How often do you need to seal it? Soapstone should not be sealed. Some people oil it to make it darker; others leave it unoiled for a natural finish. I oil mine once every few months.

We have zodiac now and like it, other than the few chips we have in it. I think this answers your question for you. Soapstone is a softer stone, and unless you get one of the very hard varieties, it will ding and scratch and yes, chip. If this patina bothers you, look at something else. I am in love with my soapstone, dings and all. YMMV.

There are many many soapstone threads out there with great info. Do a search and you'll find all you might want to know about whether it will work for you.

Here is a link that might be useful: One thread about patina

How often do you need to seal it?
Depends on how you choose to keep your stone, if you want it dark and do not want to oil it then you can seal it (I would test on a sample prior to using on the entire surface.) I have had soapstone counters for a year and a half and have sealed them 3 times and sometimes spot seal over scratches.

We have zodiac now and like it, other than the few chips we have in it.
We put Zodiaq in our last house and did not like it because we kept chipping the edges with our dishes. The edges of our soapstone dent instead of chip but the dents are not noticeable and can be sanded out it needed. Soapstone is not as perfect of a stone as granite or quartz so the dings and marks that it will inevitably acquire do not look as out of place but you have to be accepting of imperfections to like it. Get some samples and treat them to all of the abuse that your counters would normally endure and see what you think.

Im am warming up to the wood
I too had planned on doing a white kitchen for this house since I grew up with one and remodeled my last house using white but I changed my mind and used natural cherry and could not be happier. My cabinet maker sort of talked my into the natural cherry and even though I loved it was at first worried that I would regret not doing white, especially seeing all of the beautiful white kitchens here. But a year and a half later I can say that I would make the same choice again without any hesitation.

Thank you so much for that link. I'll do a search for more posts too. I don't think I would mind the patina, but I do wish for a darker black look more than the grays and I think those water rings would devastate me...so maybe a honed granite would be a better choice. I think the softer stone would work better as I am less concerned about dings in the counter than I am all the chips FROM the counter in our glassware. I like the zodiac for the most part, but the shininess bothers me. I think I just need to try and find some soapstone IRL as the pictures on here can be misleading. Thanks! Anyone else care to chime in with their experience?

My soapstone is almost black with green splotches and some veins. I use a beeswax/walnut oil to polich it IF I feel like it--it is darker than charcoal without the finish. Soapstone is not porous and does not need a "seal." It will scratch and nicks disappear with a light hand sanding and oil. We never have water rings or oil stains--and not because we are careful--we are not. I like the soapstone better the the concrete I had for maintenance and beauty.

From your OP, I don't think you'd like soapstone. Try looking for a granite called "Virginia Mist" or "Jet Mist". It is dark/ charcoal-y, gorgeous, but does not have the softness of soapstone, nor does it need to be oiled.

Um...even "soft" soapstone is stone. As in rock. It's going to have the same effect on your glassware as other stones. For truly softer, try wood.

You can test the soapstone you find yourself. Toss a cup of water at it. If the water beads up and falls away, rather than making a damp spot, it's really soapstone. Also, I've never seen soapstone slab that wasn't 3cm thick. If you can easily scratch a deep line in it with a nail (like you pound into wood) or nailfile (like you shape your fingernails with), it's probably too soft. If normal pressure produces no line, it's hard (for soapstone). If you just get a white scratch that has no real depth and doesn't have loose talc sliding off, it's "normal".

The darker black look is what you get with oil or wax. Soapstone sheds water but it attracts oil. Unlike with porous stones, the oil doesn't soak in, per se, but it sticks to the platelets of the soapstone, and after the first few treatments, forms a hardened surface that has that black look that will last for months. The oil will come off with a good scrub, however. As you've read, rings are usually caused by the surfactants (soap) in rinse aid residue, and similar disruption of the oiled surface.

If you do buy soapstone, do your best to get it from, and have it installed by, someone who mostly works in soapstone. It handles differently than other stones, and there are differences in how it should be installed. For instance, you don't need a substrate, and the seams should be in different places than you'd do with a crystalline stone like granite. It also matters how the surface has been polished.

For that true black look, you might consider Absolute Black granite. It's readily available, and very durable. I believe it's one of the group that don't require sealing, and it's not prone to fissures so shouldn't chip without extreme provocation (I mean, there's only so much anything can stand when struck by a fire axe).

I love my soapstone, but it's the hard, green kind, so different than what you're looking for.

I love my soapstone because it is beautiful. It has swirls, veins and sparkles. But the very best thing is the feel. I love the feel of the stone. If you are very tactile this is the best stone around-but if that does not matter to you then you may want another stone that appeals to your nature.

imp

You don't have to do anything to soapstone but wipe it with a damp sponge. I never oil mine - I love it natural and in fact, clean it with baking soda to take the dirt off and lighten it. The dings don't bother me; I love that I can take a hot pot off the stove or out of the oven, put it down on the counter, and never worry that the counter will crack.
It was way more expensive than granite and I have never regretted it for a minute. But if you are going to agonize over every scratch or ding, you might want to think about something else.

I have had soapstone in my new kitchen since mid-October, and while I absolutely love it, it has scratches and dings already from I don't even know what. The first one bothered me a lot, but was followed so quickly by the second I got over it very quickly! Now I barely notice--it's just part of the look. I think it helps that I chose slabs with a lot of movement and veining, so it's hard to tell a blemish from a natural part of the stone.

Here is a blog post I wrote about my soapstone, including pictures of how it looks natural and oiled:

Here is a link that might be useful: soapstone pictures and info

Thank you for all the comments and suggestions. I really love the "look" of soapstone when it is oiled (thank you for correcting me - oiled not sealed) but I am not sure how I would deal with the "patina" it develops over time. I am also not AS fond of the grayer look when it is unoiled. I will check out some of your other suggestions. I think my goal is something mostly black (but with SOME variation in it...in other words not soildly black) but more of a matte finish. I'd love to be able to put hot pots on it, but that it not a true requisite, as I rarely do that now with the zodiac anyway. DH wants to do some sort of stone for the island (which will be approx 9ft x 4ft) and then a black corian (or similar product) for the counters, but I am not convinced about that.

I think if you want to consider soapstone, the variety you want to look at is "Green Mountain Original P.A."

We've got oodles of soapstone samples at our house from vendors all over the country and it is both the naturally darkest (unoiled) and hardest sample we found. It will not get all those little scratches of typical soapstone and I was not able to gouge it with my keys/a nail, etc. They read as charcoal/blue unoiled and when darker/if oiled they read black with green undertones to the veins. There are slabs available that are very subtle with softer "swirls"and others with some more veining.

I live in Portland Oregon where the selection of soapstone locally (and local knowledge about soapstone) is not that great. The fabricator we were going to source the Green Mountain from (Shadley's soapstone in Bend Oregon) indicated he has it in his own kitchen (and sent me photos) and said that even without oiling this stone darkens fairly quickly on its own.

There are quite a few folks here who have posted photos of their Green Mountain counters. Some I love are katieob, mary_in_nc, and marthavilla. Member ebean posted a lot of photos of theirs (which seems to have a different veining pattern than some of the other kitchen I mentioned-each lot is unique) and hopefully they won't mind if I link it below for you.

Here is a link that might be useful: ebean's Green Mountain Original PA

My impression is that oiling soapstone is going to be a lot easier procedure than sealing granite from time to time. You can keep a rag and some oil under your sink, oil anytime, oil part today, part tomorrow. Also, eventually you will need to oil less and less often and the stone will keep it's darker look.

Is sealing granite as easy?

Not to beat a dead horse, but if you want the stone to stay dark, you have to oil it and with 5 kids, it may be more trouble than it's worth to you. I like dark counters too, but find oiling my soapstone to be a tiresome chore so it usually looks dark gray and highly patina'd. The patina'd look is mostly mottled gray with dark oil splotches which honestly looks great with a farmhouse or rustic style kitchen (not so great in mine which is quasi victorian). Mamadadapaige used a honed granite that looked very much like soapstone. Check out her pictures in the link below (they are in the second or third post). Just gorgeous!

Here is a link that might be useful: Mamadadapaige's kitchen