OK thanks, you have convinced me to make time to go see the soapstone, it is 2 hrs each way so half a day . Not easy for someone working FT with weekend obligations. The money is not as much an issue as the availablity and the time here. I was really hoping to find the soapstone locally since today was my only "search granite yards" vacation day. Can someone answer the questions about the uba tuba? It's really very smooth and the 2nd picture was very surprising to me since I cannot feel or even see those irregularities well in real life.

Nosoccermom, the polished samples are, well, polished: smooth and shiny and fingerprinted. I have a small square of Dekton Sirius, and the honed Neolith samples look and feel much smoother. (I've stopped looking at Dekton because neither the texture nor the colors/patterns seemed as nice as Neolith.) On the Travertino Navona, the lighter parts of the pattern are less reflective than the darker parts, which either gives it a more natural appearance or makes it look like it needs to be cleaned. I like it, though I'm not considering travertine (but give me a minute . . . ). Last night I put a glob of turmeric mixed with a little water, a slice of lime, and a sharpie mark on each of the honed samples, and this afternoon I cleaned them off. Everything came right off (no etching from the lime) with 409 and a paper towel, except for a shadow of sharpie on the Calacatta that came off with water and a green scrubby. (argh, I hate this sideways photo problem. These are on my horrible counter, not stuck to the wall) After cleaning: I also rubbed all four samples with the bottom of the iron frying pan to leave black marks, and they came off with 409 too, with a little extra green scrubby and water on the Calacatta. Still impressed!

Thanks for posting the Calacatta photo! I have a sample of that and have seen a Statuario slab, but I hadn't been able to find even a picture of the Calacatta pattern, which I now know I like much better than the Statuario one I've seen. As for the thin edge vs miter vs rabbet joint, the color and pattern is only on the surface, so if you just had the 1/2 thickness, the edge would be white wouldn't it? And maybe I'm misunderstanding, but I don't see how a rabbet joint would solve the problem--wouldn't everything between the horizontal surface and the beginning of the vertical slab (i.e. the curved part on Joseph's linked drawing) be solid white? I love the properties of the material (I've put a hot-from-the-oven cast iron pan on it, left staining and etching things for hours, and dug at it with a screwdriver, all with no effect), and I think it looks good too, but the white line is giving me pause.

Hi Gina, The 1st time we put something hot on the counter, it cracked 10 inches. the crack continues to expand, now it's 14 inches long and the crack is feathering from the original straight line crack. I contacted Neolith numerous times via many channels: Calling them, emailing them, posting on message boards, even left my cell number on their public FB page. NO RESPONSE. So I started telling my horrible experience on message boards. That got their attention. Instead of contacting me, their social media person tried to spin it, and kept saying "Gives us another chance, we'll take care of you." So I did, like an idiot, I contacted them again. And once again, NO response. Do your search on other threads, and you'll find MANY people with similar experiences. Some experienced chipping during 1st year of usage. DO NOT GET IT! It's NOT durable as their promo video shows when they chop on it and use blow torch on it. It was misleading. The fine prints says no hot items on it. Plus they do NOT stand behind their product and blame the installer. Homeowners are stuck between installer and Neolith. We saw an open house with Neolith counter, it cracked from one end to the other end of the kitchen island. The owner said they couldn't get it fixed either and had to sell a 2 million home with a cracked kitxhen counter as is. It's possible the installer is to blame in some cases. But not in our case because we installed the same counter in the kitchen and in 3 bathrooms. The bathroom counters are fine. So it's not the installation, it's Neolith misrepresenting their product being durable to heat. Take a look at Dekton countertops. Also porcelain slabs from Spain but much harder material. We got a sample and saw finished island and vanity in person. Loved it. If we ever have the money to build a new kitchen and bathrooms again, we will use Dekton. Good luck!