It was good of him to tell you about the slab since my mom and I both have granite that we would have appreciated someone pointing out how bad the quality is. We live in different states and not even the same supplier.

I hope this will bode well for you with your fabricator being conscientious in pointing out what you most likely wouldn't have been happy with. Good that you have time to wait for the new to arrive. Yea!

I was hoping you'd be a guinea pig for Noire. It's dark and quiet, with no green, which is what I'm looking for.

However, my sample of Noire arrived from Dorado cracked completely in half. All the other samples were fine and there was no visible damage to the box.

I also spoke to a well-regarded fabricator who said he said it's a schist, not a soapstone (less talc, I guess that means). Schist splits.

Great looking stone, though. Let us know what happens.

Yeah, I'm really glad that he told me rather than forge ahead with low quality soapstone.

Marcolo ~ The Noire sample was beautiful - A deep black with very subtle and quiet veins. My new soapstone won't be Noire but I'm not sure yet what it'll be. He's stopping by this week with samples (I live 2.5h away from my fabricator).

fwiw ~ My Noire slab did originate from Dorado.

We occasionally call a customer and tell them their stone is rejected for various reasons. However, the only time it's after we've started cutting is when the slabs are discovered to be thinner in the middle. Normally visible defects like fissures or fill are spotted before cutting.

I am VERY surprised at a month delay. I would consider a normal delay to be no more than a few days.

Oldryder ~ The month delay is mostly due to my location as I live in rural BC. Things take time here ;)

Marcolo ~ Out of curiosity, have you decided on your soapstone?

No, I haven't. The effort of sending me a sample and telling me if it's available seems to far surpass the capabilities of all the fabricators and stoneyards on the East Coast, apparently.

However, the only time it's after we've started cutting is when the slabs are discovered to be thinner in the middle.

This exact thing happened to me and they just couldn't make the two sides of the seam match because the granite was thinner in the center. They told me to pick another slab.

Marcolo ~ My fabricator is bringing in some slabs of "Majestic" soapstone. Any experience with that variety? I'll see samples later this week. Apparently it looks quite light when wet but goes very dark once enhanced.

Jerzeegirl ~ Sorry to hear that you had to start over too.

Me again,

I just wanted to update this thread after meeting with my fabricator. The Noire slabs were so bad that he ended up getting a refund from Dorado. His new slabs are going to be "Majestic" soapstone from the company that provided "PA" soapstone.

Here are some photos of the sample he brought (this sample has been enhanced twice). I don't love it as much as the Noire... It has more green in it and appears more muddled? But my location has a lot to do with my options, so I guess this is it.

WIth my backsplash tile:

With my cabinets:
{{!gwi}}

A Majestic Soapstone slab (not mine):
{{!gwi}}

laura,

I love your backsplash. Can you tell me what it is?

I think the green in your backsplash will tie in really well with the bit in the Soapstone. However, if you are not happy with it, can you put things on hold until you find a slab you are happy with?

What color are your cabinets? I'm going with a "white" too, so I like to compare. :-)

I talked to the guy from Green Mountain Soapstone--the suppliers of the Majestic. He told me that the original PA Soapstone quarry is no longer available, and they are offering the Majestic now. Good luck, and what a pain to have to go through this.

ntredway ~ I'm glad you like it! My backsplash is Saltillo's sunflower marble mosaic in ming green. Mpagmom used the same tile in the small format (I'm using the large format). I'll link her beautiful kitchen below.

jeri ~ I can't really put things on hold for a new slab, but my fabricator is bringing in 20 slabs, so there will be some choice. I think the issue is that the Majestic, in general, is more green in colour and lighter than other soapstones. I chose BM Mascarpone for my cabinets.

needinfo1~ That's also what I heard. I was originally supposed to get PA soapstone, then Noire, and now Majestic.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mpagmom's finished kitchen

Hi Laurajane02. I'm begging you to post a picture of your backsplash when it's done. I'd love to see the large format! I didn't even know that there was a large format until I got mine and I fretted a while over whether I'd made the wrong choice. My tile installer would have really appreciated larger pieces because some of it gave him a fit.

The soapstone is beautiful! I wanted soapstone for a while, but it's too hard to get around here so I gave up.

Mpagmom ~ My backsplash is at least 2 months away from being done, but I'll post a picture for you. I wouldn't fret over your backsplash though, it's beautiful! I keep going back to your kitchen for inspiration. Fwiw, I'm also using this tile on my bathroom floor.

This is an interesting thread because last week we looked at some slabs we were interested in on Wednesday, and then on Saturday we heard the distributor was returning all of the slabs (including those on hold for customers) because of the poor quality of the stone. When we looked, some of thes labs were marked indicating they had pits and fissures, but apparently they just decided the entire batch was bad.