We have soap stone and quartz in our showroom, and sell both. We sell more quartz than soap stone hands down- but this is probably based on availability, price & knowledge of the product. Soap Stone is basically indestructable. It's the material all our counter tops in science class were made of, in case our bunsen burners fell over. haha However, we have gotten Chinese food for lunch, and put the bag on the soap stone top for a couple minutes, and the oils seaped in to the top. It stayed that like for a while. It has also show ring marks from glasses as well. They eventually will fade back, but this could bother people in the mean time. Also, it can show scratches from knives or other sharp objects. It is very beautiful, less shiney, and warmer to the touch than quartz. Quartz is man made product out of natural pieces. You won't have that natural feel to it, as the pattern of the colors repeat every couple of feet to give a more uniformed look. You won't have to seal it, nothing will stain it, and nothing will damage it except another piece of quartz or a diamond. The nice thing about quartz, is that many of the manufacturers "copy" the look of a marble, and maybe even a specific soap stone if you do your research. Granite is indestructable as quartz. However it's natural. Cut right off of a mountain. Depending on the color, you won't see any uniform veins or coloring. What I mean one piece can have a lot of pinks in in, where the next has next to none. But we send out customers out to pick the slabs that have the characteristics they want in their top. I hope this helps! Best of luck with you decision.

We have quartz in our kitchen and love it! We put stuff on the counter straight from the microwave and no problems. We do use trivets when taking pans out from the stove or oven, or we place it on the stove top area instead. We've cut food on the counter and there's no chipping or scratching. There's also no need to seal like you do with granite. Granite has too much movement and we liked the variety of colors and simpler, clean look of quartz. We're even thinking of replacing all our bathroom counters with quartz someday.

Yeah, I realized after some time to cool off that I was more angry at not being part of the decision-making process. The fabricator made a big deal in the contact about the template meeting, but when it came down to it, used the wrong measurements during the meeting, let us know there would be a seam after the meeting, and instead of showing us pictures of the need template or what it was going to look like, just cut the slab. We let them install it workout setting it first because of their good online reviews. It doesn't live up to their promises or their reviews. Or the templating requirements of the contact.

So the cheapest thing to do is "nothing". Put everything back on the counter and just "make do" with what has happened. You can add some very PLAIN areas rugs that work with the colours in the counter top (linen coloured without any pattern) that can cover some of the brick flooring. That will reduce the visual as much as possible. The next cheapest thing (it isn't cheap...but it's as good as we can get) would be a different counter top. Your floors read kinda yellowy-travertine-ish. I would find something that runs more to that colour rang rather than the cool brown-gray. If you love your counters, then you will need to look at the most expensive option = remove the flooring and try again. Personally, I vote for "do nothing" and see if it grows on you. You can always fix it at a later date.