Hi, Jbrodie! You are me, two months ago!

I got the Cobra sample from M Tex and my husband and I fell in love. It is so beautiful, so silky smooth!

But we got hung up at the seam in the island thing as well. Our island will be only 3x5 and we'd have had a seam down the middle.

I just searched for my post from that time requesting pics of soapstone seams. I couldn't find it for some reason...but I remember from the pics posted that the seams would be really hard to spot. Even so, I just couldn't get past the idea that seams in the middle of the island would seem subpar for such an expensive material.

The bigger problem which did me in was that I had trouble finding someone who would be willing to fabricate for me if they didn't source the stone.

I ultimately found Minas which gets me the color and silkiness of Cobra but has bigger slabs.

Good luck, and I'll keep looking for my post where people posted their seams.

Anita

Julie, You should not worry about your seams. As your fabricator if they do decorative seams. With a decorative seam the seams will not be visible. Ask them to see a sample of the seam work. You should not see or feel any seam in any natural stone.

Here is a link that might be useful: nsra

What is a decorative seam? I couldn't find it on that web site. If the seams blend in enough that you have to search for them, I would be okay. But, if you notice them right away, that would not be okay. I wish I could see some Cobra with good seams to know what it will be like.

It really depends on your fabricator.

You cannot feel my seam, but you can most certainly see it. I'll bet a more skilled fabricator could have made mine invisible, as there was no "movement" in the seam area.

But you know what? I'm actually trying to reframe the whole seam issue in my mind. Somewhere, sometime, we [Americans?] have come to expect seamless counters. But in the past several months there have been some posts of European kitchens (in particular, the Tuscan one). There, you might see gorgeous marble counters with very prominent seams every few feet! It is stone, after all! I'm starting to think that when we worry so much about seams, we make natural stone end up looking like some sort of solid surface material (like seamless corian). So, I'm trying to adjust my "must look seamless" thinking. And looking at those gorgeous old-world kitchens does help.

So maybe it will just have to be "Love my cobra, love my seams."

[btw: I've decided that Minas soapstone--which looks a lot like Amazon to me--is the prettiest soapstone ever, ever, ever!! Do you have access to it?]

:-)

francy

We did a seam on our soapstone island. The island is approximately 9'x4.5' and the seam goes right down the center, through the sink. I was really worried about this, but Florida Mimi advised me to ask my fabricator to book match two pieces and do a butterfly seam. It turned out beautifully. You can not feel the seam, and unless you are looking for it, I don't think most people would notice the seam. Here are a couple of pictures. This is the island from afar

This is looking at the seam from the side

And this is a straight on picture of the seam. It is actually more noticeable in the picture than real life.

HTH! Jaymie

jaymie, what kind of soapstone do you have? It's beautiful.

Thank you luckymama, It is Green Mountain Original. Pretty quick and dark, but just enough dramatic veins to make me happy.

my island is about the same size 3 x 5

there is one seam in it the attached picture is the only one I have that really lets you see it

I have to look for it if i want to see it in the kitchen

Here is a link that might be useful: