lavendar lass, as several of us have said, soapstone requires no sealing. But there still seems to be some confusion over whether it requires any maintenance at all...oiling/waxing for example. I guess I hesitate to say this is THE authoritative answer, because I'm no authority. But it is what all of my research and reading on this forum and elsewhere told me about soapstone. You don't have to do nothin' to 'em. Remember the stone chemistry tables in high school? Those were soapstone. All kinds of bad stuff spilled on them. Nothing happened to them. Soapstone is extremely dense and nonporous, and at least one source called it "inert", meaning it doesn't react to anything. That's not quite true, though. The one thing it does is oxidize over time. That's why most soapstones when first cut out of the earth are a medium to light grey, sometimes with blue or greenish tones. But over time, even the lightest soapstones will tend to darken as they oxidize (react to oxygen). Because some people LIKE the darkened and someone more uniform look of old soapstone, they use oil, wax or a combination of both on it to hasten the process. Typically, it'll need to be oiled every week or two for the first couple of months. Then it needs oiling only very infrequently to never to stay dark. Some folks LIKE the lighter, unoxidized look. They don't oil or wax their soapstone at all, but probably scrub it down more often to remove any accumulated oils from cooking or touching it that are speeding up the natural oxidation process. It's unclear to me if they can keep it light forever...my understanding is no, but with effort it can probably be kept light fairly long. SO...if you like it dark, you can do minimal treatment to get it there quickly and then, almost never have to do anything again but wipe it off. hope this isn't too wordy or too technical and that it helps. I think, by the way that soapstone on either your perimeter counters or your island would look fabulous with the look you've finally (grin, here) decided on!

You’re entire house is amazing! What a great job you did. I wouldn’t love to know how satisfied you were with the cabinet company’s you worked with? Do you end up using the Amish company? Can you please share their information? Thanks!! Yes I'm satisfied with the cabinet company. They have been very responsive. If you're in FL and you message me I can give you the information. They don't go outside of FL to do cabinetry. Thank you rebecca. In case you haven't seen it, I do have an [updated thread [(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/sneak-peek-preview-cpartists-kitchen-dsvw-vd~5284874)showing it now.

Thanks so much. This is incredibly helpful. We were at Pental too :). Let me know if you find the sample. It is fun to see your finished pictures. I was fully realizing that already too with the color combos with it. I feel like this slab kind of sets the whole tone for the house.

“Update 😫” Oh Susan….I am so, so sorry this happened. I was hoping you would come back with a fabulous kitchen to show us, but feared this might happen. Why oh why didn’t you come back here for help before picking out that cool-toned grayish backsplash tile to pair with that warm toned countertop? The bright white cabinets don’t look great with the counter, but at least you might have had a chance to salvage it somehow with the right color tile for the backsplash, the right flooring, and the right color walls. The granite counters are pretty, but the bright cool white color cabinets do not compliment the stone well at all. Didn’t you say were doing all new cabinets? I see you got the new pantry cabinet, the desk, and panels for the back of the island. Hey, at least that awful tile on the island is gone! 😆 So the old cabinets just look primed. Are you attempting to paint the old cabinets the same color white as the new cabinets? First off, I would remove that tile backsplash and fire whoever talked you into pairing that with the granite. Also fire the installer who tiled the side of a stinkin’ cabinet. I mean who even does that!!! The right side of the pantry wall should not have been tiled either. Are you still planning to install that peachish tan swirled large format tile on the floors? Because that will only compound the problem. I know you are trying so hard to have a nice beautiful new kitchen and home. It will be ok, but I do think the backsplash needs to go ASAP. Don’t let anyone else touch a thing until you get a total plan in place for the rest of the materials, wall color, etc etc… We can try and help you fix this as best as we can. But I will say, this is the perfect example where following the advice to hire a professional designer might have actually saved you money, tears, regret, and disappointment. Worth the $ spent to have a gorgeous home that you will love for the next 20 years.