I love green: I could have every shade of green granite/marble/paint/curtains/ect in my whole house! I really like the costa esmeralda granite; there is a granite vendor here in dallas that lists slab on website by color and they have 140 pictures of green marble & granite slabs: there is a BLUE GREEN LABRADORITE that is green & so amazing; picture doesn't show all the Spectralite so well! The "bamboo" slabs are so unusually. and they have several pictures of the COSTA ESMERALDA; variations in the slabs. http://levantinausa.com/Photo%20Gallery/Granite/Green/index.html (there is no pricing posted: and I am not advertising for them: only wholesalers can buy from them anyways) : I am posting because it's fun to look at all the beautiful material by color! actual slabs in full view! Amazing! ~you made a great choice!~

Love this thread, it was so fun to read! DS thought the MIL’s house was BEAUTIFUL, “Especially the creepy lady in the corner because It’s so unique.” Years ago I started slowly (and obsessively) replacing anything that couldn’t go in the dishwasher with items that can. Smaller cookie sheets, glass/stainless measuring cups, silicone tools, etc. It took years of careful purchases and I kept a list and watched for sales because some of those items were pricey. The only thing I use on a daily basis that doesn’t go in my dishwasher now are sharp knives. Anyway, I just knew hand washing dishes would always be my weakness, but I’m great about loading the dishwasher every time I use something. So, pots and pans that do well in the dishwasher are my friends. My second weakness is unloading the dishwasher. That job became my kids’ first ever daily kitchen chore! Starting in preschool they did it together before school while I made breakfast. Now they switch off days. We make a great team! At Christmas my mom offered to wash crystal goblets and asked where my drying rack was. I do own one, but it collapses and was way at the back of the sink. After rummaging around to pull it out, and rinsing it off because it had dish soap on it, I gave it to her. She asked where a towel was to lay under it. That’s when I remembered that earlier that day I opened the towel drawer to find that half the towels had been used once and thrown back in the drawer with the clean ones by my kids. In annoyance I dumped them all in the wash, along with the ones in the bin in the laundry room, and I forgot to put them in the dryer. I told my mom it was fine to use the rack without a towel. It was NOT fine with my mom. She bought me 2 dish draining mats for Valentine’s Day, which is really only a gift holiday for romantic relationships. Whenever people are coming over and it’s messy I tell them they should feel complimented because I’m treating them like one of the family.

I split things up by function, even if they're the same category. I have a galley kitchen, so you'll need to adapt for your space. I have one long counter w/ a sink in the middle; it divides the room into a "hot" zone and a "cool" zone. The range and microwave are in the "hot" zone, and the fridge and KitchenAid mixer are in the "cool" zone. Hot = not just heat, but also urgency and speed; it equals quick activity that has to happen now. Cooking, chopping vegetables, etc. You need to be in frequent or constant contact with the stove. Cool = not just the refrigerator and no heating element; it is where activities that have no time element take place. When you bake, you can take your time, and you need elbow room. Also, your engagement with the oven is calm and measured--you put the pans in the oven and walk away; then you come back and take them out when the timer goes off ("cool," see?) So: SPICES: in the "cool" / baking end, I have all the spices I use in baking (cinnamon and nutmeg, mostly--oh, and ginger; I store them with the vanilla and food coloring); in the "hot" / cooking end, I have all the spices I use in cooking (coriander, cumin, etc., and a 2nd bottle of cinnamon and of ginger). This way, I don't have to walk to the other end of the kitchen to get that. I find there is very little overlap--only those 2 spices. UTENSILS: Again, I have the cooking/prep utensils in a drawer in the "hot" end. Peelers, paring knives, whisks, can opener, measuring spoons and cups, rubber spatulas, lemon reamer, etc. And in the "cool" / baking end, I have a repeat of those that apply (no paring knives; if I needed to cut something for baking, I'd borrow a knife from the other end, since it happens seldom enough; ditto for the can opener, though I've ended up w/ two and might move one down here). I have a second set of measuring cups and spoons, baking whisks, baking rubber spatulas. Yes, this is a repeat, but it works for me. When I'm mixing batters and doughs, I don't have to go to the other end of the kitchen. SHEET PANS AND OTHER OVEN CONTAINERS: Again, I mostly have two sets. Baking sheets and cooling racks are in the "cool" side above the fridge. I have a skinny base cabinet by the range that holds the big sheet pan for oven fries, and broiler pan, and splatter screens, and other flat stuff that one uses in cooking. The baking pans that are NOT in the "cool" end are the cake pans, muffin tins, etc. Some are above the sink (so, straddling zones); others are in the space available in the "hot" end, for two reasons: 1, that's where they were put at the very beginning before I realized I wanted to divide it up; and 2, there's just not that much room on the "cool" end, since there are baking supplies and pantry/canned goods in the base cabinets. I don't find this onerous because I only have to get them out and set them on the counter to fill right before putting them in the oven. It's not like I'm walking back and forth as I'm working. (As i write this, I wonder if I should put the canned goods in the "hot" zone, but I don't think so--it's nice to have that stuff out of the high-action area, and the baking pans don't need as much space, so the swap wouldn't be equal.) So, anyway, that's what I did. I stood in the baking/mixing spot and thought of all the stuff I would need if I were baking (tools, ingredients, etc.), and I put it within arm's reach. And ditto by the stove. The repeats are few enough that they really don't cause a problem (and I had them all anyway, so it wasn't more expense). And the exceptions don't create a problem either.

I had soapstone counters installed this past November (2018) and love them so far. I posted my thoughts - look for a thread starting with “Black Venata Soapstone”. They are super durable in the ways I care about -like being able to put a hot cookie sheet down on them and not having to worry about etching or staining, I like that they are antibacterial too. I’ve not oiled mine yet, and keeping them medium gray does mean a little more maintenance. Oil splatters will not sink in (soapstone is super dense) but they will cling to the surface and need a light scrub with the rough side of a sponge and a little Dawn soap to remove them. Once oiled this goes away as an issue. Cleo7 is right about pie dough. Some people have said they really like soapstone for working bread (maybe it has the right grippi-ness) but I find it disconcerting for pie dough. I’m back to using a mat. My finding is that like wood counters, soapstone can be scratched or chipped (although any dings can be fixed) and it will likely acquire a patina over time, but unlike wood soapstone doesnt stain, etch, burn, melt, or rot. Not sure where the comment about ”ruined by water” came from, Btw. I’ve had tea kettles boil over onto the counter, and that new vase wth the apparently porous bottom that sat leaking water and floral solution for three days? Not a problem. Best advice though, find a distributor and a fabricator who really knows soapstone and also you might want to read up about the different varieties and their respective hardness so that you have a sense of what you are looking for. I would look at the online soapstone specialists like M. Teixeira,, etc. Calling around you may find some stone yards that carry mostly granite or marble but they happen to have a random slab or two labeled generically “gray soapstone”. Don’t buy with that little information. And, with kids, I absolutely would avoid the softest kinds. ...Every person who has seen my kitchen to date loves the counters. Soapstone is just very cool.