As mentioned last week in another thread, my 1904 Southern Colonial's soapstone finally, finally, FINALLY got installed -- and wow am I *so* happy I went with this over granite. I can't even tell you how many times over the past year i grappled back and forth between soapstone vs. a black-ish honed granite (ie, Nordic Antique Black). In the end, those magic words really are true: go with your gut, with what you really want. Seeing and feeling the installed soapstone, it's hard to believe I ever doubted the initial instinct. Hindsight is, as always, 20/20...

So this is two parts. First, the pics! Bear in mind I still have not acquired any mineral oil, and so what you're seeing is the pure, raw, unoiled soapstone. It's actually darker in its raw state than I would've initially figured, but it's definitely begging for an oiling :-) The pics seem to give it a bit of a blue-ish hue, but that's inaccurate as it's just a medium grey in reality.

The sink in that last pic... is the Ticor S105-8. It's the one where the left bowl is 17-3/4" and the right bowl is 13". I hotly debated that vs. the Ticor 405D (21" left, 10" right).... and in the end opted for the "more useable right sink". So far I like what I see, but I'll have a better feel when I start using it. The installers did a great job with the sink cutout, and the very slight negative reveal I requested --- the distance from the front of the sink to the edge of the counter overhang is exactly 4".

Also, I ordered the faucet today -- after a brief dalliance with the "antique nickel" finish of a specific Jado faucet (ultra-$$, btw), followed by a detour towards a Moen, I went with my original choice of the Delta Victorian. Opted for the stainless steel finish instead of chrome, because my kitchen has a mostly "soft/matte" theme going on with the white cabs, matte soapstone, SS appliances, saturated yellow wallpaint, and 100-yr old heart of pine wood floors.

Here's a pic of the Delta Victorian, in the SS finish:

So now, onto the final question, with regard's to deee's marble tile backsplash: I think your backsplash is exquisite, and goes perfectly with your black counters and white cabinets, maintaining that neutral theme. For those that haven't seen it, here's the pic:

My question to everyone here: those beautiful grey-ish marble tiles have that fantastic veining/movement to them. Would that be a good fit above my soapstone countertops, or is there reason to be concerned about the grey tiles' veining competing/clashing with the soapstone's veining?

Also, I have read that marble tiles require lots of regular maintenance, sealing, and are prone to cracks. Is this mostly a concern for floors and counters, or are these concerns valid for counter backsplashes as well?

Cheers!
Supra92

BTW - more pics to follow, once the faucet set arrives and is installed, and after I get the soapstone oiled

julie92 -- the cabinets were custom-made by Southwest Custom Interiors in Round Rock, TX (about 15 miles north of Austin). The paint is one that I chose, sight unseen, based purely on the postings/descriptions of a few GW posters. The paint is by Sherwin-Williams, and the colour is called "Glass Of Milk" --- which, apparently, they don't advertise anymore, but I was able to get the 'formula' or the set of numbers used to recreate it. I am very happy with it -- it is not 100% pure white to the point of being too stark and 'cold', but neither is it "creamy" or "off-white." It's a very crisp, clean white -- I liked it so much that, for consistency's (and simplicity's) sake, I have wound up using it in every single room of my house for the door/archway/window/crown moulding trim. It lends a continuity from room to room, despite the walls themselves being different colours. Definitely recommend S-W's Glass Of Milk for anyone looking to have painted white cabinets in their kitchen...

As for the KA range, I've not been able to do very much cooking yet (since until last week I had no counters and still have no running water)... but i like the looks and it's certainly handled the few things I've thrown at it thus far. It, along with the rest of the appliances, are the KitchenAid Architect II series.

Cheers,
Supra92

What exactly are the brand/colour names of your respective backsplashes? Deee's grey marble is shown earlier in this thread, and bikey's is pictured here:

Bikey's is a bit at a distance, and I can't really tell if it's similar/the same as Deee's or not.

Any brands/colour names, or (better yet) links to the actual products online, would rock!

Cheers,
Supra92

WOW! That soapstone is incredible. I go back and forth between soapstone and granite as well and yours is definitely one that would push a person right over the soapstone edge. Can't wait to see your finished kitchen. Go with the marble blacksplash. It will look great in your kitchen.

I am following this thread because I have not nailed down what I want as a backsplash. I'd been toying with plain white subways tiles, then a couple weeks ago was headed toward tiles crafted in our area that had a more artisanal look. When I brought in samples I knew that they wouldn't work - too much going on with the veining in my soapstone. I like the look you're considering with the marble tiles. It gives that positive/negative feeling with the soapstone but doesn't seem like it will be too much.

I'll be checking in to see what you decide. I like your faucet choice BTW - Everything's looking beautiful!

Don't care for most granite but I do love soapstone!

I think the other marble splash is the Walk Zanger Tribeca classic white marble. Very stunning but definitely busier than my marble. I was actually going to buy the WZ but stumbled on to mine at a local tile store and it was 1/2 the price. Mine are statuary marble from a quarry in Sylacauga Alabama. I got mine from a local tile store but I think someone here found the same tile online. I've put a link for it. I'm not sure if the poster ended up buying from the online store.

Dee

Laurie

One thought I had was if you plan to oil the soapstone, might you want to do that before choosing a backpslash? From what I have seen on the forum, soapstone seems to take on a different look after oiling and for me, I would want to do that step and then see what backsplash would work for me. I do love the marble tiles....good luck and keep us posted.

By the way your kitchen is wonderful.

Supra92 and deee, please tell me everything about every inch of your kitchens!!! I'm SOOO excited I found what I was looking for in your designs!!!!!!!

Also, additional apologies to jwm211, gam51, cran, marybeth1, cookin45, and anyone else who was unable to see the pictures for a period of time. I run a webserver out of my house, so whenever lightning strikes (literally) or TimeWarner has an outage, the pics go down. Thankfully TWC is actually pretty good about uptime.

Now for the update. Since my pics from the first part of this thread, the following have been done:
- installed faucet for sink (Delta Victorian, SS finish)
- oiled the soapstone (duh!) :-)
- installed weathered-iron cabinet knobs/pulls on all cabinets
- replaced old wood ceiling fan with overhead light
- bought a (very) small kitchen table so I could sit/eat!
- installed handle on dishwasher
- installed garbage disposal

Here's a picture I took standing from the back area of the kitchen (it's shaped like an "L") looking at the main portion, from late April. It's pretty similar to how it is now, and gives a good feel for what it looks like "lived-in" on a day-to-day basis. Soapstone had just been oiled too, considering how dark a charcoal it is. :-)

As you can see, it's still not quite finished -- namely, it *still* needs the tile backsplash (deee, yep still planning on the Sylacauga Alabama marble tile you have, assuming it's still available), undercabinet lighting, and a pendant light over the sink. Plus a new set of outlet/switch covers. Once those are done, the kitchen will pretty much be complete as far as I'm concerned.

Meanwhile, a two-year update on the soapstone: is it possible to love soapstone even more now than i did in 2008? Time has done nothing to diminish my passion for those soapstone counters -- maybe that's an odd word to use, but I couldn't think of a more-accurate alternative. It does require periodic oiling -- for anyone thinking they can oil soapstone twice a month for the first 6 mos and then it's basically done, that's not been my experience. It doesn't fade to as light a chalkboard-grey as it was when I first got it, but it lightens enough that I'm compelled to oil it every, say, 2-3 months now. It certainly doesn't have to be done, but... I love oiling the soapstone and look forward to it. Nothing beats that just-oiled near-black charcoal colour with the veining 'popping' :-)

I apologise once again for the excessively-long AWOL, really appreciate the kind words. If anyone would like any specific info on any of the parts, or would like to see more pics or closeups of anything, by all means just ask and I'll put them up!

Cheers to you,
Supra92