I am glad you posted this question, it has been in the back of my mind because will be planning for a laundry room makeover, and while I ruled out soapstone for our kitchen it is a consideration for the laundry room. I don't know of any soapstone specialists in my area, so I am interested to read the responses, and maybe someone will chime in with knowledge about how far M. Tex will travel to install (if they even do this).

Snappity…glad you’ve been reading the various soapstone threads, and have an appropriate wariness of ordering soapstone from an unknowledgeable source.

About shipping soapstone long distances…Several years ago, a woman living on the island of St. John in the Carribean, ordered her soapstone from M. Teixeira’s NY/NJ location. They shipped the slabs via truck to Miami, where they were then put on a boat for the final leg to St. John. Pia (that was her name, I recall), had the slabs fabricated and installed by a pro, who came from Miami. So, yes, Teixeira will ship to Maine…which is a heck of a lot closer to them, than St. John!

On the other hand, you might give (the close to you) Vermont Soapstone a call. Much smaller operation than Teixeira, however, they specialize in soapstone. I live on Long Island. When we first began exploring soapstone, we took a several hour trip up to Vermont, and visited with the owner in the showroom. He gave us a trivet sized sample, which we tested thoroughly. It passed the scratch test, and all stain testing. We probably would’ve purchased our counters from them, had we not discovered Teixeira.

Here’s the link to Vermont Soapstone. The owner, Glenn Bowman, was going to fabricate and install the tops for us on Long Island. So, I’m sure installing counters in Maine will not be an issue.

With Vermont Soapstone as a nearby option, there’s no reason to risk purchasing from a stoneyard where soapstone is an afterthought.

If they ship it, do you have to find somebody to install it? Does M. Tex contract with a local fabricator or something?

@darbuka thank you! I have looked at them, too and thought about contacting to see if Maine was too far. Mainers are used to traveling a long way to get what they need, but it's not often the opposite for people coming this way! I am actually not super concerned about viewing a slab in person if I have a sample to know the feel of it and can maybe view pics online (if I were doing a vast island of stone, that would probably be more important, for me I just want the stone to be in the areas that are hardest used - sink and range - and any other counters will be 15", so I MIGHT do those depending on price, etc.) So I am hopeful the samples in hand will help me ID what it is I want installed in a general sense, and that a true soapstone dealer would be able to help me determine what I need.

@mxk3 z5b_MI, where are you located? Teixeira has several locations across the country. And, in some other areas, they have soapstone companies they work with. If you give them a call, they’ll answer any questions you may have.

I don’t know how large a piece you need for your laundry room, but figuring it to be less than a kitchen, buying a remnant might be the economical way to go. Teixeira had many remnants, when we were looking. I believe remnants are displayed on the Teixeira website. Teixeira also sells DIY remnants, and small slabs. They will tell you the proper grit to use, so you can sand the counter yourself. There are people who go this route. Soapstone is an easy DIY project with the right tools, and saves the cost of fabrication.

Again, it’s worth your time to make a call to Teixeira. I can’t rave enough about the patience, friendliness, and professional knowledge the staff has.

@mxk3 z5b_MI Maybe I am overconfident in finding someone to install, but since ours wouldn't have seams or corners I feel like installing it would be fairly straightforward. I don't think I am brave enough to do the sink cutout and runnels, though!

I went ahead and filled out the request form for Vermont Soapstone, asking for a sample and if they don't service central maine, a recommendation for someone who does!

I'm in Michigan. I've only heard raves about M. Tex. I do have time to figure it out, the re-do isn't imminent, but calling to see what my options are and gathering information is a good idea. I love your soapstone, and the green tones of what you have would tie in beautifully with the rest of what I've got going on in the house (greens and woods); traditional black soapstone would look great, too -- ordering the sample kit is something I should also do. I don't think I'll need a large piece, the room is only about 8' long, but I don't know is what the layout will be -- maybe can squeeze in an L.

I agree with @darbuka I am in upstate NY and ordered from Vermont Soapstone.

I didn't do countertops (long story and hubby won) but I did get radiator caps and Vermont Soapstone was wonderful to work with. Even with my smallish order they were polite and professional.

When hubby made the road trip to pick them up (our choice) he came home impressed. They gave him a tour, talked about sinks and showed him vintage pieces. I cannot recommend them highly enough.

Can I ask what folks price per sf have been lately for installed soapstone? The quote I have is about 280/sf (pre tax, includes installation, etc.) When I run the Home Depot estimator (which I think uses the same wholesaler, based on other's experiences and our location) AND include my shallow wall of counters (which I'm not as worried about being soapstone, they aren't a place for heat or water, but on HD it was cheaper to include them to get over 25sf for a discount) the pricing is 94/sf - a third of the original quote. I will not likely use HD, but should I expect closer to 300/sf or 100/sf?

I paid $70 per sf but that was not for countertops. So no install, just the materials and simple fabrication of the sizes we needed.

@Sherry Brighton thank you! The other slabs I would totally feel ok with installing since they are pretty small. The sink run is the one that I wouldn't want to diy! But that is helpful in case I do those short and shallow slabs later.

"The quote I have is about 280/sf (pre tax, includes installation, etc.)"

What?!?! I have Costa Esmeralda which is hard to find and hard to fabricate and I paid less than half that amount out the door. Mind you, it was 2 years ago and I imagine there have been price increases, but still -- soapstone isn't rare. Admittedly, I've never purchased soapstone, but that seems unreasonable.

@mxk3 z5b_MI That's why I am asking. It seems really high when I start looking at M Tex (for instance, even looking at their sale page there is a remnant that would do every counter that they are selling for 1200, and they would cut the slabs there - I am sure shipping is expensive, but it can't be $4000 more.)

It makes me wonder if it's a deterring price - like UGH, we will do it if we have to but it's such a pain because we do it so rarely, we will make it expensive to try to keep you from choosing it. (with many family members who have been self employed, I am aware of this strategy! If someone needed my dad on a weekend he made it worth the time away from family!)

"It makes me wonder if it's a deterring price - like UGH, we will do it if we have to but it's such a pain because we do it so rarely, we will make it expensive to try to keep you from choosing it."

Oh yea, I've definitely run into that before. Or like you said -- they'll do it but have to make it worth their while. Did you get that quote from M. Tex or another fabricator?

The quote was from the local, and only, place that does soapstone and they only work through designers - wholesale only.

I have samples coming from M Tex, and Vermont Soapstone replied this morning that they do service Maine, so he is sending me a sample as well.

I will probably swing into HD just to find out who they sub soapstone too, just out of curiosity. I don't think I could get them to do the runnels that I want, but the price difference is massive so it's worth asking about.

I figured Vermont Soapstone would service you in Maine. As a nearby, one stop soapstone business, they will be the way to go. They don’t have the variety Teixeira does, however, what they do have is the classic soapstone look…black with white veins.

Looking forward to following the progress of your project, and seeing the final result. 😊

@snappity I'm sure this depends hugely on where you live, but FWIW, we are in CA and out of the SF M. Teixeira location, we got a quote last fall at $185/sf installed for a vanity top, and that went way up this summer when we were finally ready for it (although that was in part because they no longer had a remnant in a closely-matched size so we would have had to buy a larger slab--we ended up choosing a different counter.) Labor costs in our area are way up. In contrast, we also did our kitchen through the same M. Teix location 12 years ago and it was more like $80/sf, I think. But it was the middle of the recession and everything was cheaper then.

Updating - I am pretty close to making the call to go with Vermont. I love the samples from M Tex, but I can’t find a fabricator up here (and the suggestion from M Tex seems to do really high end projects, and hasn’t returned my message, I might just be too small a fish for their work.) I am awaiting quotes from three other places (from around the state) who allegedly can do soapstone, but they don’t stock it and don’t do it often (and won’t take an M Tex slab, so my options are limited, Saratoga and Marble and Granite Exchange.) I think I have to weigh experience of fabricator vs more choice of slab. I’m not sure I can make it to VT to review slabs in person - it’s an almost 6 hour drive - but that would be the same for M Tex, too.

@Sherry Brighton do you have any pics of your soapstone or slabs you may have seen? I am hoping for some veins, but my sample didn’t have any.

My desire for soapstone is function > form but if it had the coloring and movement I prefer it would be even better!

I've done long distance shipping jobs. Not a big deal.

We just used soapstone in our new build kitchens, bathrooms, and laundry rooms. The stone yard emailed us pictures of the slabs both dry and wet so we could see the veining and how they would look oiled. Maybe Vermont Soapstone will do the same?

DH and I are thrilled with the soapstone. It looks even better in person, with spots of rose quartz or lime green, streaks of both silver and gold, and even some tiny sparkles in the right light.

@Sofia - that sounds like my dream soapstone! I think they would send photos of slabs. This reminds me of buying produce in a pickup grocery order- is the produce I get fine? Perfectly so! Is it the exact bunch of bananas I would have selected in the store, maybe not, maybe there’s a better bunch in there, but the convenience and time saved by not reviewing EVERY banana has value too.

@Joseph Corlett, LLC I am not clear on what you mean by the shipping part - even if could get a slab shipped, I can’t find anyone up here to fabricate it. I really do love the idea that soapstone specialists could fabricate onsite, especially since I am going offset with my sink cutout and not just centering it. I know you are the sink guy, I will have a 36” cab and shifting a 24” sink to sit as right as possible in the cabinet to leave some counter between fridge panel and the sink itself, and then doing a trash pullout behind the left 18” door. (funky kitchen, funky solutions.)

I was speaking about jobs that I had templated, they were fabricated a thousand miles away, shipped to me, and I installed them.

Hi! Love this thread…maybe not the right place for this, but you seem passionate about soapstone, so I’ll throw it out there:
I wanted soap stone for our kitchen, but our contractor talked us out of it… he and the designer said just get honed black granite, and it would be the same look. I’m wondering why you guys are choosing soapstone rather than a honed black granite countertop? I’m asking out of genuine curiosity because I’d like to not rule it out if it will still work for me.

No honed black granite will ever have the sensuous feel of silky smooth, matte soapstone, or the dramatic green, tan, or white inclusions many of us want. Pick a very hard variety, like Belvedere (which we have), and your counters will be bulletproof.

Nearly 7 years old, I wouldn’t trade our soapstone counters for any other material.

"I wanted soap stone for our kitchen, but our contractor talked us out of it… he and the designer said just get honed black granite, and it would be the same look. I’m wondering why you guys are choosing soapstone rather than a honed black granite countertop? I’m asking out of genuine curiosity because I’d like to not rule it out if it will still work for me."

You need to educate yourself on soapstone. As with anything, there are pros and cons. The major con for me is the patina -- which is my book is an elegant synonym for old and beat up. Do a board search for soapstone patina, read the posts and look at the picks, and decide for yourself whether you can fully embrace it or at the very least, tolerate it. Me? Beautiful as it is and sensual as it feels, I could not live with the inevitable chips, scratches, water/oil marks and whatnot -- DH is a banger and a clanger, the soapstone would look old and beat up in no time, and I have no interest in DIY repairs - buffing, oiling, whatever. For the bathroom or laundry room or an area where it wouldn't get so beat up, I would definitely consider it (it's high on the list of contenders for a laundry remodel, as I posted upthread). But that's me. Know thyself.

If you decide it's not for you, there are granites that will give a similar appearance -- Virginia Mist (aka Jet Mist) or Ocean Black immediately come to mind. There are others.

I like the patina and warmth, and really like the other qualities - that I can set a hot sheet pan on it without worry, for instance, and that I can get the drain runnels carved in - I know I could probably do that with granite, but I just find granite cold. I even looked again at slabs and it just doesn’t feel as alive to me. I definitely dont want quartz, if I did my life would be so much easier because that is easily the most popular choice up here right now!

I am not even sure I will oil soapstone, I don’t want shiny/glossy in the surfaces, I know I could do leathered or honed granite - but it still feels cold for me.

Snappity…we oiled our soapstone the first two years. However, 5 years ago we stripped off the oil (easily done with Bon Ami or Comet, and the rough side of a wet blue Scott scrubby sponge), and haven’t oiled since. Any areas that accumulate patina (from oil splatters, butter, etc., around the rangetop and prep area), we remove the same way, a few times a year. Basically though, we don’t mind the patina at all.

As for @mxk3 z5b_MI’s statement of soapstone looking beat up in no time…a blanket statement that does not cover the hard varieties. At almost 7 years old, with a DH who is the cook in our home, and is “a banger and a clanger”, our counters look as gorgeous today, as they did when they were installed.

As our variety, Belvedere, is extremely hard, there are no scratches. The only chips…2 very small ones, occurred at the edge of the sink, where DH hit it with a cast iron pan. A black Sharpie pen filled in those small chips. No one is the wiser.

Many granite and quartz counters have suffered the same injuries. Just search the web. Hit the edge of quartz or granite, with a heavy pan, and they will chip. Happened to three friends of mine. With those two materials, if they suffer edge chipping, you’d have to call in a pro to fix them.

The quartz industry has sold the public a bill of goods. Manmade ”stone” is not bulletproof. It can chip. And, since it’s 1/3 plastic resins, it will scortch and melt with enough heat…with something as simple hot pan…or even the lid from a hot pot placed face down on the quartz counter. There was a thread on that very issue, asking for repair help, just the other day. The OP was told the counter was ”cooked”, and couldn’t be repaired. This site is filled with folks writing to report their quartz backsplashes scortched behind their ranges. This will never happen with soapstone, as soapstone accepts heat slowly, and is not composed of plastic. It cannot be harmed by heat.

Just do your due diligence. Check your soapstone slabs for hardness. And, make sure your counters are being fabricated by people who know what they’re doing. Soapstone is not finished they same way as other stones.

I am on the @darbuka end of the soapstone spectrum - it’s not that I want dark counters, but that I want *soapstone* counters. I’ve also seen chips in all my friends granite, and seen quartz counters crack just from having a toaster oven sitting on them - and I love my Breville too much to deal with that. :) Right now I have laminate, at least 20 years old, and it’s fine, ugly and not my taste but fine, but covered in trivets and drying mats and such. It would be the same with any other worktop that was non-soapstone, so I am looking to have my counters function for what I DO with them, not to be gleaming showpieces.

If I weren’t getting soapstone, I’d probably get laminate or maybe a corian type surface in a terrazzo pattern, but granite and quartz (and others) are out for me.

I have a toolbench island, and the top on that is a veneer butcherblock look - when the kitchen is done, I want to swap that out with true butcherblock for that similar warm/soft/matte look. (Waiting to do that because the cart will be our temp kitchen when we demo.) And even then I am considering getting a big soapstone tile for that worktop as well for another drop zone for pans/water/etc. (thinner than counters, for weight reasons.)

There is no perfect-for-everyone countertop choice.

So true!!

We did our kitchen earlier this year but purchased the soapstone counters (in Stormy Black) from in Dec.2021 before prices increased. We paid $150 sq ft, price included standard 3cm thickness, template, finishing, edge underpolish, delivery and install. They did a fantastic job, I would have loved to do the soapstone sink as well but that was an extra $1500. I checked their website but since I’m in Ontario, Canada this might not apply to you if your in the US but this company does have a couple diy options, you give them your precise measurements/etc and they can prepare your countertops and ship it out for you to install.

“They did a fantastic job,”

@L C, who is ”they”? Which company did you use?

Would you please post pics of your kitchen? We’d love to see your soapstone!

@L C I am always here for soapstone pics!

I am about to confirm with VT soapstone. I realize my initial post I had only gotten quoted for the "working wall" - sink and range - from the local company and that was more than the quote from Vermont, which includes my shallow counters, a sink and side 6" backsplash, and sill, and I added a few tiles in to use on my butcherblock island as a drop zone. They will come to me and fabricate onsite (about 300 miles from their shop) and if I can't make it to choose a slab, they will send me some photos - the price is just under 140/sf for that, so really about half of what the local fabricator does. (the tiles are just 12x12x.5 and 16 apiece, so I didn't count that in my calculations)

Anything I should look for in the paperwork before signing? Or red flags on the quote? Thank you!

Make sure in writing, that you get to decide on the templating of the slabs. In other words, what sections of the stone you want in specific areas of the kitchen. Perhaps you want more prominent areas of the kitchen to have the most veining. Parts of the slabs that are more plain, you might want in less visible areas…like, where a toaster oven will sit. You don’t want to leave it up to Vermont Soapstone, and then, perhaps, be unhappy with their decision.

We have a wide galley kitchen, and only needed one slab. Here is our slab with templating marked off. You can see the tapes where the sink cutout, and the baking center are indicated.

They will fabricate on site, but I am hoping to make it to their location to pick a slab - but winter in new england can muck up the best laid plans. :) I don't have an island or a huge expanse, I am just hoping for nice and veiny! I love your pics.

Here’s a copy of our receipt from M. Teixeira, from 6 years ago. How times have changed, as to cost…we paid $99sq. ft!

You’ll notice, we were charged for the sink cutout. You might want to clarify with Vermont Soapstone, if that’s their policy, so you won’t be surprised.

Good luck…and please come back and show us the final result!

@darbuka I first read the total due and thought OMG, 900 dollars for that gorgeous counter?! And then I saw you had paid a little in advance. ;) Cuts are included it appears, and now I’m trying to plot out a road trip for spring - too bad Stoughton, MA (where my IKEA is) and Stoughton Road in Perkinsville, VT, where VTS is, are not closer!

I’m really excited - I’ll be spending as much (maybe a little more) on the counters as I am the cabinets, but I am looking forward to having counters I don’t need to cover with trivets and drying mats, etc.

Yeah, we first started down the soapstone road in 2009, when we lived in a different home. That’s when we put down the deposit…Which was for different slabs. Then I got sick, and several years went by, before, finally, the 8th doctor figured out what was wrong. When we sold that home (a necessity for my health) in 2015, we went back to Teixeira with the new kitchen plan, and selected a different slab. At that point, $900.00 is all that was owed.

While we don’t have to use trivets, we still do…most of the time. Just force of habit from years past. And, we do use a drying mat for hand washables, like good knives, wooden spoons, and most pots and pans…to absorb the excess water. It’s a thickish, two sided fabric mat in black, so it blends in with the counter. It was inexpensive, and purchased from Amazon.

One of the nice things about soapstone, compared to granite, quartzite, and the manmade ”quartz”, is it never feels cold. Not even in the depths of our North Eastern winters.

Glad to hear your health is sorted! I have one of those same drying mats already (and silicone trivets) but am REALLY hoping to go commando on my counters and not cover them up! I don't mind covering 20+ year old laminate, but the drain pad is always kind of gross for me. I don't have a big dish drainer, but instead use an ikea variera pot lid organizer - lower profile and can expand/ contract to fit what I need. to have stand upright.