Oh kksmama's kitchen was one I had saved a long time ago because I loved her mother of pearl backsplash. Her granite is so pretty.

I love both, but that honed one looks more like your first choice of soapstone and will allow much more leeway for other finishes like backsplash being it's more subtle. Yet it still has a "wild" side for hubby's taste. Love it!

I don't have that granite, or anything similar. I just wanted to say it is so gorgeous! I agree with Rebunky's comment about the honed version. But, having said that, the polished version is the jaw-dropper one. The black is so rich in the polished version, it's like stone counters made of black velvet. I think I would choose polished, if it were me.

We are tagging!

With all the countertop choices out there (marble, quartz, quartzite, soapstone, etc.) there still is nothing that appeals to me like a unique piece of granite for beauty as well as function. Great choice! How are you going to do your layout on the slab (countertops, island)? The second polished slab has some areas that are almost solid black whereas the first polished slab has white veins distributed over the entire area. The second slab would make a great island but I think I would choose the first one if I was templating most of the piece with long runs of standard width counters.

We didn't pick the first one, because we liked the next two better. These are the two. The one in my previous post is on the left here.

~9 foot island with 15" prep sink, plus perimeter for a total of ~80 sq ft.

OK, I'd recommend having the granite shop lay your template over photos of the slabs if you haven't already done so to help you choose. They should have software to do this. The perfectionist in me says look at it from the perspective of how it will look after its cut -- not the entire slab (especially where there are joints).

I think it's beautiful and I agree on the soapstone "patina" it's not for everyone. I've worked in labs with soapstone (and soapstone look resins) so I'd always feel grossed out cooking in a "lab" LOL even though I love the look in farmhouse kitchens. I think this granite (is it really granite or is it quartzite?) will be a great choice for you both, it's got motion but with minimal colors it doesn't strike me as "busy". I think if you choose a limited color palette for the kitchen that this stone will tie it together beautifully - for example a plain white or light grey BS.

OP here. I think this is funny; as my internal battle between soapstone and granite continues, I found this picture from Dorado Soapstone:

http://www.doradosoapstone.com/?attachment_id=1105

Compare that to the granite slab I picked:

@Stan Z -- Thanks for the tip on templating! We haven't even begun this project or spoken to the fabricator yet, so I can't envision the template yet. I know I'd like more of the lines and less of the blotches on the island, so the top portion lends itself more to that. I would like more black... so you have a good point about maybe picking that first slab for the perimeter. I don't really have a good grasp on how that's done, though. I know we need two slabs, but will they try to use all of one slab before moving onto the second one?

ha I clicked on this post thinking it was this pretoria…Wish the names were set in stone- but I guess each supplier calls them what they want.

Sorry I just saw this, not around the forum much lately. Thanks for the sweet compliments, Rebunky! My kitchen is over two years old now. I chose the stone (gneiss, not technically granite) after exhaustive searching and study of the great rocks threads http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2668208/rocks-4-marble-granite-quartzite , and am happy I did. It was economical and has been bulletproof. No one in our area was carrying much that was honed, nor soapstone. I will probably choose something quieter next time, but I enjoy the movement and am happy I worked to get a nearly seamless layout. It would be much lighter in overall color and less dynamic if it were honed, and I think I would prefer that. I'd also have liked a superwhite quartzite but that wasn't in the budget.

Yours looks much busier than mine, Pippiep. Have you been able to do any testing? There was another, higher end kitchen posted while I was doing mine that had a dynamic granite - found it: http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/2670309/reveal-high-end-cooks-kitchen-cherry-miele-maple?n=40

I think seeing your template, and taking a picture of it, is essential if you use those slabs. With such big movement in the slabs, the layout can really make a big difference imo. Best wishes to you!

Thanks, kksmama! I wasn't able to get a sample. They said I can ask my fabricator, but my fabricator won't get it until I put down a deposit, right? Is there anything I can do discreetly at the slab yard?

It does make me nervous to have something with so much movement! Our furniture is mostly Stickley, and Stickley-style that my husband made. This granite won't really "match" anything. My husband feels the rest of the house is so "blah" and really wants a bit of WOW.

Me? I'm second guessing, and wishing that he liked the dark leathered/honed jet mists that we saw. Most of them were lighter gray, but this yard had several that were nearly black. Had we seen them on our first trip, I'm sure we would've chosen them.

Lots of discreet things to do at the slab yard, most important is to see if the slab scratches glass, or vice versa ( a small glass tile in your pocket should work). In general, I'm cautious about getting "wow" from something so expensive and hard to change as countertops. It is easier to paint, or change pillows, or curtains, or even light fixtures. I don't mean to cause you to doubt, I'm happy with my choice and it functions wonderfully, but in truth I am unlikely to choose such a bold countertop again in the future. But I think that other posters, who have made even more bold choices like Will's schist, don't have second thoughts at all!

@Jillius -- what you're saying is really resonating with me. My husband has GREAT taste and furnished our house beautifully before we were even married. I introduced him to colorful paint, which he initially resisted, and now he's awesome at picking paint colors. He is very excited about this granite. I am, too... I keep looking at the darker, plain granite slab photos that I took at the granite yards, picturing them in our kitchen... and he's right, they would be so "blah."

He wants colorful light fixtures, too. I might have to draw the line there, LOL. I don't know how bright, swirly orange/yellow fixtures would look with this granite!

I just found this pic of a very similar granite installed, and LOVE it:

Pic

Just got pricing... It's really high!!! It was labeled a "medium", but is ony a few hundred less than my soapstone quote. Now I'm really torn!

I think those slabs are STUNNING! Pay the money ;-)

do it!! absolutely stunning. :)

I have been in the granite industry for at least 30 years and the only way anyone can give you a proper opinion is if we could see the kitchen layout and where the seams would be located. Please understand that with a material like this, i will be very difficult to match the flow of the stone at the seams. What i mean is that the lines in the stone must go in the same direction and must meet at the seams. When purchasing, mke sur, with this stone, you order them bookmatched.

Your stone looks a lot like what AZ Tile calls "Blizzard". I was down there again yesterday and find it stunning. It has easily move into one of the top 3 or 4 spots in my very early research for my home to be built next year. Good point on the layout WI. I hadn't even considered that but it makes a lot of sense.

pippin, I was following your soapstone thread as well where I was expressing my regret of not getting soapstone. But I got to chime in that THIS stone is really beautiful and different. I also love the polished version but hard to tell without seeing the leathered one IRL.