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Why is good soapstone so hard to find???

nomorebluekitchen

15 years ago

I'm in love with Cobra from M. Tex. I have a bid from them to ship me slabs. My fabricator heard the price ($45 per sq foot for materials) and he laughed out loud. He said he could get me something much cheaper and sent me out looking locally again.

Once again, nothing!!! It was so frustrating. Everything was very green (I want grey/black) and splotchy (I want some veining, minimal movement).

The worst of all is the incredible lack of knowledge of the salespeople. None of it will surprise you all here. I got the "soapstone is high maintenance" crap, the "it will etch and stain" crap, and worst of all the "it is all just soapstone, there are no varieties of soapstone" crap.

I had two people try to get me to buy slate instead. It was pretty, kind of looked like soapstone, but my gut instinct is that slate is not going to behave like soapstone. But you'd never know it from these salespeople. I pity the poor homeowner who makes a purchase decision based on the well meaning but ill informed salespeople I ran into today.

I guess I'm just going to choke on my checkbook and ship in the good stuff from M. Tex. why, o why can't we get some good soapstone in Kansas???

Anita

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Comments (5)

yoyoma
15 years ago
I agree, but since the soapstone industry considers serpentine (like Green Malibu) to be a soapstone, which does stain and must be sealed, then they are partially correct.
lagrant
15 years ago
oh I feel your pain! I agonized over wanting soapstone for my perimeter counters. Brazilian Black or Mumbai Grey from M. Tex - no other soapstone I found compared in look or overall quality. I wanted black or grey - no green. I searched locally for months and months. I am putting 50+ sq. ft. of calacatta on my island, and I was really taxing my budget as is. One day I was at my fabricators swooning over my marble slabs (which, btw, took JUST as long to find!) and I saw this single slab of Cambrian Black Antique granite. It had that same sensual feel as soapstone I loved - not quite the same overall - but I really *did* like it. I took a breath and let go of my soapstone vision and opted for the Cambrian Black. It looks amazing next to my marble with that very matte almost chalky look, but still BLACK.

Anyhoo, just wanted you to know that I feel your pain and was THIS close to just shipping slabs from M.Tex, too. Hope all works out for you!
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backinthesaddle
15 years ago
If you love Cobra, get it. M. Tex has a free prefab deal right now so if your fabricator really wants to save you money, IÃ¢ÂÂm sure he wonÃ¢ÂÂt mind it coming out of his pocket, right?. :)

How much of the Cobra have you seen? We got ours 5 years ago so it may be different now but there is definitely some green in certain lighting. Not a green stone but more like black with a green sheen and some sparkles.
mrslimestone
15 years ago
I had the same experience and Im so glad I didn't go with my contractors suggestion. The stone we got from MTex was exactly what I wanted and I love it.
nomorebluekitchen
Original Author
15 years ago
Mrs. Limestone,

I've admired your bathrooms over on that forum. I'm doing two baths right now (one for my son, one for daughters to share) with a mix of marble & subway that I'm thrilled with.

Anyway, I'm curious, what soapstone did you get? And who fabricated for you? I'm worried about the measurement and the seams...they have to be dead on perfect because I'll have a seam in my island.

Anita

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