Did you check out Dorado soapstone in Denver? Call them. I bet they would send you samples.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dorado soapstone- Denver

Without naming the company I work for, I can tell you there is another company in Denver with soapstone as well as one in Colorado Springs. Funny how the "D" word gets dropped on this forum all the time but the rules state I'm not allowed to mention our company.
If you're after a lighter green to go with cherry, Light Julya is a good choice. Another is Emerald Sunshine.
Also, custom soapstone sinks are available. Under mount, farm front, even pitch front farm front also known as a Philadelphia front.
Whatever you do, I would urge you to shop around until you've found the stone that is exactly what you want. It's too important a decision to just "settle".

another granite substitute:

honed jet mist (which has a little more character than honed absolute black (imo))

Pietra Cordosa (etching or no, the stuff is beautiful).

We have natural cherry and went with antique nordic black granite. I really wanted soapstone, but couldn't fit it in the budget. Here are a couple of pictures. It looks lighter in the pictures than in person.

Another granite you might want to consider is honed Uba Tuba. It has that soft black appeal of soapstone, and the little hint of green works nicely with the cherry cabinets. Oh! It's one of the more affordable granites, too!

Nicole

Hey Kevinb_Flyguy --

How might one search for soapstone suppliers in a given city in a way that would turn up a comprehensive list?

I know you can't advertise here - but how could someone find you if they were determined to look?

Thanks everyone:

Kevin,

I sent an email through your GardenWeb profile. If you do not get it please contact me. You can take my GardenWeb user name -- chris_harper2 -- and add it to at yahoo dot com.

Everyone else, thanks for the suggestions. Antiqued Nordic is something I already have a sample of and is being considered.

I can address a few of your points:

-Last year there was a bit of discussion about a "green soapstone" which was not typical looking- and many said that it was really a serpentine. This might be what you've seen.

-On busy soapstone: We were finding soapstones that were too busy or too dull. What worked for us was to find out when NEW shipments were expected, then make calls to track the progress. Our perfect stone arrived on my birthday last year. If you know when it's arriving, you can be the first to choose the best slabs.

-On splatter marks: Our soapstone is a fairly dark one, and has really not required a lot of oil/wax treatments. It went dark pretty much right away. There are no issues with splatter marks next to my range. I never see spots of any kind.

-On substitutes: We were all set to go with antiqued Virginia Mist granite as a backup plan. This is a very pretty dark grey granite. It has many soapstone-like characteristics. There is a gorgeous kitchen in the finished kitchens blog that shows it off- check out those photos. In our area it is so popular that we could have had it for the cost of how many sq feet were used, as opposed to the price of full slabs. It would have been much much less $$ than our soapstone. It is a gorgeous stone. Don't know why there is not more buzz about it. The Antique finish is a tiny bit rougher than "honed" and adds to the "soapstone look" and makes for better maintenance. Dark honed granite can be a nightmare for showing marks, crumbs etc. I have friends with polished black granite and they are very unhappy.

Another pretty stone is Pietra Cardoza, which has variable reports on maintenance. I understand that the counters at Restoration Hardware are made of this stone (although often they report it to be soapstone). To me, the Pietra is very similar to the Virginia Mist.

For sink: we used Silgranit in biscuit. The matte finish works very well with the understated look of the soapstone. It's a rectangular super-single sink, and is fully under-mounted. It works out perfectly.

best wishes- hope you find what you want!

Sweeby,
I would just type in the web browser for soapstone in whatever state or city you're looking. I've found that within the first couple of choices Dorado will be there. I would probably shudder if I ever found out what it cost them to have their company name come up so soon whenever there is a browser query. Just start scrolling through the choices that are below to find some variety in stone types, availability and services. BTW...I just typed soapstone on mars and guess what the first choice was?
Chris, answered your e-mail.

I love the veined soapstones but think they are too soft for the kind of abuse they would receive in my kitchen. I still want soapstone but DH wants granite so I've been looking into alternatives. Today I saw cambria black antique(very nice but a bit too textured for me and had lots of shiny black bits I didnt care for), leathered absolute black (really pretty, very quiet, didn't show fingerprints but can't speak to oil etc) and leathered nordic black (also quite pretty, a bit more going on than the absolute). Have you considered slate? A neighbor of mine has it and I know they don't baby it yet it still looks beautiful after 2 years. Also, someone here, I can't remember who but it was a recent thread, has honed verde butterfly. Haven't seen it yet in person but it sure looks pretty in pictures. I hope you find something you love!

Take a look at Cambrian Black Antique....