We just had granite installed and got an antique finish on both island and perimeter counters. The Cambrian Black on the perimeters doesn't appear quite as textured as the Persian Pearl on the island, but if rolling out dough on either, I might be a bit worried about cleanup. Maybe others who have had their granite and used it can tell you more! I've always heard that people who bake a lot love marble for it's smoothness, so maybe soapstone would be the same and better than the antique finish? I love the look of the antique finish, just not sure about rolling dough on it!

I too had a tough time with the countertop decision. I am fortunate to have a kitchen with lots of light. I have dark cabinets and all of the light granite options were very washed out. I prefer a matte look so I too looked at the antique leather granites. I loved the feel of them, however I too do a lot of baking and was worried that flour and dough would get caught in the texture of the stone. The stone yard said this was a valid concern. So I looked at soapstone. Initially I thought I wanted a very dark black soapstone. However, the slab we picked has a lot of veining in it and we love it.

I have 2 young children and a husband who isn't the neatest cook. Although I do most of the cooking, food prep and cooking is a family activity. I needed a countertop surface that could hold up. I didn't want to deal with sealing granite. The soapstone is inert and won't harbor bacteria. I wanted a cool surface so when I roll dough and kneed, I won't have the dough sticking. I plan on oiling the stone to keep it on the dark side.

It has been installed but we aren't back in the kitchen yet. I like that if it does scratch, I will be able to oil it and use sandpaper to remove the scratch. During the installation of my cook top, the plumber put a deep cut in the soapstone (he has been banned from the house - this wasn't his first "oops" and it turns out it wasn't his last). The contractor will have the soapstone company come once everything is installed and fix the countertop.

Also when it was installed, the corners of my island overhang were too sharp. The installer was able to take a piece of sandpaper and make the corners rounder. This would not have been possible with other surfaces.

You have to know what you can live with. Although I have a modern/contemproary kitchen, I still thing the soapstone works for me. You have to love your countertops - they area prominent element of your kitchen and you will use them every day. Find a fabricator who is familiar with soapstone. Go see some slabs and wet them to see how they will look.

Below are some photos of my countertop.

My soapstone is from the Alberene quarry near Charlottesville VA. It's the Church Hill variety. It is very hard (for SS) and I do not oil it. I clean it with Simple Green and a magic eraser sponge. In these pics it had already darkened nicely on its own in 9 months.

Casey

Here is a link that might be useful: Alberene Soapstone

We've been using our soapstone counters (Beleza from Dorado Soapstone) for about 10 months. We wanted matte black counters (a Google search for that term led me to GW and from there to the decision to look into soapstone). We don't oil our counters and, like sombreuil's experience, ours have darkened some over the 10 months we've been using them. If I clean them with a lot of spray-on cleaner they do go back to their original dark gray with greenish streaks.

I'm no soapstone expert but I will say that I think that making categorical statements about soapstone is misleading. Some soapstones are quite hard (ours is; we've got only a few very minor scratches after nearly a year) and some are very soft. Some are prone to water spots and others not. Although the color range is small, some slabs are much more uniformly gray or black, some have dramatic veins and others are more splotchy, some have greenish sections (ours does and that was one reason we chose it) and so on.

I think you need to find some soapstone you like and then bring a sample home and put it through its paces  try to scrach it, stain it, roll dough on it.
The same with the granite. And then go from there.

I guess that's not much help and all I can really say with confidence is that I love my soapstone and am so glad we chose it. I love the way it looks and its been a breeze, maintenance-wise.

I wanted soapstone but couldn't find what I wanted to pair with my marble. I wound up with Cambrian Black in a finish they called brushed but from what I gather would likely be called antique somewhere else. You can feel kind of an orange peel texture (a ripe orange but not an old one ;-) ). It looks even more textured. I figured that if it was a problem to work with doughs, I still had the marble across the aisle and I still have my large wood board that I used before on the tile. I have worked with doughs on both the marble and the granite and cannot honestly say that one is better or worse than the other. I wouldn't worry about that.

As others have said, there is a wide range of soapstones out there, and they all have their own characteristics. You need to find a few you like the look of and check out the qualities of those specific types.

Mine is Black Venata, which is one of the softer stones. It does scratch, but the scratches aren't particularly noticeable on a day-to-day basis and disappear altogether with oiling. It has no green in it at all--just black, grey, and white, with some sparkly specs here and there.

I have not had a problem with the area around my sink. I think you'd have to be an awfully messy and splashy dish washer to get that much detergent on the counters.

This pic shows what my sink area looks like a couple of months after oiling...

I have Santa Rita Venata soapstone - black with greenish undertones and beautiful veining. I started out having water spots and rings and the oil around the sink would wear off fast and would go back to gray. After 6 months I hardly oil it, and it stays black with no water spotting and no color change near sink. It just needed time to cure, patina or whatever one calls it. I love it! It is a softer variety and lightly scratches, but not a problem for us. Here is the link to my kitchen pics.

Here is a link that might be useful: Willow Decor's Kitchen

Willowdecor,
I read your post with such hope. My minas soapstone has been a softer variety and I have had such problems with scratching, water spots and rings and the area around the sink looks terrible. I just resanded to a lower grit because I just couldn't get rid of those rings and I am oiling regularly with the hope of building up a patina and not having to deal with all the water marks anymore. Can you tell me how you oil yours and how did the water marks and rings go away? Yours is one of my favorite kitchens and I love your blog.

I really love the look and feel of soapstone but in our vacation home I just didn't want to worry about scratches. I chose Pearl Green Leathered granite which is almost black and is very 'soapstone-esque'.