Is it original green or Green Mountain Original? I've never heard of Original Green. Different places use different names though.

Kat :)

I am not sure? It looks charcol gray with a green hue and veining

I have Green Mountain Original and I would have to say that it reads black, especially when freshly oiled. As the oil wears off it has more of a gray cast to it, but even then I think most would say it looks dark gray not light gray. When it's newly oiled the veins have a cool greenish look to them. It's not really a dark green like a hunter green, but more like a hard to describe "cool" green...that's helpful isn't it? Sorry! You don't walk in and look at it and think...wow that is green, it's more subtle and it's combined with the white of the veining so it doesn't scream "I'm Green!" Hope that makes sense! Maybe a pic will help!

Oiled Green Mountain Original

Kat :)

Yes this helps. I wish mine had as much veining as yours! I think that mine is different though. Guess I'll just have to wait and see.

Constantino behind Meta has beautiful Julia slabs and their prices were less than the surrounding suppliers. The Julia is blue/black with a green hint. Good luck!

thank you reshal. I saw the julia but the slabs I saw didn't have any veining. Too bad because I believe the Julia is harder than other gray soapstones. Thanks again!

Megpie,

I'm in portland. :) Portland and Seattle seem to (more or less) get all their stone from one distributor in Seattle. That's what I've been told anyway and everyone seems to have the same stone.

I spent 4 days (actual days) last week picking out the new slabs for my kitchen. I went in with my tape measure, painters tape and mister and actually put my layout on the soapstone in tape so I could get each piece right where I wanted it.

I have oodles of pictures but no decent way to post them because I have no "photo bucket" or whatever for pictures but I wanted to say that you should keep in mind that soapstone is DARKER with the oiling than with the water. So if you wet it with water at the slab yard, which is pretty standard, it will NOT be as dark as with water. Lesmis's photo is pretty close to my slabs though mine have less white veining and more green veining.

I have a piece of a gray soapstone that I carried around for a long time from apartment to apartment. When we started looking at the greens instead of the black (for the same reasons as you) I couldn't get past how green it was. It was SO green! lol. So I came home and grabbed the piece I already had from where it had been in storage for the past two years (and so not oiled) and tossed some water on it to see how dark it was. I was shocked at how light colored my black soapstone was compared to my memories. So I turned around and oiled half the block. There is a night and day difference!

If I were you I'd smuggle a dishcloth soaked in oil in a plastic baggied with you to go look at the green slabs. I think you might find that they are much, much darker than you think.

I have original green from Pental in Portland. I didn't understand why is had green in the name until it was installed. It reads gray, black most of the time. I have a raised bar with pendant lights and under the lights it can read green when it's freshly oiled. Definitely not a problem for me since my paint is green as is my glass blacksplash but I truly did not see the green before.

I figure there's a chance yours is from Pental too and if it is I'll add that I've been very, very pleased with the durability, scratching isn't even an issue, although I did chip it near the sink when I dropped a heavy ceramic vase. The vase didn't survive but I think even granite or solid surface would have chipped as the soapstone did.

Thank you stephand. It must be the same concidering the description you gave me. Sounds like the green that is in it is very subtle which is fine with me. I just don't want it to read "emerald GREEN!" Does yours have veining? If so do they become more pronounced with oiling or fade? Do you have any pictures? Thanks again.

morgne. Are you saying that I might like the green more than I think because it gets very dark? You chose original green, is that right? I have a sample of original green and originally ruled it out because it looked too green (though I think it was treated with something other than oil). The slabs of the same name at Pental look more like a DARK gray with a green hue. I am wondering if some of the shipments they receive differ in shades even though they are essentially the same. Could you possibly email your pics? Thanks for your response. Everyone's input helps so much.

Megpie,

No problems with mailing my pics but I don't know how to do that through gardenweb. Tell me how and I'll send them right over.

I DID go with Pental for my slabs. They have the widest selection in my area (as far as choices of slabs and I'm freakishly particular). Pental does call it "original green" but I've found that soapstone is much harder to distinguish by names. What I got I would defintely call gray with a green hue.

I should have them installed in the next few weeks (or at least onsite and partially in) so if you are not in too big a hurry you'll be able to see some pics of them in. *crosses fingers*

Morgne. My email address is tankers@comcast.net. You can just email them without using garden web if you know how. If not don't worry about it. I think if you go to "my pictures" on your computer you can RIGHT click on the chosen picture and an option to "email picture" should appear (among other options). But like I said, don't worry about it if it is too much work. Thanks and have a great day!

Sent!