Thanks! Yes, our house is 1915 so very similar issues. (Your kitchen/DR layout even sounds quite similar!) I've found that most of the soapstone where we are comes from Brazil and India---though that may be because we have one of the very large dealers in town. I keep hunting for someone who has any of the U.S. or Canada stone but just can't seem to find a dealer who does. *sigh* It's too bad, since one of the things we actually really like about our current kitchen are the granite counters, as much as I complain about them. (They're rose granite on top of pink cabinets, and *very* cheaply made and installed---but the performance as countertops is stellar!) Would love to find a stone we're comfortable with. We have a wall-mount faucet now (and love it, so it's staying!) but I haven't found it reduces splashing much, so not sure it would help on the wood front, sadly. Do you know anyone in your area who's actually used the Ecotop counters? We like some of their lighter grays but just can't seem to find out much about its performance. Oh, and we're planning to do the 2"x6" colored subway tiles for the backsplash---we're in the Bay Area so we're fortunate to have Heath Ceramic's factory store nearby, where they sell their marked-down seconds. Fine by us! So the plan is to see what's there when backsplash time rolls around, which could make for some creative combos. :) Good luck with your kitchen---I can't wait to see what you decide to do!

Anita, From what I remember, Cobra is very hard, and has very little veining, and is black (not much green). Does that sound right? If so, your seam, should you choose to put it in, would be a much easier project than ours. I wanted soapstone that was very veiny (active), with lot's of green as well. Due to the size of our island we also needed a seam to go down the middle. We do not have occupancy in our home yet, so I haven't lived with the seam, but I thought you might want to take a look anyway. One important issue that came up was whether or not you plan to oil the soapstone. That will determine the seam color. We plan on letting it go dark, so they used a black seam for ours. Our slab is butterflied. The two polished sides faced each other and opened like a book. That is why the pattern repeats on each side... as close as we could get. This was a fix due to a different issue. This is what we ended up with. These photos were taken right after installation and with fresh oil on them. They are not that dark today, however, we haven't oiled them in several months. Here is a more recent photo without being oiled for a long time. I am sure others will chime in about soapstone seams, but I have to tell you, the seams that folks have posted here are almost undetectable. It is an amazing material. I think I have one of the worst case scenarios with so many veins and color variations. I am not concerned with it at all, but that is me. What really is important is if it will bother you. THAT is what matters!

Dorado Soapstone recently opened up a distributorship in Shrewsbury, MA. I was there the other day looking at their soapstone and will be back there again as they are getting in another shipment of the Minas stone I am looking at. They are really wonderful people. So helpful and so low pressure. I was there for several hours oiling different stones and comparing them. Here's what I can tell you about their stones. The Beleza has some green in it unoiled, but when oiled goes black. When unoiled there is a ton of movement going on in the stone but no veining. When oiled there is very little movement, some green, but mostly black. The very green stones even when oiled are Porte Alegre, Sao Luis and Iguazu. Porte Alegre is a very soft stone and scratches easily. It has a ton of wide white/green veining. Sao Luis has no veining and a consistent green pattern to it. Oiling seemed to bring out the green. It is a very hard stone. The Iguazu is another very hard stone. It is gray when unoiled , but when oiled very green with some black and white veining. If you like green it is very pretty, but you would have to want green. Jucca is a light gray stone that turns darker gray/charcoal when oiled. It has hardly any veining. The Minas is gray unoiled, no sign of green. When oiled it is black with white veining and a slight hint of green in some parts of some stones. I oiled one slab of Minas and it was pitch black with only one white 4 ft. thin vein running across it. It was a very quiet stone. The slabs I am waiting for have more veining. All of the slabs were very large for soapstone and would never need a seam in an island (unless you had one huge island) except the Iguazu. Those slabs were on the smaller side. I personally would never want my island to have a seam, but I know several people on GW who have seamed soapstone islands and you would never know if they didn't tell you. You might want to see if you can get a quiet Minas slab shipped to you. They are a nice size stone with either very quiet veining or a medium amount of veining and a dark black color. Good luck.

@earthlyepicure, I used an over mount stainless steel sink, because I knew I'd probably ding the soapstone up. My kitchen is a bit on the rustic side, so a few dings don't matter to me, but I would matter if I dinged it up with an undermount sink. My kitchen is now about 12 years old. I still love it. There are scratches and a few dings. If this is an issue for you, why don't you try honed black granite. I used soapstone so I could do the counters myself, to save some money. I have also done a sink and counters for the bathroom and and office. The bathroom and office is in remnent pieces that I paid $5/sqft or got for free. It is a softer stone then the kitchen and scratches easily. To deal with that, I have it sanded to a very rough surface at about 60 to 80 grit. No oil and it is beautiful. Picture of counter in the somewhat harder (but still soft) soapstone in the kitchen. fairly smooth sanded at around 120 grit IIFC. This stone I ordered online. It has a very hard section that is at the sink. The softer portion is at the counter I've pictured. the bright white spots are dings. enlarge the picture and you might see them and scratches : Much softer stone in the bathroom and sanded to a 60 or 80 grit IIRC. this is what I built out of remnents in 2012. No oil added. You can see the seam where I glued the backsplash to the sink: Here is a close up of the corner of the counter at the sink front. It should sand out If I took the time to finish these surfaces again. But I don't bother: The other counter in the bathroom that is 2 glued pieces along the long side, that you can't see. The dark corner is from hands resting on that edge to work with the tub. Its been years and I am still loving this bathroom!!! ETA: I got my kitchen inspiration years ago when a restaurant opened in a town near me in 2001. they still have their cherry walls, tables, cabinets, and the soapstone counters at all the counter surfaces and bar.