Here are some pictures of the stone wet. The fabricator is planning on coming back to oil the stone. They said they use olive oil, but I know most people use mineral oil or wax. Does anyone have any experience with oiling their stone with olive oil?

So pretty!

Gorgeous! You must be so thrilled with the results!

Thank you! I am thrilled! DH and I put down a deposit on these slabs almost 2 years ago! I thought we would never see them in our new house, but here they are! We are waiting on our red LaCanche range to be delivered.

Oh, that will look incredible!

That is one of the prettiest soapstones I've ever seen!

Thank you! I was thinking that olive oil would be a mistake. I will tell them to leave it alone or see if what they are calling olive oil is actually olive oil.

I unfortunately don't know the name of it. It was just labeled as Brazilian Charcoal. Soapstone is not popular in South Louisiana, so none of the stone yards seem familiar with it... I feel like I have to educate everyone! My parents have soapstone and I do a lot of GW lurking, so I felt comfortable with using it.

OMG, stunning!

I just got mine about 10 days ago and I am in love with it. Yours has a lot of movement, just like mine does. Someone said mine should be called 'wild weather' or something like that, rather than 'smoke.' My wait is about 8 years and I still have to pay them for the other half. One debt I don't mind paying!

That said. The guys who put mine in used Mineral Oil specially formulated for soapstone. Of course, I think the specially formulated part is just crap, but it sells. It's from Vermont soapstone, but the bottle matches the ingredients in the mineral oil I have in my cupboard. I put it on and it was lovely, but it reverted pretty quickly to its pre-oiled state. Which is fine. It's so gorgeous!

100 years ago when using soapstone, no one had anything specially formulated. You used it, (sometimes) you washed it off. People weren't the sanitation freaks they are now, because of course, no one knew what a germ was. And again, of course, soapstone is used for its resistance. Go figure.

Moral of my own musings: Mineral oil is for us, not the stone.

But congrats. Yours is BEAUTIFUL.

What friedajune said...a big NO to using any kind of vegetable oil.

Our soapstone was installed three months ago. The installers for M. Teixeira left us a huge bottle of their mineral oil (which is lighter, not as thick as the stuff you'd buy in a hardware store), and also a container of their oil and beeswax mix. Have only used the mineral oil thus far, and am quite satisfied with the results. The stone has fully oxidized, retaining a lovely matte black color.

Your stone is beautiful! :-))

Gorgeous.! Don't use olive oil. Mineral oil or the bees wax combo which I prefer and also use on my wood cutting boards. Or leave them natural - this can truly be a zero maintenance countertop.

Beautiful!!

That is one of the prettiest soapstones I have ever seen. Lucky you.

Gorgeous! Can't wait to see the final reveal.

Beautiful. Echoing everyone with an absolute no to the olive oil. We have soapstone and I first used the wax combo a few times, but decided I'm too lazy for any sort of regimen. I love the look of them unoiled, and yours are absolutely beautiful as is.

Beautiful! And no to Olive oil...no to any oil for that matter.

I've had my Soapstone for a little over four years, and oiled the first few months when I realized one reason I chose Soapstone was to be maintenance free, so I quit oiling.

They will darken naturally with time and use anyway.

Enjoy, and welcome to the soapie club! :)

Get mineral oil from the drugstore - it's used as a laxative, so it's obviously save for contact with you - and use it as the oil.

Olive oil will get sticky and rancid.

So pretty either way! I love the big white deposit on the peninsula.

Very very pretty stone -- I love it in its natural state, without oil.

It's absolutely gorgeous!

I am going to call the fabricator tomorrow to let them know we do not want it oiled with olive oil. We might have them leave it alone and we can do it ourselves.

Here's the white deposit on the peninsula close up (stone was wet).

Very pretty! I oiled my soapstone almost every day for the first couple of weeks after we first had it installed (I figured if I was going to walk around caressing it, I might as well oil it!). I later bought the beeswax combo, but didn't think it was worth the effort. It is a workout to apply and in my case, really didn't last much longer than the oil. After the first couple weeks of oiling, the stone has stayed quite dark.... not black, but a really lovely soft charcoal. Enjoy your new counters!

It's lovely! It looks a lot like mine which is Barocca. I use Clapham's Beeswax occasionally (mostly when we're having company) and it has darkened significantly over the past year.

So beautiful!

MaggieB I'm in Lafayette, LA and planning to do soapstone! Where are you located and where'd you get your gorgeous slabs? Your counters are fabulous!

Madeline, I'm in New Orleans. I got my soapstone from King's Marble in Gretna. When we went a few weeks ago to watch them template it, I saw 4 other soapstone slabs. They had much less movement, but were very pretty. Triton Stone also had some.

So beautiful! Love the movement. We have soapstone as well; a wild pattern that is also green-based. I used walnut oil originally; read it doesn't go rancid. Now I use the Clapham's Beeswax; just occasionally.

Enjoy your lovely soapstone!!

Thanks Maggie!

Walnut oil does go rancid..... and if there is anyone in the house with nut allergies, I would be concerned.

I ordered the Clapham's Beeswax from Amazon Monday based on the recommendations ya'll made. I hope it comes in today for I can go wax my counters this evening. I can't wait!!! Like sherri1058 said, if I'm going to constantly touch the counters, I might as well wax them!

Hi MaggieB- love your counters. We are planning to do soapstone counters as well but I am having trouble finding someone local that will sell me slabs. I'd love to know who you spoke with at King's Marble and what they charged per foot.

I can't remember who we ended up dealing with there. I'm sure anyone there would be able to help. I think we paid around $70/sq ft including fabrication.

That's gorgeous. I would have loved for soapstone to be in our budget. Not that my Carrara marble is exactly a hardship, but still....

Oh I would love to have soapstone. Those counters are fabulous!

MaggieB - We just picked out our soapstone counter tops and I can't wait to see them installed. What did you do for a backsplash?

I am excited as I have decided on soapstone and a turquoise LaCanche range. I hope I can find a beautiful slab like yours. Also have you oiled your often in the first few weeks. I have a ample and have oiled it daily for a week and it still goes light

Sorry for the delayed response, I am just now seeing some of these questions. DCtoVA, we used a marble subway tile from Floor and Decor that has very little movement. DH and I spent several days hand selecting each tile.

Claire, you will love your LaCanche! I use beeswax every month or so, it will start off really dark (darker than I like), then will gradually fade. It has never gone back to its original color. We have some of the soapstone in our bar next to the kitchen, and we keep it unoiled.

Here are several pictures from the last few months:

Right after oiling

Several weeks after moving in, less oiled

1 week after oiling, dressed up for Christmas

MaggieB so beautiful, I don't think my slabs have as much movement. I love yours, I won't be ready for about 8 months so they are holding mine but say I can change if they get slabs I like better. I am really happy with Mimi and Joshua they are very nice and do an excellent job.

Mine do have a lot of movement. My parents soapstone has very little movement and is also beautiful.

Your entire kitchen is stunning! Not just the soapstone, everything. That hood and range - to die for!

Thank you! Our builder built the hood around a vent a hood liner. The trim is a piece of our upstairs flooring (dirty top oak). He had a faux finisher come out to plaster the hood. We have been very happy with how it came out.