Not necessarily. It depends on the granite (rarity, color etc...) and the soapstone (hardness, veining etc...). The thread below is old (2008) but it has some good info re: cost comparisons. My understanding is that granite in particular has come down a bit in price since then due to the housing crisis (less demand).

Hope this helps.

Here is a link that might be useful: cost of granite v. soapstone

Hi,
I am not sure where you are located but we just had soapstone installed about 6 weeks ago from Bucks County Soapstone in Perkasie, PA. Their price right now is $85/sf installed for both varieties they sell. They are wonderful to deal with. They do charge a bit for a sink and range cutout (maybe $70 each???). We looked at granite at first and most of what we wanted was about this same price or a bit more. Hope this helps:o)!

Thanks everyone.

MDBmom...I have been looking at the Bucks County website. We live in MD. Would they deliver to us down here? What varieties do they sell... are they hard or on the soft side? Do you have pictures?

Hi mercymygft!
I am not sure how far they travel as we live only about 15 minutes away. They are wonderful to talk with so a quick call or email to the shop or Scott will give you your answer pretty quickly. They come twice--Doug comes to template and a week later they come to install. They have 2 varieties right now that I am currently aware of. One is from Brazil and the other from Virginia. We got the one from Brazil. It is softer and dings pretty easily. I know I am crazy having it especially with 3 little kids but I could not get enough of its soft feeling and the beautiful cool charcoal color it takes on. I just love it. We had a few scratches and small dings that really rub right out with the mineral oil. We have a few larger dings that we plan to sand out but have not done it yet. To be honest once you oil, it is hard to find the larger dings (they are not really big). I do believe the other variety they sell is harder but I am not sure as I didn't ask that much about it--it was love at first sight for me for the softer variety:o). Here are 2 pics (after being oiled for several days)--I don't have any that are really close up. I can try to get those later if this is not close enough for you:

Here is a picture after just being oiled 5 minutes before, and before I wiped it off:

Hope this helps! Sorry that 2 of the pics are not great quality. They were with my cell phone camera. Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks MDBmom, your kitchen is beautiful and the soapstone compliments it so well! We are no where near needing to order any counters at this point, but your cost per sq ft was helpful to get a general idea of the cost. Once we get to that point, I will look at all options and if we decide that soapstone may be an option for us, we will give Bucks County a call. They look like a quality operation.

If you're in MD, then you might consider Alberene SS which is mined in VA (Schuyler). (They told me that they are the only remaining soapstone quarry in the US.) They have more than one kind of stone, some types are more expensive than others. Their stones are not the biggest slabs (in some patterns), but if the stone appeals to you, the price is right, espcially if you can DIY.

I am going to come all the way down from northern NY to get mine there. I really wanted to have soapstone that hadn't been mined overseas (dubious labor conditions and weak environmental and safety regs.), along with the energy cost to move stones halfway around the world. Something about that just bugs me. I have to come to VA to see family, so I'll just bring the slabs back with me.

HTH,

L

Lirio,
Would you update after you go to Alberene? I went there last year and was very impressed by the people that I met and also the look of the slabs.
However after getting my samples home, my ardor faded. Just sliding a coffee cup across all samples left large visible scratches. Rubbing gently (very gently) with your fingernail left gouges were still clearly visible after oiling.
I so very much want to use them, but am questioning it now.

mdbmom - your kitchen looks great! Did you get the franklin edge?

Just as an FYI... I did end up faxing Bucks County Soapstone a copy of our proposed kitchen layout and they gave me a price. The cost was $95 a sq. ft.

Thanks for the info. So I'm guessing MD isn't a problem? I'm hoping VA isn't either! I planned on calling them today!