I have seen some slabs of Minas in person at Garden State Soapstone and they are gorgeous.

Anita, I was in Denver two weeks ago and visited Dorado Soapstone to check out their soapstone selection. The Minas was by far my favorite. Unfortunately, I couldn't take pictures of the slabs because my camera broke. The Minas has minimal veining and a very smooth, talcy feel. I purchased two slabs and am anxiously awaiting installation in my new kitchen. Nice choice!

Thanks, Donna214 and alliern. I am so excited to get my sample. I have been on the verge of giving up on soapstone so many times these last few weeks, and I really hope this is the answer. It is great to hear from someone who has seen it and touched it!

Allie, when will yours be installed? Can you send / post pictures as soon as it is installed?

My kitchen is being demo'd Sept 15 and so I'm several months out still.

Anita

We are building a new house and anticipate being able to move in by the end of October. The counters should be in sometime by the end of this month. I'll post pictures as soon as I have them.

Supra92 has some lovely Minas counters installed; the stone came from Dorado in Austin, Texas. I've included the link below posted right after the counters were installed; I haven't seen anything else from Supra lately.

Supra is north of Austin and I'm in Austin and we both had soapstone from Dorado installed at about the same time in June. Our stone is Beleza which we chose because we could get everything we needed out of one very large slab of Beleza (the Beleza slabs they had here at that time were apparently unusually large, about 6 x 10 feet) and would have needed two slabs of the Minas. I liked them both and probably would have chosen the Minas if cost hadn't been such a factor (I do love the green undertones of the Beleza, while the Minas seemed more uniformly dark grayish/blackish). The Dorado people here were lovely to work with, knowledgeable and helpful.

Best of luck. I'm glad to hear you're still on the soapstone trail.

Here is a link that might be useful: Minas from Dorado installed

Anyone on this thread not affiliated with Dorado?

Pubsurfer,

not sure what you mean? Several of us are customers or potential customers. i don't see any marketing or weird stuff going on here. Am I missing something?

Anita

The Minas I saw at GSP has some very dramatic veining so I think it depends on the slab. And no, not affiliated with Dorado in any way. Strange question.

My only affiliation with Dorado is as a satisfied customer. The options for soapstone in Central Texas are relatively limited as far as I know and I was pleased to find a company with a showroom close to my house and with a product that worked for me and that my fabricator was happy to work with. The OP specifically asked about Dorado and I responded to that query. Sorry if that disturbs you in some way.

I just decided on Minas at Dorado's sister company Teresina in CA. I like the minimal, but visible veining.

I have Minas. I'm in So. Cal. and got it through Tom Shadley. It's beautiful. We haven't oiled it yet as we are still not finished in the kitchen but I took a picture of it wet, which while not quite the same, is still a good idea of how it looks. I love it, and especially the veining. It is very dark with no green, and hard. It is not the greatest picture. I'll try to remember to take some closer ups tonight when I get home.

Wascolette, that is gorgeous!

I got my Minas sample today and I love it!!! I have finally found my soapstone. The sample on the left is the Minas from Dorado. On the right is my first love, Cobra from M. Tex. The Minas is every bit as silky smooth as the Cobra and might have just a bit more veining which is great.

Is that honed marble on your island? The soapstone with your island is a beautiful combination!

{{!gwi}}

Unfortunately I'm just a tick over having a single slab, but I'm sure that will work out somehow.

I'm so happy!!!

Anita

My husband and I are building a house, and I'd love to have soapstone. I'm going to bump this in hopes that others may have recently installed Minas and wouldn't mind posting pics!

I know the original posting is over two years old, but I must share my Minas soapstone experience:
1. It is not, by any means, one of the hard soapstone varieties. i thought it was, and it is not.
2. It is beautiful with lots of dramatic veining.
3. After waxing it, it stays black for months, so maintenance isn't bad, with a few caveats: around the sink the stone can get white; iced water glass, etc. can leave white rings; bowls with silicone feet will leave white marks. These are easy to wax out, however.
4. DO NOT install under-mount sinks. The least little touch by a pot being washed will nick the sink cutout.The small dings don't bother me - i can sand those out. But I live in terror of a soapy pot falling out of my hands and hitting the edge, however. The result is that unnatural care must be taken when washing pots, etc.
5. The scratches are easy to wax over, but for some reason, the dings stay white - even after oiling. Thank goodness the Minas has a lot of movement. But still, the little dings don't bother me. IT'S THE SINK AREA!
6. Conclusion: The Minas is gorgeous, but I would not buy it again. I would buy soapstone, however - just a much, much harder variety - perhaps Minas duro. Tried to get Beleza, but it was not available.

Here is a link that might be useful: nomorebluekitchen

Thanks for the info. I was just going to ask if you would do it again. How do you feel more than five years later? We have put our kitchen gut job off and are going to do a mini kitchen renov since we're doing the whole house. Soapstone remains my fav, then marble, and then wood. The house is 111 years old....

Thanks so much Colette!