The inspiration photo is quite different from the rustic slate you have. I can affirm the rustic slate goes well with soapstone as I have that combination--soapstone counter with slate backsplash. Depending on your climate and foot traffic into the kitchen, you might consider which is more forgiving. The dark will show smudges more easily.
Beautiful house. Please post more photos.

I looked at your inspiration picture and was like "never remove that slate or redo your kitchen" so -- nice inspiration photo! Ha ha.

I like your floors. Because the fireplace also has the variation I'd be tempted to leave them as is for consistency throughout the house. I personally think they will play well with your other finishes.

Your existing slate floor has a lot of color variation, which I think would compete with Taj Mahal or White Macaubus quartzite. Are you thinking "honed" quartzite because you prefer that look?

I have polished Mont Blanc quartzite on my kitchen counters, which I love. Mont Blanc is similar to Taj Mahal and Perla Venata; they all contain cream, grey, and beige, but read more "beige" than grey. The calacatta quartzite (aka White Macaubus) reads more white and grey, and not beige at all. There is a lot of movement in the quartzite.
I chose an unglazed, limestone-look porcelain floor tile to pair with my Mont Blanc counters. My kitchen looks contemporary - not rustic at all.

I'm guessing that soapstone would work better than quartzite with your existing floor and would be more consistent with a rustic look. I recently saw a home in my neighborhood that has slate throughout the home. They used slate on the kitchen countertop, as well, to match the slate floors.

dretutz - that's good to hear the soapstone works with your slate backsplash. I think you're probably right - the darker floor might be harder to keep looking clean. My current floor doesn't show hardly any dirt or smudges.

Here are a few other slate floors that I like - whether multi-colored or solid, I like the brick and random patterns:

[Eclectic Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/eclectic-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2104)

[Eclectic Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/eclectic-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2104) by Towson Architects & Building Designers HBF plus Design

[Contemporary Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/contemporary-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2103) by Bethesda Kitchen & Bath Designers Aidan Design

[Traditional Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by Basking Ridge General Contractors Scandic Builders, Inc.

[Traditional Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by Dallas Media & Bloggers Sarah Greenman

[Traditional Laundry Room[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-laundry-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_753~s_2107) by Chicago Interior Designers & Decorators Chelle Design Group

[Farmhouse Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/farmhouse-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2114) by Los Angeles Design-Build Firms KellyBaron

robotropolis - the first inspiration picture is wonderful, isn't it? Thanks for your input - my current floors do offer consistency with my other finishes. I could do the same slate but in a different pattern, like some of the other pictures I posted, and still have that consistency. I guess I'm wondering whether it's worth it to replace the floor just to change the pattern.

laremodel - your counters are gorgeous! I do like the look of quartzite and thought it might lighten up the kitchen, and definitely want a matte finish over gloss with any counter I choose. I see what you mean about multi-colored slate competing with the quartzite counters. What do you think about it with a solid slate floor? Still not rustic enough to work?

I love soapstone too, and don't have to worry it might not work with the floor and the rest of the house. I guess just changing from all oak to white cabinets might lighten up the kitchen enough that I don't have to worry about the counters?

With your dh able to do the work, I would go with a simpler floor than the high variation slate. It would be easier to work with, your preference and now would be the time. Of course, it's a big job so it's up to him how much he's up to it.

Maybe make material selections for both floors and see which you both prefer. The current floor could also make for an interesting kitchen. But if your goal is change and refreshing, flooring has a huge impact.

Lovely home. Your slate floor is attractive. I wouldn't replace slate tiles with slate tiles.

Are you happy with how the wood/slate transition looks? We extended wood into the kitchen because we decided to change the footprint and wall removals made the wood/tile transition look worse. It was disgustingly expensive but definitely worth it (we are mostly DIYing).

If you keep slate floors... For counters I would go with butcherblock or stainless or solid colour quartz or Corian. Maybe plain soapstone? I am allergic to the look of stone fighting with tile or stone.

This post was edited by feisty68 on Sat, Jul 5, 14 at 14:35

snookums - do you think one of the solid color slates floors that I posted would be a simpler floor than my current one? Great idea to get samples and see how they work with my other materials. I agree that changing the floor could have a big impact. We'll have to put some sort of flooring under the new cabinets anyway even if we keep the floor, since the previous owner didn't run the floors underneath so the appliances are locked in. I don't want to repeat that mistake.

Thank you, feisty. I'd love to see your kitchen! Plain soapstone sounds nice, and I like butcher block too although I prefer stone. I'm okay with the transition of the wood floor and the slate. You can see into the kitchen from the front door and the slate floor is dark enough that the transition isn't so noticeable until you're up closer. As you can see in this picture, our eastern pine floors have added "character" from my heel marks. The softness of the wood is one reason DH doesn't want to continue this floor into the kitchen!

Yes I was thinking the first inspiration floor (and some you posted later) is easier to work with than the strong color variation of the current slate (nice floor though). Its very active pattern really dominates as the star of your kitchen. So you should love it!

I was surprised to see the heel marks so looked back at your install thread I recalled. I think that first inspiration photo has a consistent mood with the shot of your lovely dining room. A simplicity, a peaceful earthiness with a European country villa feel. Whatever, I would stick to a mood you are trying to achieve. You are bringing a lot of character to your home.

If you removed the accent border and replaced it with a simple border that matched the existing floor that would be an easier way to simplify the overall look.

palimpsest - yes, I can see that. Removing the busy, smaller diagonal border would likely simplify my current floor. While I like the border overall, I tend to prefer less busy patterns.

snookums - thanks so much :) The kitchen also adjoins the dining room, so I would really like the 2 spaces to work together.

I forgot to post 2 of my favorite inspiration rooms with slate floors.

This bathroom's soapstone counters look lovely with the stone floor, and we'll probably do something similar in our master bath:

I love everything about this kitchen - especially the large format slate tiles and the antique farm table:

Love. And if that's what you love, do it! You're very lucky your dh being able to do the work makes it affordable.

But of course, see what you can come up with using the existing floor before you rip it out.

Duplicate post

This post was edited by snookums2 on Sat, Jul 5, 14 at 23:27

For what it's worth, we have slate floors adjacent to the kitchen-one is really part of the kitchen as it's our ''mud room'' entrance, and the other is in our foyer entrance from the front door. The floor in our kitchen is maple. But what I wanted to tell you is that we also have soapstone counters, and they go quite well with the slate. Our counters are not as wild as some, but they aren't plain either. And the slate is multicolored as well, but again, not wild.

I agree with pal that replacing the border would help.
HTH

leela - good to know that soapstone counters work well with your multicolored slate!

Thanks, snookums :) I think I'll get some soapstone and slate samples next week.

OMG.
1) NO. Are you nuts? Ok, that was my inner voice. Those floors are something many of us would KILL as in preform murder to have.

2) something that didn't compete with that beautiful floor would be a darker soapstone, which I, for one, would preform murder to have. Instead, I'm just saving my money.

You are so lucky!

CEF - lol, you're funny! Thank you for the compliment on my floors - you did mean my current floors right, not all the beautiful inspiration floors I posted?! :-)

I do like the current floors, and not replacing them means $$ I could put towards cabinet or appliance upgrades. I'll have to think on this. While I do love, love the floor patterns in some of my inspiration pics, it seems a shame to take out an attractive floor that works with the stone in the rest of the house. It's good to be reassured that it doesn't look dated or anything. I guess if I don't replace the kitchen floor, I can still use one of these other patterns in the guest bath and/or master bath remodel.

I so agree with you that soapstone is gorgeous. My neighbors have it in their kitchen and they love it - and I get to visit it sometimes! I've gotten great feedback here re using soapstone w/slate floors over a lighter quartzite and feel much better about this decision, so thank you to all!

Why spend the money and effort when your floors are 85% and integrate so well with similar elements in the rest of the home. It's not worth it for a 15% ''gain'' that would not integrate nearly as well as what you have. Use ''inspiration'' pics as exactly that. Not as original masterworks to be slavishly reproduced.

Thanks so much for your input, hollysprings and nosoccermom. I understand what you're saying, and when we decided to stay in the same footprint I immediately thought we'd keep the floor. Then I started googling images of off white cabinets with slate floors to get an idea of how it would look. That's when I realized that while I prefer the multicolored slate with stained cabinets, I was drawn more to the solid color floor with painted cabinets.

So, it was both the color and pattern of the current floor that I was questioning in our remodel, since now would be the time to make a change, if any. I thought using a slate in just one of the colors from the ledge rock in the fireplace might work better with the off white cabinets and still complement what we have.

I'm glad to find out that my floor doesn't "need" replacing though, just based on aesthetics. It has been a great floor - hides the dirt almost too well and easy to care for.

Here are some pics I found of white cabinets with multicolored slate floors - all very nice, just a somewhat different look than the solid slate. I'm not sure I found any pics of painted cabinets with the diamond pattern slate floor. Maybe I'll be posting my own soon :-)

This post was edited by juddgirl2 on Sun, Jul 6, 14 at 16:24

nosoccermom - thanks for posting more pics! I think my kitchen would look very similar to the first picture you posted, with the darker counters and ORB hardware.