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Soapstone- Any Problems, Opinions?

Rockford | Posted in General Discussion on April 17, 2008 07:23am

We really like the look and feel of saopstone and I like the 1″ net thickness, but it seemed like the stone fabricators I talked to yesterday were trying to talk me out of it.  They’ve done jobs with it before and they had a good number of remnant pieces in their yard to show me, but one point he made was durability over the long run.  This is for my own house and we certainly wont be throwing cast iron skillets accross the kitchen! 

I’ve seen some of the photos others have posted here of saopstone counters and they look great.  Has anyone had issues with duribility?  Perhaps spalling off a corner or edge?  Scratches are expected and I guess that adds to the character of the material.

Thanks!

 

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  1. jrf | Apr 18, 2008 01:00am | #1

    Yes character--expect to live with very minor nicks and scratches--but that's the character, looks normal. I installed soapstone in my kitchen 10 years ago and still love it: heatproof, non-porous, any big scratches can be easily sanded out, no finish worries just wipe on mineral oil when it looks dry.  Strong but the nice honed finish beats granite!

    John

  2. jimblodgett | Apr 18, 2008 04:09am | #2

    We have it around the kitchen sink in our new house and we both really like it.  Very organic feeling.  We plan to use it in future houses.

    I'll eat your peaches, mam.  I LOVE peaches!

  3. MikeK | Apr 18, 2008 08:38am | #3

    Rockford,

    There are different grades of soapstone. The high talc soapstone is very easy to scratch with your finger nail. This is the soapstone everyone is familiar with and warns against. The low talc soapstone is much harder to scratch. I have had a low talc soapstone slab on the island in my Kitchen for two years. Not a scratch on it. Did I mention I have 5 kids that use the island countertop daily?

    I had a good experience ordering soapstones slabs from http://www.soapstones.com. They have several different grades of soapstone, including the low talc varieties. I would highly recommend this company. I sent them templates and they fabricated my slabs including the sink cutout and cooktop cutout. They came out perfectly.

    Mike K

  4. creese15 | Oct 02, 2013 03:24am | #4

    Granite for durability

    Soap stone looks really nice in the kitchen provided, it is well maintained. Though it is heat and stained resistant, still it can easily get scratched unlike Granite. Anyway, soapstone can be repaired easily if scratched. Once per year sealing which will bring back its original shinny look.  Link removed till he comes back and explains the reason to include.

    1. User avater
      MarkH | Oct 02, 2013 06:46am | #5

      Cal, can you remove this spammer's link please? 

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