We just moved into the new kitchen a few months ago and put about an acre of soapstone in the kitchen and master bath. Ours is the Cruz Azul (greenish) sourced and installed by Sierra Soapstone in Rockland, CA. Excellent fabrication and installation. The boss and I both think it is terrific. I've only oiled it once about 3 months ago. I'll get around to doing it again one of these days, or maybe not. No big deal. We live in our house. Things may get dinged. The SS may get scratched and I'll wrinkle up some more. So what! It is a great material and looks terrific. We couldn't be happier. Also, a suggestion on the sink. We went with the Kohler Whitehaven Apron front sink. We have stainless appliances. With the soapstone the whitehaven looks great. I went with the 36". It is enormous, but a great sink. The 30" might have been a better choice. I have to figure out how to post pictures!

I too fell totally in love w/Pietra de Cardosa and spent months agonizing over the reality of installing it in my kitchen w/kids and lots of messy, stovetop cooking. LOOONNNGGGG story short, I had Silestone "Raven" installed and absolutely love it, not only for the awesome stone-like look, but for the fact that I know it is bullet-proof. I had a sample of sealed PdC that I put a few drops of lemon juice on and tipped it up so the juice would run down and left it for an hour or so. I could not get rid of that stain, and I couldn't get past the cleaning issues. I suggest you get a sealed sample from your stone place and test it for yourself (including dragging plates and pots over it - beat it up like it's in your kitchen already.) THAT said, I also have read many posts on GW that say it is good for others, so experience varies, possibly due to the quality of the sealer, cooking/cleaning styles, etc. Also, although I could have gotten a honed finish in the Silestone Raven, I didn't b/c the depth and the stone look was lost when it was honed, plus I had read that the honing of Silestone really makes it high maintenance, which is one of the key benefits of Silestone to begin with, so I went with the polished. I looked at my large sample of polished Raven next to a large sample of polished marble and noticed that the reflective shine of the marble was much shinier than the Silestone. You can see your face pretty clearly reflected in a polished marble or granite, while you can't in the Silestone. Good luck with your decision!

Hi Eugenie- I'm guessing you're in FFC since you were at Ring's End and based on your post about your son's car. ;) I was totally sent on absolute black honed until I started reading about it here. (actually I shouldn't say totally set I've been all over the place...marble, granite, soapstone). Anyway, I finally put a deposit down on leathered jet mist granite. I LOVE it! It's not a solid black like AB.I was going to do jet mist honed until I felt the leathered slabs...I don't know the best way to describe it, but they feel almost soft. Anyway, I don't know how they're going to do w/dust and fingerprints b/c I haven't had it installed yet, but I'm pretty sure every post I've read here from someone who has it loves it. Everest Marble in Norwalk has some great slabs of Jet Mist right now. I don't think there were any more leathered ones, but I know they have a lot of honed (I was there last Saturday). If you're looking for a fabricator so far I've been really happy with La Pietra in Brookfield (ask for Fabiana). I'll try to post a picture of my slabs. http://s222.photobucket.com/albums/dd251/avaowensmom/Kitchen%20redo/?action=view&current=photo-18.jpg" target="_blank"> Here is a link that might be useful:

I agree with TCK, but it can be done. I have Silestone Lagoon and Miram Blanc marble tile from The Tile Shop and it looks great. Also no grease issues that some warn about with marble. My tile looks the same...going on 5 or 6 years now. I think I did the kitchen around 2012 or 13. I like Lagoon a lot better than Lyra personally. And Lagoon isn't too white...actually has a bit of gray to it.