Pretty! I love the look of soapstone, it’s so classic.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/query/soapstone

Just about any ?? you have will likely be answered at this link.

All kinds of info about soapstone there, but I haven’t seen any that address my questions. I’ve eased through several pages. Nada 🥺

darbuka - I love your soapstone, and your cabinets. The backsplash is beautiful, too. I LOVE that tile! I was kind of horrified when the man who installed the soapstone suggested that I seal it. That was a hard "NO!". I'm really leaning toward not doing a thing with it, just using it, but if I can strip off the oil, maybe I'll give oil a try, since I can change my mind later on. Thank you for the information about how it warms up dough quickly. I may think about getting a marble slab. I really do love to cook and bake, and I'm so glad to have a really good answer to my question.. Thank you very much!

I've never been at all comfortable rolling out dough or doing much of anything like that on my counters because they are too high. It all gets done on the marble pastry board on the kitchen table. I've tried, and it is just too awkward.

For the record, I don't have soapstone, but a hard, dark green granite that looks a lot like the soapstone in Darbuka's second photo. It doesn't absorb anything, including oil.

I use milk paint soapstone sealer very occasionally. You can get it on Amazon. It's not a chemical sealer. It's made of Walnut oil and other all natural stuff and it's like a wax. I find it less greasy if you will than oil. I used it a lot at first but my counters have been in for 3 years now and I use it maybe once every 6 months or so. it brings out some of the movement. because it's all natural I don't worry about it being near where people's food is. I love my soapstone counters. I periodically lay across the large peninsula enjoying the soft feel of the surface. I'm only partially joking. 😘They are the best decision I ever made; I enjoy watching them change as they age.

I had soapstone counters (and floors - ugh!!!) for about 10 years. I had sections of countertop that I left natural and others that I oiled. The oil dries up in a matter of weeks and it is a pain to keep re-applying it. The solution I found is a "dry wax" that makes the patina darker like oil but lasts a long time. It will take some work to put it on and buff it out. Don't use too much wax or it may leave water rings -- just a thin amount of wax and elbow grease will make it shine. And yes, you could use it for rolling out dough.

You can find the wax at soapstones.com or elsewhere (like Dorado Soapstone) with a search. I think Amazon sells it now.

If you don't put anything on the soapstone then you will see every oil drip or food particle stain on your countertop. The stains will disappear after a few weeks but that's probably not what you want.

Attached are a few photos of my old kitchen when it was cleaned up for sale.

Oh, and I found the best product for stripping the oil or wax is Greased Lightning. Wear gloves.

Unless your kid’s BFF has a pretty severe tree nut allergy, then you wouldn’t want that. Which is too bad, I’ve seen it in the counter shop and it’s very pretty applied.

I'm not sure what you mean wiscokid -- what is the "that" you are referring to? The mineral oil? The wax? The Greased Lightning?

Thanks.

I was referring to the wax with the walnuts in it that Laura Brock mentioned - you and I must’ve been posting at the same time and yours went up first

Ah, I see - thanks for clarifying!

Laura - laying across the counter - I completely understand. I spent a lot of my chemistry class time stroking the soapstone counters. That's why I wanted soapstone in my kitchen. There's nothing else I'd have wanted in my kitchen, although I may get a marble slab for rolling and kneading. My stone man sells remnants, and I'm sure he'd be glad do sell me any size I'd like to have - he's doing four vanities for me in remnants! It's kind of fun to have a variety - if nothing matches, it's even better than having everything match.

We are choosing soapstone because you CAN roll things out directly on it. Unlike other countertops that are pours, soapstone doesn’t grow anything and is chemically inert. That said, it absorbs heat, so it will melt pastry and cookies if the oven is on and hot (but be fantastic for rolling if you keep your kitchen cold). Note about mineral oil vs the walnut oil/wax treatments: walnut oil and canberra wax are both potential allergens. We’ve been going back and forth on which to use, but know that we have friends and family with walnut allergies whom might not want to hang out in a kitchen covered in walnut oil.

We do all of those things directly on our soapstone counter. The first time I was worried because I saw the circle from a pastry cutter - but it vanished. Other marks come an go to (bottle of wine twisting, stoneware getting dragged across, etc) I do not oil the island for this reason. Initially it was oiled and noticed it faded with the first pizza we made so the mineral was obviously picked up into the dough. I occasionally oil the perimeter because I like the look but it is unnecessary. NO SEALING! It will flake off...

oddly enough my daughter has been recently diagnosed with a tree nut allergy. She hasn't had any difficulty although she doesn't live in our house - only visits occasionally.

I'm posting three pictures of my sink area. one is before the wax treatment one is in the middle of the wax treatment you leave it on for about a half an hour and the third is after you rub all the excess wax off.

Sorry I thought the photos had not uploaded so I did it again and now I have 6 photos and can't take it the additional ones off. It also will not let me edit so please excuse the run-on sentences and grammatical errors.

The picture with the faucet at a 45 degree angle is the before. The picture that looks greasy is the during and the other one is after. The difference between the before and after stands out more in person but it is subtle even in person since my soapstone has been aging for a few years.

@Laura Brock - depends on the tree nut allergy, they're not always "broad spectrum" and you can be allergic / more sensitive to one than another. In our case, the walnut is an issue for him and being teenage boys, they do spend time eating at the counter if over at our house so there can be direct contact (he and their family are in our COVID "bubble") - glad to hear your daughter doesn't seem to be bothered by it.

I found that rolling out doughs would pull a tiny bit of oil from my oiled soapstone, causing it to lighten. it does darken again from use. That wasn’t a problem, but I did find soapstone to be disconcertingly “grippy” for rolling out pie doughs - I’d been used to Formica. It should be fabulous for kneading bread doughs, though. I did end up buying a 18” by 25” marble slab for about $40.00 to solve my pie dough issue. I’ve had my counters for two plus years now and still love, love, love them. Your kitchen looks really beautiful, btw. Congratulations :)

I have arthritis so a marble slab wouldn’t work for me. I collect antiques and have boards are called biscuit boards in the South and noodle boards in the North. They are perfect for pastry, hand washable, and lightweight. 13 years of soapstone in my previous house and two years into the soapstone in this house have convinced me I would never want any other kind of counter. I oiled the first few times because my husband liked the dark color, but we now both prefer the beautiful natural counters. People who rant on and on about oiling soapstone make me laugh. It is no more complicated or time consuming than wiping the counter. Squirt food safe mineral oil on, wipe it off with a soft cotton rag, and done. 5 minutes. Soapstone is beautiful oiled. Soapstone is beautiful un-oiled.

For the record, I never rolled dough or kneaded bread on my Formica counters or the butcher block, either. It is easier to take the noodle/biscuit board to the sink.

All of these soapstone countertops are gorgeous!

@Bonnie Riley Whether to oil or wax or not somewhat depends on the type of soapstone that you have. In my own research for soapstone, which like yours was just recently installed in my kitchen, I found that people with the softer soapstones ranging from around 3 to 3.5 on the Mohs scale tended to do better with the waxes whereas people with the harder soapstones like in the 4 to 4.5 range on the Mohs scale did better with mineral oil if they wanted to darken the surface. In my situation, I know that my cabinetry coating is not friendly to oil, and I'm very concerned about preserving the integrity of my cabinetry coating, so I have decided not to oil my soapstone at all to minimize risk of oil transfer. My soapstone is one of the harder varieties--Beleza--a 4.5 on the Mohs. Wax tends to lift in the presence of water on the harder soapstones which makes mineral oil a better choice for the harder varieties, however, wax-based coatings tend to do pretty well on the softer soapstones and stay longer than mineral oil alone. People do like to coat the softer soapstones to even out the appearance of the scratches while the harder soapstones don't really scratch to speak of. As far as rolling out dough right on the soapstone, I had originally thought that I would do that, but knowing now how precious and expensive it is, I'm honestly just planning to put down a non-slip mat like a Silpat for rolling out dough. I do have a marble cutting board, but as mentioned above those are super heavy. You can put marble cutting boards in the freezer or in the refrigerator to cool them down before rolling out dough which of course you couldn't with your regular countertop, so that may be helpful with the temperature. You have to have a large refrigerator and a sturdy shelf that will hold the marble if you do it that way. I don't think rolling out the dough is an issue with soapstone so much as it is cutting the dough depending on how soft the soapstone is. You would also need to be concerned if there are any fissures that have been filled or seams in the soapstone because those could catch and grab dough and bacteria, and you really wouldn't want to do any messy work over those areas. Hope that helps.

silverlined, I think you hit the nuances exactly right. In addition to oil on the cabinetry there is oil on the floor. And you cannot put anything paper on freshly oiled soapstone, papers, newspaper, magazines, checks, because the oil will bleed through. as we know the oil is not absorbed into the soapstone (nothing is) as the oils stays basically on the surface.

I've decided not to do anything to my soapstone. It is what it is. I'm going to get a really big Silpat and maybe a biscuit/noodle board. I love making biscuits, cookies, bread, pies, and noodles, and I'm mostly a scratch cook. If I can figure out a good spot to store a marble board, I'll get one for pastry. I have 2 refrigerators, so I could find a place to chill it.

My soapstone will tell me what it wants to become. I appreciate so much every comment, everyone's input. Thank you!

Some dough, particularly if it needs to be room temp, can really stick to soapstone (vs marble) and soapstone can impart taste to doughs. Marble is generally much better for working dough.

We did soapstone on all of our surrounding counters and love it but did marble for the island to work dough on.

@opaone - that is GORGEOUS! My kitchen is smaller, and no island. I just sent for a big Silpat mat, and if that doesn’t suit me, I’ll get a marble pastry board. Your backsplash behind the stove makes my heart sing.

opaone, wow!! So beautiful.

Thank you. This was very much a function first - aesthetics second project so we're really glad it still turned out looking fairly good. There were a few things our designers were having heart palpitations over, particularly the large commercial range hood, that they've now decided work and are doing in other projects.

We're still debating if we should oil any of the soapstone and have even considered oiling just the back behind the range. My guess is that we'll leave it natural and let it do its thing. It's already quite different next to the range where it's accumulated a lot of splatter and somewhat on the right side of the sink where I do a lot of prep.