woo hoo! Definitely a treat!

Anita

Here are some pictures--The installers were great --the job looks great--and the stone is beautiful.
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wow!

gorgeous.

I'm jealous!!!

Next GW get together at your house!

Berf,
It is just gorgeous. The veins are lovely and the color is perfect with your cabinets.

Nice, nice, nice!

It looks boo-tiful! Love your cute circular counter too!
vic

Love it!

Wow. Those countertops are saying something!

That's a major WOW. Just so very beautiful. Congratulations on such a beautiful outcome!

So so so so pretty. I really love the matte look of soapstone.

Those are some beautiful counters! LOVE IT!

What a gorgeous choice, one of the nicest veinings. Lucky You!! What I can see of you kitchen, you are doing a really nice job.

Beautiful! I love the rounded counter and the beautiful veining and it is all great with your cabinets. I look forward to seeing the whole finished kitchen.

Wow! It is gorgeous! Absolutely beautiful! Congrats.

OK, I am LOVING your cabs. What gorgeous wood! What are they. They are stunning.

Now is that a bertie? What is your range? Looks fabulous. Dying to know the details! That is one GORGEOUS kitchen!

Beautiful! Beautiful! Beautiful!

Just lovely! It's all coming together.

Sandy

Gorgeous! Details please: Love the cabs also.

I have to say, I was not a big soap stone fan...until seeing yours. That is really, really stunning. In fact I cant stop looking at it. Wow, pretty.

Thanks everyone--I of course can't stop looking at it myself--but I've had to, because we moved out at 8 a.m. this morning to let them refinish my floors...so I'm logging in from a SpringHill Suites (Gotta have my GW :))

For those who asked for details, here are a few (okay more than a few), and I'll link to my other thread regarding the whole project (it's been a whole-house odyssey since June 23). I'll plan on posting a detailed account when we reach the finish line :)

The soapstone is Green Mountain Original PA and the cabinets are Brighton in Natural Cherry (Shaker doors, full overlay, low-sheen finish) It's not a Berta, but it's close--it's a Fratelli Onofri. The Berta lost out because the oven on the Fratelli fit my largest pans and the Berta did not...plus I really loved the matte finish of the anthracite color on the Fratelli.

I must say, that after shopping for soapstone since the spring, the slabs I ended up with were the nicest I've seen through the whole process--some of that had to do with my persistence but honestly it was mostly just luck.

I contracted both cabinets and counters through Cabinet Discounters in Columbia, MD. They in turn contract with Creativeincounters (creativeincounters.com) to fabricate the counters. This company just happens to source their soapstone from Green Mountain, via a stone yard in Savage Mill, MD called Carapace. I bugged Carapace for nearly three weeks every day until I found out when their next shipment of soapstone was due to arrive, and I visited on the day it arrived before it was even off the palate. Because they hadn't even had the chance to unload it or catalog it properly I wasn't able to reserve specific slabs but in this case it was clear from the get-go that this bunch was exceptional. So I called the fabricators within the hour and had them call the stoneyard to specify slabs only from that shipment. I don't know if any of this would work in other places, but all of these people were extraordinarily helpful and accomodating. I also loved the templating process with creativeincounters. They are artists. The installers also clearly appreciated the material.

We have a bit of a way to go with the kitchen. The breakfast area you see with the little round bar will remain red oak like the rest of the house. The work area of the kitchen will actually be a Mannington sheet vinyl called Socorro Slate (in Fieldstone color). The hardware will be simple matte black knobs and cup pulls. The sink is a very BIG Franke I got on ebay (model number is escaping me at the moment), and I'll have a Price Pfister Hanover pull down faucet. The fridge just came last weekend and is a Samsung...
My one regret so far is the blankety blank Viking microwave/convection oven. I got it on extreme closeout from a reputable dealer and it has not worked from day one. The repair parts are on the way. I can see the writing on the wall--I'll probably have a very expensive designer doorstop. It was an impulse buy and I'm paying for it in more ways than one! Just stupid--I knew it was just a rebadged sharp when I bought it, but the price was good enough that I told myself it was worth a little extra--like finding that pair of designer jeans on the clearance rack. Thought I'd learned those lessons already. Oh well.

Hmmmm...what else...the backsplash decision is still up in the air--right now it's a toss up between pressed tin (which we actually had in the old kitchen) I'm ready for a change and don't prefer this option but DH is pulling for it because he really really liked it. I'm pulling for this lovely glass subway tile spotted in an IKEA model kitchen--it's a smokey grey/taupe color that seems to pick up the colors around it well--in Ikea it was set vertically in neat rows and looked fabulous. The backsplash will only go on the fridge and sink side of the kitchen. The stove, bar, windows side will remain just painted--there's plenty of interest over there already. I will have a stainless backsplash between the stove and my Futuro Futuro hood (the Rainbow model). You can see in the pics I think that my hood wall has undergone some more construction--though the odds were slim, we managed to need to go out the exterior fascia with the hood in the exact location of a load bearing stud--it's complicated to explain so I won't bother here--but suffice it to say, that wall got opened up again this week after cabs went in and I'm nervous as all get out about the drywallers coming back to finish it off now that my beautiful stuff is there--but I'll just have to grin, pray and bear it!

The paint will be BM Windchime (an Affinity color) if you visit my other thread you'll see pics of the new dining room already in that color. The spaces open up to each other and I decided to go monochromatic because I just love the color so much.It looks fabulous with the black, and also with red accents...

There will eventually be glass in all those glass front cabinets but that's weeks away as well--I haven't even ordered it yet because I couldn't decide on what type. Glad I waited--now that we've started unpacking it's clear to me that clear glass would be a disaster. I want a little opacity to hide when things aren't "just right" in there :)

Hard to cram 4 and a half months of construction and 11 months of planning into one post so I think I'll stop now! Happy to answer questions though--it's so nice to be able to prattle on about it with people who are interested...I feel like my coworkers, friends and neighbors must be running from me by now since although I try not to let it, this project I know consumes most of my thought and conversation.

Thanks for all your kind words and great ideas over the last 11 months!

Here is a link that might be useful: Berf's Whole House Reno

Maybe I missed it but can you tell me about your stove please!?

Your kitchen is beautiful! The soapstone is to die for. I am in the process of a kitchen reno and my soapstone is sitting in the stone yard, but I am worried its not going to be what I had in mind. Did you oil your ss before taking the pics? Congratualtions on a wonderful job.

delicious!

Hi caminnc-the range is a Fratelli Onofri, "Evolution" Single Oven model, the finish is "Anthracite" which is a matte black, although the top of the range is stainless.It's still wrapped up but after installation I'll post a better photo.

cran-I did not oil the soapstone-but the installers did. In fact, I planned as many have suggested here, to tell the installers that I'd like to oil it myself. However, they had already oiled it before they arrived! It wasn't a big deal because it was gorgeous--and they were so obviously proud to be showing me. I always intended to oil but we are actually going to try to let it dry out a bit and go grey just to see how it looks. Honestly, with our lifestyle, I can picture it not so evenly oiled most of the time, and maybe oiled up perfectly for company/special occasions. We'll just see as we live with it...