarify that soapstone never actually looks glossy, even when oiled (unless too much oil has been applied and hasn't yet been wiped off). The oil simply makes it darker and makes the veins show more prominently. It certainly depends on the variety, but in general, without oil, soapstone is more uniformly light to medium gray. Oiled, it becomes black or charcoal gray, and the white veins or sometimes other colors and flecks become quite visible.

If enough oil is applied to make it glossy, it would also be greasy to the touch. A soapstone counter with oil applied properly, that is with all excess wiped off, doesn't feel at all greasy. Rather than having a layer of oil sitting there making it dark and glossy and greasy, the application of mineral oil simply speeds up a chemical process that would happen naturally, albeit unevenly, over many years of use.

People who choose soapstone generally prefer its matte finish and don't want the glossy look of granite. That's certainly one of the reasons I chose it. As I said at the time, I'm not a shiny person.

All that said, and as others have mentioned, your contractor is dead wrong about soapstone being porous. I heard the same thing from my original KD. As I understand--and I'm no geologist--the oil causes the surface to oxidize, which is what turns it darker. Some soapstone varieties fully oxidize more quickly than others, so the number of times oiling is needed to get to that "permanent" dark color varies widely. Also as I understand it, sealing soapstone is futile because sealants need a porous surface to soak into to serve their purpose.

Holligator is exactly right. If you want a shinier surface, then, yes, soapstone will be more work. I've had soapstone counters for about 2.5 months now and just love them. Haven't had any scratching or chipping and I have two little ones that love to color, "help" with cooking, and play with playdough on the counters. If you do like the shiny surface, you must make sure to really wipe off extra oil--I use a clean microfiber cloth to remove the excess. It works really well. You don't HAVE to do anything to soapstone--that's one of the reasons I chose it. Oililng soapstone is kind of like polishing your toenails, it's not necessary, but it looks nice if you're into that sort of thing.

I have to agree with what babka is saying - it appears to me
that your contractor does not know about Soapstone...it's only
been used here in "the colonies" since the 1600's...HA!!!

IMHO - You NEED to contact my brother Joshua in Florida... he
is prolly THE most knowledgable guy regarding Soapstone
that I know...

I have attached a link to Florda Joshua's Website

In MY Opinion - stick to your guns - IF you want Soapstone
in YOUR home - do NOT compromise... It's a beautiful
product that is totally appropriate for your application...

YOUR Soapstone will be around - long after WE all are just shadows & dust!!!

just my .02 cents worth

kevin

Here is a link that might be useful: Creative Soapstone

What is it with these contractors lately...for gads sake go back in the house and nail up a stud...but quit providing decorating advice!!! (Oh dear...I'm projecting my issues again aren't I?) :oP

Wait until your contractor tells you he dosen't think a squirrel knob will be easy to use...sheesh :oP

Complete and utter bs!
Get another contractor...
google soapstone and find out for yourself

Ditto what Kevin said.

Must be something in the water. :-)

And this contractor was ranked best of their city recently, too. Their references turned out great, but this is definitely disconcerting, in that who knows what else they don't know. He also stated that LED lights run hot when I told him I wanted undercabinet LED lighting.

However, this contractor, who is not cheap, and has been doing this for a long time, knows a lot more than the other bidder which came in. I guess it's hard to find a really good contractor. Or maybe I'm just being too picky.

My contractor knows nothing about soapstone, either. However, he is very smart. When I told him that I wanted soapstone he said "I know nothing about this and can't really contribute experience here. do you want me to check into it or do you feel you've researched it enough?" Pretty cool, I thought. This is from the same man who told me 6 mos ago when i thought I wanted absolute black honed granite "if that is what you want, great, but I've heard it is really high maintenance and I am curious if you've tested a sample". And boy, was that good advice - that AB honed was NOT for me.

My take is that I don't need him to know everything, but it sure helps that he knows what he knows and what he doesn't.

Anita

it sure helps that he knows what he knows and what he doesn't

Amen! Why don't more contractors (and other professionals, for that matter) realize that admitting they don't know something makes them look a lot smarter and more competent than trying to act like they know something when they don't have a clue??

I think we all agreed previously that the OIL oxidizes on the surface of the soapstone and the soapstone experiences no chemical change.

yoyoma, if you are really pleased with your contractor don't let the fact he doesn't know about one product, soapstone, be disconcerting to you. Just learn here and go elsewhere for the countertop if what you decided on is soapstone.

I think people [salesmen, contractors, designers] hear through the grapevine about oiling soapstone [very frequently, at the begining] and jump to the not unreasonable conclusion that it must be porous-- what would be the point otherwise?

Honestly, how many of us would know otherwise if we weren't frequent vistors to GW?

Good point uruboris. That's why I come here...to learn and listen.

Kompy (KD)

I wouldn't find my contractor being unfamiliar with a material bothersome but I would be bothered by the apparent unwillingness/disinterest to learn about it. To me it seems like "I can make more money faster by doing only what I already know well, so I need to discourage this person from asking me to do anything that may slow me down (even if learning this new thing may be very profitable to me in the future)." It's very shortsighted. I'd actually be appreciative if the contractor was willing to say "I don't know about that material and at present I don't have time or inclination to invest the time to learn about it, so perhaps you'd be happier working with someone else." But by and large they aren't willing to bypass a dime, so they badmouth the unknown material because it is unknown and might require some time, thought or effort, or what they know about it is bad second hand information. They seem to be thinking that by badmouthing what want, they are going to sell me on what they have.

This isn't just with contractors. I hear this kind of response from sales people, too. I'm looking at appliances and remark about dish drawers or some brand not carried in the store I'm in and I get the spiel about how the brand or DDs are poorly made, the warantee isn't honored by the manufacturer, that's a "low end" option, "smart buyers" are getting XX, blah blah blah. It's all about making me feel like if I was smart enough, I would want what they have and quit questioning the "experts" when they tell me what it is that I "should" want.

It doesn't work though; it just makes me see them as less than professional.

Ask him how he thinks it has been used in chem labs for YEARS if it is porous. Then ask him to demonstrate the "porosity" for you. That should be fun. LOL!

This is what is so weird about having this forum and the internet in general available to people like me. I started this process knowing next to nothing about kitchen design and remodeling in general, and here I am, just a few months later knowing more in a few cases than seasoned contractor veterans doing this stuff professionally for many, many years. I mean, it makes sense on the one hand because not everyone can know everything, but it's bizarre in a way.

I think you're getting hung up on one little detail instead of what your contractor is actually saying- that soapstone is higher maintenance than most other stones or solid surface. He's trying to protect you- that's in no way a bad thing, even if he has some imperfect information. If you hadn't been on GW, and just saw the Good Eats counter, bought it, then found out about scratching and oiling, wouldn't you be upset that he didn't tell you first? It's far easier for him to have a conversation with you beforehand than have you unhappy after you've spent thousands of dollars.

And lest anyone think this contractor was only wrong about soapstone, LEDs are about the least warm lights available. I recently bought a pair of two-foot LEDtronics strings for testing. The (tiny) LEDs themselves are warm, but the overall strip is relatively cool. After all, they only generate a watt or so of heat per foot of length.

A pair of these strips seemed to me to be a good replacement for undercounter fluorescent lamps in terms of counter and backspash lighting. They cost significantly more, but they require a lot less light valence to hide.

kas

Ridiculously, the EXPO website describes/advertises soapstone as porous!! This is the very epitome of the national ignorance about the material. This ignorance feeds on itself and is perpetuated by so-called "stone experts" and many contractors alike. Check it out!

It's conventional wisdom (from what I read here) that soapstone can be scratched with a fingernail, cookware, or teapot; It needs frequent oiling (you must oil it for it to darken); it is prone to being nicked & dinged by pots & pans; My experience with the soapstone I installed 15 months ago has all be to the contrary of this.
(Whatever you want to believe is true, becomes true for you)
Casey

Is there a stone fabricators professional trade group? If so, I think they must have sent out a memo to their members on this subject. For the 3rd time in as many weeks I've been told by a stone fabricator that soapstone is "porous". Since I'm old enough to have used a high school chemistry lab with soapstone surfaces that we actively tried to damage (I have grown out of those juvenile tendencies) I knew that this just wasn't true.

The best I can figure out is that fabricators are purveying misinformation about soapstone to counter other misinformation that casual consumers gather. I'm thinking of the the person who sees the soapstone in some celebrity kitchen and buys it because the celebrity (who never cooks) says it's a miracle surface. The casual consumer buys it without realizing all the quirks that make soapstone so wonderful and then they take their lack of awareness about scratching and oiling out on the fabricator or the nearest available scape goat.