Pietra Cardosa would be a bit lighter in color than soapstone, but the same rustic look. GardenWeb discussions--pietra cardosa

Careful with leathered granite. KNow one person who said it was a nightmare with it not cleaning evenly and showing inconsistent color, to reading online of other people having issues with it.

I vote for soapstone. The natural wear and patina will go well with the home.

Research what people in that area used for countertops in the 1930s and dulicate it.

Look at Pental Quartz, either Lattice or Marfill. Medium price, non porous, easy to maintain. Probably a better price point the Soapstone. These would be good classic choices.

@ls1114: Your current countertops don’t appear to be Corian; they appear to be a laminate like Formica.

Agree with Sammy. The pattern is just like the laminate in our rented place. The way the sink is integrated, and edge profiles of the counter and backsplash, scream molded wood fiber.

Tile, laminate, or metal (in the butler pantries of the wealthy) were common in the 30's.

I'd also consider a solid gray quartz, which would fit the room as well as soapstone while perhaps performing better on a daily basis...

If you want to be authentic, check out linoleum. I used a chunk of extra sheet Marmoleum flooring on an unfinished counter for a while and it was just as nice as my grandma insisted. You'd probably need the metal edges still available from retro laminate dealers and a drop-in sink (with drainboard, naturally!), but the color choice is huuuge. (Red.)

@Fori, we just did a checkered linoleum floor in the laundry room of this place to pick up on some of that vibe. Its the cutest thing ever. The house was bumped out and a bedroom/bathroom was added on the upper level when the schoolhouse went out of commission and it was sold (for $495!) in 1931. The owners made a kitchen in bath in the main space and put in stairs for a bedroom and bathroom on the upper level. An addition was added about a decade later and then added on again for another bedroom and big laundry/mudroom. The main space of the original schoolhouse is white washed walls and beams. 18" deep window wells and big stone fireplace, reclaimed wood doors, etc. The addition looks more 1930s. So though the cabinets were built in the 1930s, I think we want something more weathered for the counters.

https://christinasadventures.com/leathered-granite-counter-tops/

You might consider inexpensive butcher block while renting, then move to a more expensive material when it becomes your full time home. That would give you more time to think about what you really want long term, and also avoid having a really nice surface potentially damaged by visitors :)

@mimimomy, yes that is what we are thinking about. We have three houses-- one that we live in, one that we rent out and this one. Every year at this time we have a depressing call with the accountant and do a budget where we allocate funds for various improvement or maintenance projects for these houses. I SO want this little cottage to be perfect because its truly a full size doll house, but the counters are really not a value add if people are staying there who aren't us. I am looking into soapstone vs honed granite costs so we can determine if this is in the budget for the coming year. Which of course also means my farmhouse sink would need to be put in.

I would say nobody but nobody can damage soapstone, unless the result desired is 100% perfection 24/7.. Chips and dings sand away. It is either rustic, or it is not.

Look into new laminates they no longer have the brown striped edge. For a rental they can't be beat price and function wise. Wit the new matte and textured finishes you will be shocked how real they look. To me the key is the edge. A small ogee makes it instantly look real as nobody associates laminate with that type of edge.Look on Formica site you will be surprised.

I just bought a carrera look sheet for a project and the 4x8 sheet was under $100 delivered. It looks dead on like marble.

@Jan yes I am okay with some damage/scratches. Nothing in this place is too perfect so the counters shouldn't be either.

I would say hold off for now till you know 100% what you want to do. The counters look fine as is & will work great for renters.

Raise the rent, and the security deposit. : )

@mark_rachel-- Yes this is planning/budgeting. I want to identify material costs so I can have an idea. Which means I need to pick the materials to get a range. And then we can know if we want to do it sooner or later. But I agree, the current counters, while not my aesthetic ideal, are functional at the moment.

@Jan, we will only be renting this short term as an AirBNB/VRBO and using it when its not rented. I would ask "How much damage can someone do over a weekend" but that seems like tempting fate.

when i did my (honed) absolute black island top it seemed hellaciously cheap, but that might have been just in comparison to everything else that was hellaciously expensive. : (

ls1114 you MUST stop describing your house because now I'm seriously jonesing. PICTURES!! :-D

My plan is to take some this weekend. We have to get the website going.

I said honed black granite before & now I want to change that to leathered. I think leathered will fit better.

I like the cabinets. They're unique, and I assume they're in good condition.

I like the backsplash tiles.

I do not like them together. They're fighting to be "the stars" of the kitchen, and both are losing the battle. If you had a similar backsplash -- I love Tabarka -- tile with a smaller /more subtle patern, it might work better (without being the ubiquitous white subway).

As for countertops, I like the idea of soapstone or honed black granite ... or -- if you're afraid the black would suck up all the light in the room -- something similarly simple but white or cream. But you can't get fancy with the countertops. If you bring in something that's "too much", you're going to find yourself with yet another "star" fighting for dominance.

I really dislike your current countertops. They'd be fine in a different kitchen, but they're just wrong for your kitchen -- you need simple countertops that will take a back seat to the cabinets.

Yes, definitely yes to a farmhouse sink.

Two last thoughts:

- I would consider changing those little white ceramic knobs. They don't match the black hinges, and IF you go with black countertops, they're really going to stand out. Something unique in black iron would look great.

- You have a few orange /red accessories in the background. I'd run with that color for linens, etc. It's a nice accompaniment to all the rustic colors.

leathered would certainly bring more to the table, as far as rustic goes. for my sensibilities it might bring too much. while i also would discard the idea of corian or a laminate for this space, the cabinets are so over the top rustic that another rusticky finish only needs to hum along.

on the continuum id say that honed would hum, leathered would sing along rather loudly and soapstone would positively be operatic and not in a particularly good way. : )

Here's a few exterior pics from when we first toured. I'm looking for more....

the first photo would have me reaching for my checkbook.

Same.

Yes that's what happened. You should never tour a house on a whim. We are now very poor. But man, how I ADORE this little cottage.

/sigh/

Perfection.

Have you ever watched Midsomer Murders? That is my favourite series for house porn.

we cant justify a 3rd house, so by and large i can look at realtor.com with nothing expensive happening.

@Lindsey, no, but I will check it our. I am a fan of British tv.

We started looking at houses because we got married in May and stayed in country houses/cottages/castles on our honeymoon to Ireland and Scotland. This little house reminded us of that. We didn't need it. This was strictly an emotional splurge.

@ninigret, yes, this is the third house. My accountant just shook her head. One pays for itself with the rent, so I like to think of it as the second house but who am I kidding? As I say, we are poor now. But I don't care. Some day we will move when our jobs let us work 100% remotely (its coming) and I can redesign the shed to do a she shed, raise chickens, paint, live an idyllic life. Sigh.

ah but we are control freaks, would never let anyone rent something we owned. ha, look at all the money we are saving ourselves as a result. ; )

altho i do have a 26 room georgian dollhouse that i swear i've put more money in than we spent on our first house so bah, i dont want to think about this. but my husband has a grand piano so we're sort of keeping even with each other.

Did this start for you with dollhouses too? I swear that is what happened to me. As a child it was my absolute favorite thing ever. I would save up my birthday money to buy furniture for my dollhouse. I collected a few when I had my first apartment but they take up sooo much space. I only have one now . It does scratch the itch a bit. Why can't we all just have more money? Collecting houses is very expensive.

I like the star backsplash. I love that it's part of a star motif in the house. I don't think it competes with the cabinets. This type of structure evolves over time as different users put their stamp on it. Who cares if it is original? It looks cool!

Ninigret, would you change your mind about soapstone if it was an extremely quiet slab with just a line or two of white running through??

following...

@lindsey we love the stars too. We don't mind the little porcelain knobs. But I love that everyone has different taste. I think in a bigger picture of the space you would see that the backsplash adds a nice graphic pop. But I agree that the counters were for a different house. And as I say they were a concession to the wife of the last owner who did not like this house and wanted something entirely different. To each their own.

lindsey... its a slippery slope. something in that kitchen needs to be plain.

also i'm not super crazy about soapstone as a material. i had soapstone counters in my lab. every time the mail room guy shoved a box across it, another set of scratches.

we may think we like patina, but really only certain kinds of patina. the other kinds, just look like damage.

Is the contrast of the grain of the wood as extreme in real life? I just assumed it was a result of that ridiculous filter that real estate listings use to make everything over-saturated. I detest that.

Yes, that is what it looks like in real life.

ah, dollhouses.

i started out with one of those printed tin dollhouses with plastic furniture in the early 60s. graduated to a wood colonial in the early 70s. realized by the 80s i just could never be happy with what someone elses version of my dream house was. commissioned the georgian shell in the late 90s (it was cheaper than buying the power tools needed to build it myself.) since then i have an on again off again relationship with it. i work on it february to april each year. its going extremely slow. i have purchases all of the furniture but wow the stone work on the outside takes forever

i think its a project meant to be worked on but never completed.

so much time is spent looking at 'inspiration pictures' that real work never gets done.

can you imagine achieving this?

my poor husband... walking around with me is a trial, i keep taking pictures of stone walls.

@ninigret-- That is AMAZING! What a great project.

make sure you realize that the last photo isnt mine its an inspiration pic!

some day... some day.

So, got to thinking about it being an old schoolhouse, and old slate chalkboards.

I know several people have suggested slate. Here is a link to some really neat looking slate, lots of colors. The red reminds me of your outdoor stone work :)

Vermont Structural Slate

@mimomy-- thank you! I will check this out.

I just installed soapstone counters (which have their pluses and minuses) but I think the basic advice is to let one thing be the star of the kitchen. Adding soapstone with veining might end up looking visually chaotic as Mrs. Pete (and others in this thread) has alluded to.. In your case a very plain honed granite seems about perfect. I would suggest not quartz or other stone/resin combos, in part because guests will assume that given the age of the structure that the counters are real stone. And treat them accordingly. And that could end badly. My nephew cracked his brand new synthetic countertop simply by having an Instant Pot on it.

If you do look into soapstone there are some “quiet” ones and the plainer, darker types (Stormy Black?) tend be higher on the hardness scale. What a completely gorgeous cottage.

Another vote for soapstone or black honed granite. I think concrete would look nice too. I love my soapstone, I don't think it chips that easily but even if it did I don't mind the patina. Mine is not super busy, veining is more visible in person but looks totally black in pics. I don't re-oil it much at all either.

I don't have a closer up picture, but the type of soapstone is Noir.