Maybe soapstone can be more expensive as it's not as common in some areas. Maybe because granite is probably more indestructible than some SS. (Of course with ss, you can repair scratches, dings, etc.) You can imitate the look pretty well, just not the feel of ss.

we used to have soapstone on the lab benches and they were pretty dinged and scratched. after cleaning they looked good but soon after the dings showed again. i, now, have granite in my kitchen and it is over four years old and there is no staining, scratching or any signs of wear. i would choose granite over soapstone any day by the way, i have bleue pearl and all those little flecks and shiny mica pieces look busy but keep their first day look forever

We were set until the last minute to get soapstone. I love soapstone -- the feel, the look, the functionality. I still think it would have looked great in my kitchen and I can't keep my hands off it when I'm around it. The extra 1,500 to 1,700 that soapstone would have cost (above the price of our honed granite) was not the issue. So why at 11 hours and 59 seconds hour did I switch over to honed dark granite?

There were three issues that added up to my last-minute decision to chose honed black pearl:

1. My oiled soapstone samples read as too black. I ended up liking the slightly softer dark gray/black of the honed dark granites as opposed to the dark black oiled soapstone. The lighter unoiled soapstone that looks so beautiful in many GW kitchens could have been an option; but the look felt too rustic for my kitchen.

2. My husband likes things perfect and doesn't appreciate patina. I'm a no-nonsence cook who operates fast and furiously in the kitchen. I knew that I didn't want to worry one minute about dents and scratches, even if I could sand or oil them out. Although the P.A. soapstone we liked was supposed to be one of the hardest and addressed my concerns about dents and scratches, it was also one of the blackest.

3. The place where we planned to buy our soapstone recommended against polishing to the finer grit used on the sample we liked so much. I got cold feet at the last minute, fearing that my counters would look more arts and crafts mountain lodge than 1920s vintage colonial.

Oh, and throw in decision fatigue. Fearing that I couldn't make the perfect decision, I went with what I considered a safer decision.

I have had both, the dark granite was easier to take care of. I do not try to keep my soapstone pristine but it still needs oiling periodically. I do think soapstone looks really nice in a period kitchen, especially with white cabs. For 5+ years the granite needed nothing but clean it up - I used about 25% alcohol and 75% water and wipe dry.

I had a similar last minute decision but in favor of soapstone. It was between that and honed jet mist...boy those were some restless nights. I think the end I think I could have gone either way and been happy, but at the last minute I felt the pull away from something that would require chemical sealers in favor of the more 'organic' choice. The dinging of my soapstone does kind of bum me out...but i've learned to live with it. The feel of it along with its other pluses make up for that. I do love all the other honed / antiqued / leathered kitchens (francoise yours is so beautiful)!

Thank you for your responses. I'm pretty set on SS right now :) I also remember the benches in the chemistry lab and the names scratched in them, the dings and dents and chips. When I stood back and looked at them they still looked useful, solid, heavy and warm. If a beaker fell over it didn't break (tempered glass) but it didn't sound like it fell onto another piece of glass either. I just got attached to those big chunks of stone and it was sort of interesting seeing all the blemishes from years gone by. I'm a rustic, live in the forest, burn wood and love the petina of life. We're building new and have 3 yo twins along with a 28 and 30 yo and a 4 month old g-daughter. Our home is just that 'home', I appreciate lived in homes, petina, age, dinged up floors, it's all good to me. A few years ago the only store in 15 miles burned down, it had been the longest contunuously run business in Oregon until it burned in 'o4. I live in a logging community and the floor in that store had 130 years of boots tramped across it, as you went in the front door the floor was shallower at the entry do to all the caulk (cork) boots that came thru. It was awesome! You can't buy that, like my 10 yo Levi's. I'm an engineer by trade and perfection is what we strive for, in my life I appreciate being aware of things gone by and the reminders of everyday living. Yeah, SS is definatelty for me, also don't like sealers or cleaners if I can get away without them.

I LOVE soapstone! But we didn't use it because everything else in our kitchen is dark and I wanted to lighten it up a bit so we went with a light granite. We too like the more rustic lived-in look which is why we chose rustic alder for our cabinets.

I think availability may have a lot to do with it. I had to get my SS from a fabricator several hours away. No one in my area has even heard of it.

When I carry around my sample to pick out other things, the sales people fall madly in love with it. The lady at the tile store asked me all about it and literally said "If this is an option, why would anyone actually choose granite?" I'm sure there are other reasons to pick granite, but I love it and am so happy to avoid the sealers and other chemicals as well.

It was a little creepy when the door salesman kept petting it... I had to sanitize after he left! HA!

We were all set to get soapstone, but when my husband saw the chips and dings at another person's home and took into consideration the much higher cost vs. granite in our area, it was all over. Getting a matte granite (leathered) will be an appropriate compromise for us, since we remain in agreement about the dark color and dislike of the high gloss finish.

My house is 115 years old and has the original heating system (the furnace is gone but we still use the duct system that the builder put into place). The vents in the floor are surrounded by soapstone. One of them is a little chipped, but the other is perfect and shows no wear or tear.

I'm not sure what granite counters will look like in 115 years, but if the soapstone in the floor is any indication it can take a beating.

I was set on soapstone from the beginning. Many people tried to talk me into honed granite. The fabricators, who were fabulous, even told me they would want me to sign a waiver because soapstone was so much softer than granite. Once they understood I was fine with patina, they let it go and never said anything about a waver again. I think if I had gone with granite (although beautiful) I would have always had a nagging regret. I LOVE my soapstone. It's like butter:-) Actually, the leathered granite in my bath has a few oil spots that I notice every time I'm in there. The kitchen soapstone I am ecstatic with.

Loving soapstone or granite is like preferring dogs to cats. Neither preference is better or worse, just different. I think soapstone lovers are more dog people and granite lovers more cat people. Just for the record, I have both soapstone and granite and neither cats or dogs!

We had 20 years of absolutely maintenance free Swanstone - a Corian-like product that resists all stains and scratches (can be sanded) . It was a highly matrixed 'granite' looking and hid all scratches and never stained or chipped. But....there was no drama to it. My wife started looking and very quickly found soapstone. Our friends had honed slate in their vacation home and they had recently installed soapstone in their new kitchen - Baroca - the classic grey with lots of veining. They loved it.

We looked at several suppliers but they very little selection and all the same variety (gray boroca). SS is apparently still a new thing in NYC. A sample was easily scratched and chipped and this turned us off. Interestingly, we saw very little difference in the installed price for any of the surfaces that we considered (granite, SS, quartz)

Fortunately, M. Tiexiera recently opened a showroom in downtown NY and this was really important - you need to go to a supplier who has SS expertise and has a broad selection of material. We quickly realized that we were looking at the wrong variety (for us) and ended up with a sample of Brazilian Black - a much harder and darker variety with less going on in the grain. We tortured it for a month and liked the darkness. I went out Hackensack and picked from their large selection; their staff was really helpful. They did the fabrication and installation, as well.

Post script - It looks great, but SS requires more maintenance than other surfaces - there is no question about that. But It is a very rewarding stone to the touch and eye, and when it gets messed up, it can be brought back to original condition with minimum oiling. As ours is still new, it grays slowly and we get used to that, and then a little blotchy, so you get out the oil rag and everything old is new again. It is amazing.
If you want a surface that changes little with use or over time, get a synthetic, quartz or one of the more durable granites.

I have always wanted white Carrara marble but did not want to deal with heartbreaking stains from my sloppy cooking. We've had no heartbreaking stains with SS.

Thank you all for getting me excited about my soapstone! Just finished the framing phase, so I have to wait. We chose the PA for the hardness. Would have preferred something a little lighter after oiling, but I'm still happy with our decision to go PA SS over honed jet mist.

I'm a happy ss owner, thanks in part to discussions on this forum. But to echo points above (a) granite gives you massive color choice, ss very little (b) you need a fabricator who understands ss. I had to get a ss specialist from way out of town.

We got a ss sample in advance and tried our best to damage it; that helped persuade us. I strongly suggest getting samples of whatever materials you are thinking about to look at in your kitchen under different kinds of light etc.