I actually like the first soapstone, the reflection from the shiny one is quite disturbing to me.

Your carrera marble is gorgeous, great for an island. Don't feel it is too busy but I get you that the lower left side maybe a bit more.

Oh yes, I like the "look" of the first one much better as well as far as the matte finish, but I could scratch it with my fingernail and that is just too soft I think. The shiny one was a lot harder and the veins/movement are very pretty but the gloss it just awful. It looks like a granite. I was just wondering if it is possible or even likely to get it back to the matte stage or if I should look somewhere else. My fabricator uses this yard a lot so they don't charge a transportation fee or anything like that. I am willing to pay more to get it right of course. I have just never seen anything like this, why would they even do that to soapstone?

Beautiful marble, but the 2nd soapstone looks like what they told us was a serpentine? which is harder than soapstone, but has sheen.
Although it looks like they polished it. If it was polished ask to see it unpolished.
I'm doing the same CT's :0

Love your marble. I don't think it is too busy at all but I love stone with a lot of movement.

I will be the dissenter. I actually like the glossy soapstone but agree that it looks like granite. It is such a beautiful color and I love the veining in it. I would ask about them honing it for you to knock down the shine and give you the lovely matte soapstone look you are trying for.

I see no reason why the fabricator can't sand it back to matt finish.

The marble is beautiful. I don't think it is too busy, especially if it spoke to you. I don't know enough about soapstone to offer an opinion.

I like the marble too. Have you mapped out which part is the island? That could help you visualize what the island will look like and how busy it will actually be. You can use blue painter tape to block out the measurements.

I'm doing the same thing you are! I actually like the first soapstone more, but that might just be the way the color turned out in your photos.

My perimeter will be a silver-ish honed soapstone and my island will be a honed carrara marble. Mine is going to be installed this Friday; so excited! And you have great taste!

Also, talk to your fabricator about doing a honed finish. My marble slab came polished, and they're honing it for me. I would imagine they can do the same for soapstone...

I like the first soapstone also, but then it's similar to mine, so I'm biased!
BTW, my soapstone is "fingernail scratch-able" and I don't baby it at all! love it, and all the patina that comes with it...

This post was edited by ctycdm on Wed, Sep 18, 13 at 23:18

I have carrara and soapstone. I passed on a soapstone I really liked because I could scratch it with my fingernail (I'd spent too much time here reading all about soapstone scratching and being soft). While I do like the looks of the harder slab I eventually ended up with, if I were to do it over again I would not eliminate a choice just because it scratches with a fingernail. Guess what? My very hard soapstone also scratches, so in the end no big dif. Get the look you want.

I think there is some sort of coating or resin or finish on the second ss slab. My son and DIL got a soapstone that also seemed different from some sort of surface treatment.

If you don't like what you can get at this yard, try another one because you will be living with your choices for a long time.

Foxcrane- I can't wait to see pictures of your kitchen. I am having the marble honed too.

needinfo1- Good to know, it is hard to choose something for utilty over looks esp. if it isn't really going to be that much different. How is your son/DIL's soapstone doing? I was reading about how if soapstone is over polished it can be a bear with showing watermarks and rings etc.

ctycdm - Do you know what "type" of soapstone you have? I am not really that worried about scratches, I am more worried about dropping things on the counter and taking out dings/chips. I am a bit clumsy.

If you aren't ever going to set orange juice or anything even mildly acidic on your marble, go for it. It will nearly etch by looking at it. Forget about keeping that shine without budgeting for repeated expensive refinishing. You can get a www.clearstone.com treatment to prevent etching, but that's about $60.00 per square foot.

My son and DIL had their ss installed about a month before I got mine installed. They bought from the same yard we did (the one in our area that specializes in ss and had maybe 8 or 9 different varieties). The more shiny/finished surface of theirs looked so different from the other varieties available that they asked the yard why. They were told that it is authentic ss and this was the way it came from the distributor. Theirs is definitely not as glossy as a granite, but it looks more like a stone that had some sort of oiled or waxed treatment done. Mine is completely untreated and a matte that I have not oiled or waxed. Both of our varieties will show rings from water glasses, but they will wipe off when the counter is washed. They say they are happy with their ss despite all of the initial angst (they'd been worried because they have a very active and rambunctious 2 1/2 year old who like most kids is not in the least bit careful about anything, and she sits at the counter to eat and color).

I have to tell you that after the 5 or 6 months I have had them I am thinking that the honed marble is actually easier to keep up than the ss. But, my marble is on some counters that don't get much heavy duty use, and they are not a primary prep area. I haven't seen a big problem with etching at all, and these seem easier to maintain on a daily basis than my ss.

FoxCrane - I just saw your gorgeous slab on another post & remembered you are getting it installed tomorrow. Please post pictures.