Don't you have to consider how much you spent on cutting equipment and other materials. If you had to go out and buy the cutting tools and stuff then that would cut into the saving I am guessing.

Good for you, it looks great.

A lot of things are DIYable if you have the right tools. I need a 28" marble threshold for my bathroom. They are all 36", and not too expensive. I asked the clerk at Home Depot if they would cut it for me. No, he said, but I could cut it myself with the right saw - $200!

Looks lovely -- and great backsplash, too! I hope yours goes equally smoothly in your kitchen.

Looks great and that's a beautiful kitchen. Thanks for sharing this as we have considered DIY soapstone also.

Can you give a rundown on the tools you used?

You mentioned it's not professional quality, but I've seen uneven joints in professionally installed granite so it may be you were looking for a level of perfection that might be very difficult to achieve.

Beautiful!!! Did you have to do any finish work on the horizontal surfaces? We just had our counters installed by Teixiera. The edges of our installed slabs look and feel more like honed granite, while the horizontal surfaces feel like buttery soapstone. I was asking the installer about the finish. They of course finish the cut edges (apparently with a very fine grit), but he said the slabs are already finished when they come from Brazil. (And if /when we get scratches, they recommend we use a 220 grit sandpaper to sand them out.)

Off topic, but is the backsplash marble? We're trying to find calacatta oro marble in a very small format, as we have only a few inches between the sink counter and the window trim. We were thinking maybe a 1x2 running bond, and it looks like that's what your cousin has. If so, can you tell me what it is and where they got it? Thanks.

The tools: My cousins husband paid for 1 diamond blade we used, $15 and the three tubes of epoxy ($12?). Everything else we had: circular saw, tape measure, straight edge, clamps, angle grinder, orbital sander, 80-200 grit sandpaper, metal ruler (for very accurate measurements and blade offsets) uhm.. pencils?

He bought a cheap blade but it lasted for 4 rip cuts (to width) and at least 6 cross cuts. It was getting dull by the end, so a bigger job would need either more blades or likely higher quality ones. But it looked something like this:
A blade like this

And a note: Cutting marble is VERY different from cutting soapstone. Soapstone can be cut and sanded almost like a really (really) dense wood (ie same tools, different blades).

We cut it dry and someone held a vacuum behind the saw as it went to pick up all (well some) of the dust (which is plentiful and ridiculously fine and hard to clean up if you aren't in a work area).

We didn't do anything to finish the horizontal surfaces, they are cleaned up and 'polished' (not really, but not rough). Sanding the edges and corners by hand was fine, some of the seams needed the orbital sander. You couldn't tell where you had sanded versus what came finished from MTx, at least once you got up to the 200.

I think the backsplash is actually something like 5/8x2? I think it came from www.thetileshop.com and it cost something like $13/sq ft. I can't find it online right now... maybe I have the wrong place?
Here is something on eBay:
Not an endorsement, I have no idea how good this tile is.

brickton, it looks fabulous! You did such a nice job! I bet you can't wait to do your own, now. Your cousin's kitchen is coming along beautifully.

momj47, one of the great things about soapstone is that you can work it with ordinary woodworking tools. We DIYed our counters and didn't have to buy any new tools. We did buy a new blade for our circular saw and a new diamond hole saw bit for our drill( for inside corner radiuses,) but as experienced DIYers we already owned a jigsaw, circular saw, drill, belt sander, random orbit sander, etc. We did figure in the cost of some ribeyes and beer for our muscled help as our penninsula chunk was extremely heavy at 7 1/2' x 40".

This comes at a perfect time for us--we're trying to decide if we can DIY.

Did MTEX show you images of the actual slabs you would be buying? Besides the lift gate (great tip, thanks) do you have any other guidance for working with MTEX? We are interested in Barocca as well -- did you have any unforseen events as part of the install? Who did you work with at MTEX and were you totally satisfied with them?

Thanks for sharing your experience --

laxsupermom- I'm very excited with how it came out, not only for them, but because I feel so confident that we can do it for our house and have it come out so well.

Also, I forgot that we also had a diamond hole saw bit for the faucet, but they already had it.

sayde- I didn't deal directly with M.Tiex, but apparently they were great. The shipping company was a bit shady, they tried to say they couldn't contact M.Tiex at one point but my cousin was able to get someone on the phone every time. They did not see the slabs ahead of time, and there was a pretty big difference, 2 were fairly calm, 2 were nice and wild.
The install went very smoothly. The only hiccup was some leveling issues (which were not entirely unforeseen) but some shims and sanding took care of it.
Overall they highly recommended M.Tiex and we are going to use them as well, but we're planning on going with Cobra because we want a nice bland, consistent black(ish) stone. I don't think you need a guide for dealing with them because from what I hear, they're pretty great.

Wow,that looks fabulous! Hats off the the DIY job. Being a DIYer myself, I am always encouraged by people taking on tasks like counter tops.

Thanks for the additional details. That really helps those of us who may be on the fence about this soapstone DIY deal.

I put a link to The Tile Shop below. I didn't see that tile there, but may have looked in the wrong place. The Tile Shop is primarily for DIY projects. If you are near their stores should visit their beautiful showroom at least to get ideas.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Tile Shop

Thanks for sharing that--we've been planning on doing concrete counters, but it sounds like DIY soapstone wouldn't be much more expensive (we've got the tools), and would take less time...food for thought. The counters look fabulous.

I am looking at getting MT soapstone too but my contractor is nervous about messing it up (which cracks me up because I have known him for over 20 years! LMBO) but I think I can talk him into it with these posts. I wish I could pick out my slab though! I looked into Green Mountain here and I was told that it would be about $160/ sq foot - is that right? It seems like an insane price - especially when per slab it is more like $50. I know that is not installed but it can't be that hard to cut a couple rectangles!! (we have no corners). My big question though - are any of them too soft? I want to get the hardest one I can obviously. Anyone have any info on that? I can't seem to find any. THANKS. All the kitchens I have seen on here with soapstone are gorgeous!

raenjapan- We also were considering concrete countertops but things like improper aggregate ratios leading to cracking, splitting and bubbles scared us off. Plus the finishing is a lot more work, I think. I still want to do some concrete somewhere... maybe outdoors for a potting bench or barbecue or something. Also the amount of time in comparison is ridiculous. I still can't believe how quick it went. One weekend, and not even a full one for a small kitchen.

colorfulaura- I also calculated the material at about $50 so it doesn't come terribly cheap. Are you saying you don't have any seams? If so, do it. We watched some of the videos here (Canadian Soapstone How Tos) and they were super helpful. Instead of the rubber mats though (which were surprisingly pricey) we just used criss crossed two by fours, being sure that all sides and under any cut were supported. As for hardness, there are harder and softer varieties and you can try to search the forum, but your best bet is to ask Florida Joshua or call M.Tiexera and ask them. They are the experts, I'm just a yokel DIYer.

Almost any stone is do-it-yourselfable. Silestone is an exception just because they won't sell you the slabs. I had silestone counters installed and they left me the cutouts and cutoffs. I bought 12 X 12 X 1/2" silestone tile for the backsplash.
I spent about $250 for a 3/8" roundover wheel, a set of dry polishing pads and a 4 1/2" diamond blade. I already had a tile saw and an angle grinder. The cost of tools was pretty insignificant compared to the cost of the counter and tiles.
I made about 20' of roundover edges on the tile. Then i cut a 14" circle out of the 3 cm silestone , roundover top and bottom and made a lazy susan. A little slow because of the hardness of the stone, but not particularly dificult. I would be tempted to try the whole countertop myself if I ever do this again. Granite should be about the same level of dificulty as Silestone.
Diamond tools are getting pretty resonable in price.
I have more of the 3 cm silestone left, but I can't think what to make out of it.

**"raenjapan- We also were considering concrete countertops but things like improper aggregate ratios leading to cracking, splitting and bubbles scared us off. Plus the finishing is a lot more work, I think. I still want to do some concrete somewhere... maybe outdoors for a potting bench or barbecue or something. Also the amount of time in comparison is ridiculous. I still can't believe how quick it went. One weekend, and not even a full one for a small kitchen." **

(I wish this forum had a good quote feature.)

Still $50 a sf, hu? Ouch. I just measured, and without factoring in any waste, we have 78 sf of counter, which is $3900 for soapstone. We could do the concrete for about $15 a sf, or $1170. I'm leaning toward the concrete, at that price. We've done concrete counters before and it was a lot of work, but they turned out great, and that was our first attempt, so presumably next time would be a bit easier.

The soapstone is just gorgeous, though.

Here is a link that might be useful: Our old concrete counters

If I could do concrete counters and have them come out half as nice as yours for that price, I would do it in a heart beat. I'm especially in awe of the undermount sink 'cutout'. Anytime you want to write a similar post on your process that would be great.

Also, that renovation is amazing! Seriously, amazing.

Brickton, the installation looks fabulous! Would love to see even more photos, if possible!

Excellent thread! Thanks for sharing.

brickton, turned out sweet. Love the vein on the edge to the right of the sink. . . good job on the diy, and you chose a perfect stone to do it yourself as well! It's a great updated, classic look.