I've been on several soapstone blogs over the last couple of years and as someone who has a soapstone counter with a soapstone sink in a bathroom for 25 years, I think I am qualified to talk to you about soapstone. My soapstone came from a well known company in Vermont--I'm sure you have come upon the name if you've been researching soapstone. It was a light grey when new and because I liked the black color, I oiled it and oiled it and oiled it. It is the bane of my existence. Thank goodness it is in a powder room or I think I would rip it out. Hand soap, soap from shaving or any organic product will lift the oil from the stone in places causing the light color to show through. It then looks awful. The company suggests one keep an oiled rag under the counter for touch-ups. That should tell you something. Now do you want to oil a dirty sink? If you don't, then you will have to clean it, say with an oiled soap, and then that will remove even more of the oil. Now you will have to do a major oiling job. Whoever decided that soapstone doesn't need oiled but every 6 to 8 months must not be using the counter. If you can find a color of soapstone you like without oiling it then maybe it would work but I believe it will now show oil spots. I don't think you can win with soapstone. I'd find another alternative. I know that the word laminate is not a popular one on this forum but I know someone with a high end house with beautiful cherry cabinets and yes, laminate counters. Her three young children eat on it, do crafts on it, spill everything imaginable on it and after 5 years still looks like new. I don't know why laminate gets no respect when it now comes in so many wonderful colors and textures. Just my opinion.

Quick update. I was able to sand the knife scratches with sand-paper but it was not easy. However, the scratches were not all that visible to begin with. Banged a cast-iron skillet - no effect. I don't have a habit of dropping cast iron cookware on countertops but it can happen if, say, a skillet is too hot and the pot holder is not positioned well. So, I dropped the same skillet from ~1.5" above - nothing. I was afraid the skillet would break if I dropped it from more than that, so I stopped after two attempts. I am guessing that means the SS is pretty hard. Yes?

Late to the party...but I thought the concern would have been with the high silica content found in the soapstone, and thus lung disease/silicosis risks. The amount of crystalline silica contained in soapstone is less than 1%, and unless undisturbed, it should not be respirable. Good practice would be to use a NIOSH-approved respirator of N95 or greater in the case of cutting/grinding/sanding any material containing silica - drywall, concrete, brick, tile, stone...). To gauge how much respirable silica is generated in something like drywall sanding, here is text pulled from a 2009 OSHA publication: https://www.osha.gov/Publications/3362silica-exposures.pdf For example, by using a joint compound containing just 3 percent silica, an employee could exceed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) benchmark of 0.1 mg/m³ (milligrams of silica per cubic meter of air) as an 8-hour time-weighted average (TWA), an exposure approximately equivalent to OSHA’s general industry permissible exposure limit (PEL), during intensive periods of uncontrolled drywall sanding on ceilings. One study of drywall sanding, in which a silica-containing joint compound was used, found that the respirable silica level exceeded 0.15 mg/m³ (NIOSH, 1997). The potential for silica exposure is also indicated by the results of NIOSH tests of settled drywall dust. NIOSH found that dust generated during drywall sanding contained up to 6 percent silica (NIOSH, 1995). Other studies found that silica constituted up to 3.7 percent of the airborne respirable dust collected in drywall sanding employees’ breathing zones (NIOSH, 1997; Epling et al., 1999). 3 Drywall sanding employees can also experience total dust exposures substantially above OSHA limits. In one study, employees using hand sanders without controls had exposures up to 143.1 mg/m³ of total dust. Similarly, employees using conventional pole-mounted sanders were exposed to up to 35.1 mg/m³ of total dust (CPWR, 1998).

Well, just don't use the fact that all the soapstone folks around here chose stainless, white or black appliances slow you down. The fact is, 99.9% of folks with ALL countertop varieties pick those 3 options. Only the rare choose color for their major (even minor?) appliances. The red stove is a huge and wonderful statement. But it is certainly not one you can back away from or minimize the impact of post-purchase, any more than an aqua fridge. That's part of what makes it such a statement - and one others would like to live vicariously through. ;) This is your kitchen. No else is going to pay for it or live with it. You'll find mass support to go for it, but not many people doing it, too. And that's fine. Your kitchen is going to be beautiful either way. I hope you can have fun with the decision, and all the ones that follow.