jennypie- Slate quarried in VT and upstate NY holds up very well (the edge does not chip or crack) and works well as a fireplace hearth. It has a dull finish and when honed is smooth, with no cracks or crevices. I have had a FP with slate and one with granite and both can be beautiful but they offer 2 very different looks. Granite, even honed AB, has a pattern, slate does not. Slate can have variation and swirling of 2 different colors, but slabs can be had that are one color only. IMO, and only in IMO, slate is preferable to granite because of its naturall dull finish, it would let your tiled surround "pop" without calling attention to itself. Full disclosure: I am a slate fan, and have had it in previous homes as fireplace surrounds, flooring and patios, so I am sort of prejudiced. I will also only have slate quarried in VT or upstate NY, as I know it doesn't chip or delaminate. I have included a couple of links to quarries that carry VT slate. Cheers- Liz http://www.vermontslatedepot.com/ http://camaraslate.com/index.htm

I'm not sure about the bacteria breeding ground, Quadesl. Is that true of granite? Good point, Trebruchet. I'm not sure about the IAPMO approval. I'm not sure how that process works. I'll have to check into it. Thanks, circuspeanut. I hadn't even thought about that. The slate sink is 1" thick. The granite sink is 1 1/2" thick. I think our granite counter tops will only be 2cm thick. But then I guess the front "edge" of granite countertops is usually thicker. Hmm... circuspeanut, if your slate countertops are 100 years old, then slate must be very durable! Is the maintenance easy? Do you have to seal it periodically, and if so, how often? Thanks so much for the input!

According to all the major soapstone suppliers I called about this (I did a lot of research!), soapstone is so heavy it either needs no epoxy to hold it at all, or just something as simple as silicone. HOWEVER, my fabricator, who was not knowledgeable about soapstone, used a PERMANENT, rock hard drying epoxy. Francy what you wrote above reminded me of some research I did for a seam in my granite that had cracked. I posted a question on the stoneadvice forum, asking what the best solution would be for the seam. The responses indicated that polyester should be used rather than epoxy in my particular instance. The reasoning: earthquakes. Yes, I live in the Bay Area too. Here's probably way too much information, but it's relevant to the fact that your fabricator used epoxy to attach the soapstone to your cabinets. My fabricator repaired the cracked seam with polyester. Now, IF THERE WAS NO MOVEMENT EXPECTED, I think the proper solution to the problem would be to remove all the polyester, and re-seam with epoxy. But Antonio is correct in stating that if you did so, and the stone experienced movement (due to an earthquake, for instance)--the stone would indeed crack. The seam would hold, but the stone would crack elsewhere, probably within an inch or so of the seam. (We've done numerous lab tests to prove this). So you're faced with a conundrum--take a chance that there will be no movement and the seam will look good, but the stone may crack if there is movement; or use the "fuse theory"--just like a fuse blows in an electric circuit before there is more damage elsewhere, you can look at the polyester as being a fuse--if there is movement, the "fuse" (the seam) will break, but the stone will still be ok. Then you'd just have to re-seam. (posted by Mike Beckmann from Bonstone Materials Corp.) I hope this post doesn't add more stress to your life - if so I apologize. Best case scenario is that other people can learn from our experiences. Here is a link that might be useful: Stone Advice forum

I have this stone in my bathrooms. I took close-up photos of the slabs in the stoneyard. Upon install, I noticed two of these 'cracks' in the counters and backsplash. It turns out that these were in the stone prior to fabrication--I found them in the photos when I magnified the picture! I haven't had any problems but, again, these are bathroom counters, not in the kitchen. I rejected several slabs of this stone due to major cracks that were less visible from the front of the slab but readily so from the back (I made them pull them out so I could see both sides). I was shocked that I ended up with any cracks but couldn't fault the fabricator. My fabricator hated working with this stone by the way. (The counters were installed in 2010.)