Celtic, my actual counter/table also have smaller husks. Kind of a shame, because I really loved the look of the sample, but they're fine ;) They called it "board" at the shop. I'd guess because it's shaped with woodworking tools. It comes in a large sheet the way my bamboo and plywood did. I don't remember the actual size, but it's probably similar to a small stone slab. A lot of the decisions about sizing go to what fits in a container, what fits on a fabrication table, what fits on a truck, what fits through a door, etc.

You can spill water on it. Just not install a sink. Probably not a stove either. Basically, it's good for anywhere you could put bare plywood longterm, pretty much of the same reasons.

BTW, they also have colored versions.

I am looking at Caesarstone or other quartz.

Granite is too busy for my taste. I have couple different granites in the bathrooms in shiny type. The counter looks dirty if any little drops of fluid dries on it. I am not a great house keeper. My cleaning people only come every two weeks....

I like the matt flat uniform look of Caesarstone for my contemporary/modern design kitchen.

We are leaning toward VG fir or walnut in grain matched slab doors.

2 a.m. and sitting in a hotel room in Venice, FL (having my middle-aged mama "anti-nap", where I'm up for an hour or two in the middle of the night) -- will get up in a few hours to meet with MiMi and Josh to pick out our soapstone slabs! :)
Can't believe that we've finally gotten to this point . . .

The husk stuff is meant to be finished - so its probably as water resistant as the finish. I'm pretty sure they don't mean just the edges because of all the cut husks on the face that would be exposed. Might ask to have it finished on all 6 sides to control the humidity changes better, just like using wood counters.

Honed Jet Mist Granite installed last spring.
Love it, and wouldn't change a thing.

Want the kitchen re-done by mortgage renewal in 2014 so my plans are evolving all the time. If money were no object probably Richlite if it were available here, it isn't right now so it would have to be Paperstone (coffee place around the corner has it and it looks great and is holding up well). Money is an object and I think I could get more design impact from laminate but think I will have to go with a fairly generic granite which can be done for about $60 a sq foot for 1 1\4 in our market. From a design perspective I agree with a number of the comments about things moving away from the more basic granites but I don't for a minute think that most buyers are on the crest of the latest design trends. Granite still has the connotation of higher end quality for buyers and will continue to for some time. Good news is prices are coming down.

very interesting. Last summer/fall, this board was buzzing with lots of granite with big movement - typhoon bordeaux, sienna bordeaux, yellow river, solarius.... I'm not seeing that in any of these posts.

Looking forward to seeing pics of everyone's kitchens when finished!

That pyrolave looks amazing, but whew! It's expensive!!!

Have the deposit on my Python soapstone slabs which will be on the main runs, with a 4' piece of IKEA birch butcherblock stained chestnut or walnut. For our "pantry" closets I am deciding between using the butcherblock, and getting MDF and covering that with zinc sheets with nailheads on the fronts.

For a new house build this year, we'll have Pietra Grigia soapstone on
perimeter counters, and Malibu Green soapstone on the island. We
reserved our slabs months ago, at M. Teixeira.

We have cherry butcher block on our counters. The bank of cabinets around the sink are sealed with waterlox, the small island is kept natural with a bi-monthly rub of vegetable oil. I wanted something that fit with our historic home. I love soapstone, but I just don't think that was ever in our house, I think they probably just had a flat board for their counter tops. The butcher block is just perfect for us. It's certainly not bullet proof, but it's pretty forgiving for a family with 3 young children that is not easy on anything!

Bmorepanic, my husk board comes finished.

At this current moment I am leaning towards wood countertops. I guess I am the oddball.

We are in the planning stages, but I am set on granite countertops. Either a black ( absolute or galaxy) or a black/brown combo like baltic Brown.

The one thing my husband insisted on was black countertops to go with our white cabinets. When we discovered soapstone, we knew it was meant to be! We're having Green Mountain original installed in a week and a half.

I'll be getting Solarius counters. These slabs don't have huge sweeping movements-more localized random meanderings. The colors are the same as the rocks I dig out of the garden and just look right in the kitchen.

Am in the early stages (still working on layout) but I love Malibu green soapstone by Texiera and Green mountain soapstone. Had always thought I would do granite but am leaning toward soapstone, like the matte finish and less movement to go with shaker style cherry cabinets.

We've always wanted soapstone. Love the tactile feel and the lovely matte, slightly worn look. However, we put in some "for now" IKEA butcherblock, and I actually love it. So I think either soapstone or wood.

We are in the process of our kitchen renovation, we went with bianco romano granite.

Well, excuse me for reading the mfg web site for the product. They say it comes unfinished - so I guess your installer is finishing it.

Probably a different product.

looked at TONS of granites, ended up with soapstone - something I didn't think I would even consider.

Black silestone.
Lisa

installed typhoon bordeaux about a month ago

We ended up doing Quartzite bianca (luce di luna), considered Cipollino and other marbles, also considered white quartz products like Caesarstone Blizzard or Organic White. If I wanted dark I would probably do soapstone, I'm not crazy about granite.

Fell in love with honed Butterfly Blue granite almost a year ago. Pretty sure it's still the top runner but I also like satin finished blue pearl. While I admire GWers' granite counters with movement (Bianco Antico is gorgeous), I prefer the softer, quieter appearance of stones with subtle movement without a polished finish.

I would love soapstone but it's not nearly as common in my area so costs seem to be higher and choices more limited. The granite look-alikes, such as Virginia Mist, don't seem to be available here either. I get blank looks every time I ask.

I considered large sized porcelain tile counters (what we currently have on our island) but hubby said "no way."

I am wondering why so many people are considering Soapstone as it is prone to scratching from grit or can crack when something heavy is dropped on it.

My main concern is scratching.

We will probably go with Quartz before Granite

I may go with a not-too-busy soapstone if I can find one will work. Or I may go with deep grey or black quartz. I like the low-maintenance aspect of quartz. The white marbles look fabulous in loads of kitchen pics, but I am not sure if I have it in me to take the leap.

I picked out my typhoon bordeaux in Oct and will have it hopefully installed in about 3 weeks. I wanted granite with some red and movement. Picked out the Blue star 48" range to compliment (almost match) the bordeaux in the stone. Thought seriously about soapstone for our historical house but was scared away with more upkeep than the granite.

Every stone can get scratched, every stone can crack. With soapstone you can sand it out or oil it and the scratch disappears. I'm abusing the sample that Josh gave us right now. I've yet to hear about any stone cracking on this forum yet.

I've never heard of soapstone cracking, though I have heard of granite cracking from weight or thermal shock. My master tile setter is of the opinion that even granite, which is crystalline and prone to microfractures, shouldn't crack if it's installed properly.

I have to decide today after procrastinating. I will go with Misty Carrera Caesarstone with a polished not honed surface. Honed takes a bit more work maintaining it and Caesarstone even polished is less shiny than granite.
My friend told me that her marble stains like crazy so I nixed that choice. I want indestructible and easy with the look of white marble. The finished kitchen of the animala clinched the deal for me. I have a smaller area. Counters are 36 inches on one side of Thermador and 27 inches on the other side and a penisula into the living room of 58" by 54" by 45". I've had a small dark kitchen for 18 years with hideous yellow formica and prefab dark cabinets. So I now have huge picture windows; reclaimed custom fir cabinets, white quartz counters, and a red tile backsplash.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Animala's finished kitchen.

I first planned on quartz, now I'm planning on Black Galaxy granite.

I haven't looked at much yet, but designers are telling us caesarstone or corian for our MCM update. We liked caesarstone sample; haven't seen corian yet. I'm still trying to figure out where my counters are going to be.

Mahogany, on both sink/stove and counter side of a galley kitchen, made in a local cabinet shop. Sealed with multiple coats of oil-based finish at their shop. Love them! I'm still babying them a bit, but I'm sure I'll get over that fast.

We just had Vetrazzo's Floating Blue recycled glass countertops installed. No pictures yet but there is no doubt now as to what will be our kitchen's WOW factor! :))

Soapstone and butcher block.

We went with Tropic Brown granite for our recent remodel and ABSOLUTELY love it.

Tropical Brown for us - love it. It's predominantly black/brown but there are these glimmering silver quartz flecks that pick up the stainless appliances.

The finished kitchen up north was Silestone STELLAR SNOW, a twinkly grey/silver/white quartz. white cabs, and a 13" granite tile floor in a confetti black/grey/white, stainless appliances.

And the kitchen we are planning down south is going to have a split personality since it is a galley style kitchen--the range side will be stainless counters on either side of a stainless gas range. The sink/fridge side will have the quartz counter top but not certain about the color. I do love the sparklies though, hope I can get a warmer version of Stellar Snow, that surface is amazing for NEVER showing any water or dropped crumbs--you have to FEEL the surface to find the spots which need cleaning! Floor will probably be 18" Italian porcelain tile which has proven to be a pleasing surface.

I will definetly do quartz.

Leaning towards Silestone for the Microban.

Want off-white color.

Leaning towards Yukon White.

Copper copper copper. Love it, love it. (I did it last year, does this still count for this thread?) Would have done soapstone had I been able to afford it at the time, and may still change some of the pieces out at some point if I ever get bored with the copper. I'm fond of surfaces that are alive and natural and change with use, despite my formica-generation mother's gasps of horror. :-)

Bamboo or marble. Hopefully, I can make up my mind before they take me away in that funny white jacket.

circuspeanut, do you have pics of your copper? Have you used it throughout your kitchen? Still in the planning stages before building a new house, we're starting with the kitchen. I'm looking for surfaces and treatments with old-world feel and lots of texture. Don't mind if the surface gets a little banged-up over time (just as long as the overall integrity remains intact). I've been thinking about marble, wood and soapstone for counters. The performance of stainless would be handy in some spots, however, it is not at all the look I'm going for. Copper, OTOH... ;-)

Soapstone is practical - remember the tabletops in chemistry lab? - but I've never seen soapstone after multiple years of use that didn't look beatup unless it was freshly oiled.

Some people don't mind that (I wouldn't, I love the way it feels to the touch) but I'd worry about it for resale.

Polished granite, if it's tested to not need sealing, is incredibly practical. I don't think that there's much to hate there but I have seen some stones that people picked because they matched the cabinets that were just downright ugly.

I don't know anyone who has, or has had, corian who would have it again.

Dh and I finally came to an agreement - we are putting plywood down.

I will for sure get marble on my hutch.

We simply could not agree and soon he'll be back on contract work and gone until late fall. Cabinets are being built right now, so we'll put them in and put 3/4" plywood on top. We have a drop in sink and cooktop, so they can be put in place and usable in the interum.

It will also give me time to save up more money so DH can't use the "we can't afford it" line to veto anything but laminate LOL!

And who knows, maybe I can save up enough to get a sink I really like instead of the standard stainless double bowl DH bought on sale 4 years ago back when we first decided we would be moving the kitchen (before I found GW and got my head full of all sorts of new ideas).

Cathy

I have chosen a plain, honed quartz. I read in a trends report somewhere that busy granites and shiny finishes are on their way out; plus I like the contemporary look and low maintenance.

In the midst of planning - stainless. Bulletproof, sleek. The kitchen is a very small urban galley kitchen - for a bigger kitchen, I would choose differently for reasons of warmth and cost.

We started out planning on using Formica for a couple of reasons: mainly due to a limited budget but also because I have lived with Formica all my life and never really had any problems with it. But we ended up installing granite becuase there are some really great deals right now (at least in my area) on granite. It still was more than Formica, but for the first time in years it was within our budget range. We went with a Venetian Gold which is just a little bit darker (more browns and blacks, no burgandy spots) than the New Venetian Gold. It was just installed last week and I so, so, so love it. It may not be the current trend, but I love it! Besides price, I don't think I could stand soapstone in my kitchen. After being a science major and then working for 7+ years in a lab job, soapstone just reminds me too much of the lab!

Hey clb123 that's how I feel about SS..... way toooo morgue like for me LOL
I'm giving in and getting SS frig but MAY have it covered??? Have Corian counters now and HATE them !!!! Black color and scratches badly. Put Quartz in bar and love it but, will go with Granite in new kitchen. Love the deep rich colors.

Laminate, perhaps "Bernard" by Pionite, which is somewhat like a gray-black-cream-lt brown granite. Plus a chunk of butcherblock each side of the stove.