What a lovely home! Is your goal with the kitchen to make it look a little less contemporary? It's kind of a strange mish-mash of styles right now, with a more traditional cabinet style but that extremely shiny and busy granite (not to mention the pendants). Do you plan to keep the floors? Also, have you tried opening the refrigerator? It looks like the right door might be problematic given that it is right up against the wall.

Yes, I'd like to make the kitchen a little less contemporary. Eventually I think I'd like to change the pendants for schoolhouse style lights with frosted glass, but that doesn't need to happen before we move in. And yes, I'm keeping the floors -- I don't love them but I don't hate them! But I definitely want to get rid of the granite.

Below is an example of the styling of the original part of the house. I'm going to repaint but keep the molding! It's Victorian chronologically but a much more restrained and simple design than you'd see in a Queen Anne or something. I'm aiming for farmhouse but not Fixer Upper-style "modern farmhouse."

Soapstone would be beautiful in there. A white farmhouse sink would be beautiful with the soapstone and the cabinets. White farmhouse sinks are not trendy -- they've been around a long, long time -- and would aesthetically would fit in with a historic house better than stainless IMO.

I actually LOVE the color of your dining room, although not with that furniture. The moldings are fantastic, though. Anyway, if less contemporary is your goal with the kitchen I think soapstone would be a great choice (full disclosure: I own a 1898 Victorian Foursquare and I am planning to use soapstone when I remodel the kitchen, so I may be biased). You already have a lot of stainless so if you want an apron-front sink, I would consider white (or you could have the sink made of soapstone as well).

As for the hood/backsplash, since you will be losing the 4" splash you currently have when you redo the counters, I would do tile on both walls rather than replacing the 4" with soapstone. IMO the 4" splash just looks a bit unfinished/cheap. Have you thought about what style hood you want? That will give you another opportunity to bring in a more period-appropriate element.

I completely agree that soapstone would look great with those lovely cabinets. Another sink option might be a soapstone farmhouse sink. I would go with a more traditional faucet vs a commercial style faucet. Would you consider replacing the current range with a range without a backsplash? I think that might look better on a peninsula.

@nycbluedevil_gw, just wanted to say that your soapstone is GORGEOUS. Do you know what variety you have? Supplier?

Thanks so much, everyone!

re: vent hood, I was just going to go with a simple utilitarian-looking stainless steel one -- the Wirecutter liked the GE JVW5301 and I usually trust their appliance reviews -- but I'm open to suggestions.

I'm concerned about tiling between the cabinets and the counter because I'm not sure what to do with the small space between where-the-backsplash-would-go and the wall to the right of the stove -- don't want to go all the way up to the ceiling, but am afraid it would look weird if I went to the height of the bottom of the uppers when there are no uppers on that wall. Thoughts?

Actually, do I need a wall behind the range? I sort of assumed I did, because I don't want smoke and grease and so forth to fly into the next room through those windows, but if I have a hood and it doesn't need a wall to hang from, is that going to be sufficient?

IMO, yes you need a hood, and yes, it needs a wall to be mounted on. It always surprises me when I see free-standing houses without hood ventilation. I lived in an apartment for many years that didn't allow outside venting and it was really not ideal. Every surface in the kitchen was always covered with a fine layer of grease no matter how frequently I cleaned, and I set off the smoke alarm constantly. Installing a properly-vented hood is one of the best improvements you will be able to make to this kitchen!

As for the wall to the right of the range, you will probably have to find a new home for that glass-door cabinet in the corner once you install a hood - it won't be fully accessible with a hood in place. If you choose a hood that is meant to hang under a cabinet, perhaps you could repurpose it to go over the hood. Regardless, you'll need to find something else to do with that corner - you could leave it empty, add a corner cabinet or add some open shelving. Given the style you are going for I would be inclined to add some open shelving on both sides of the hood.

to answer the question above, I don’t remember what the soapstone is called. The supplier was somewhere in Long Island City. If I heard the name, I might remember it.

while I really do love the soapstone, it is one of the softer varieties, and it scratches really easily. I am about to redo the kitchen, not because I don‘t like it but because the cabinet and appliance configuration could be better. And I need a new project. And I hate the flagstone floors. When I redo the kitchen, I will probably get quartzite and repurpose the soapstone as a counter in my laundry room and a counter in one of my bathrooms. I already have counters of the same slab in my master bath, and it is fine. But I want to get something that doesn’t scratch and chip as easily for the kitchen. I think there are much harder varieties of soapstone but the lighter ones, like this one, tend to be softer, I believe.

@nycbluedevil_gw Thanks for the info! I lived in Sunnyside for many years so LIC would have been perfect then, but now that we are up in Westchester I will probably turn to M. Teixiera for my soapstone needs. I will keep the hardness of whatever material I choose in mind, though. Scratches don't bother me but chips definitely do. Glad you can repurpose it!

IMO, yes you need a hood, and yes, it needs a wall to be mounted on.

Curious why she couldn't use a hood that is mounted to the ceiling?

The scratches are horrible. Worse than the chips. I had a box on the counter which must have had a staple or something else on the bottom. Dragged it across the counter. Big long gouge. We are not talking about little scratches. I can actually take my fingernail and gouge it myself in some of the softer spots. Someone opened a bottle of wine and turned the bottle as she was using the corkscrew. Big wide circle. So be really careful.

@suedonim75 Theoretically she could use a ceiling-mounted hood, but leaving the wall behind the range open would drastically reduce its effectiveness, especially since the hood wouldn't be able to extend behind the range due to that support beam.

There is a quartz that has the look of soapstone....I was thinking of soapstone for new countertop but also heard how soft it is....yes you can use your fingernails to scratch it. Take a look at the quartz option.

Or a leathered black granite!

@plf12652 I gave my kids the soapstone samples I ordered, some forks, a wine bottle, and a cast iron pan. The Anastacia and the Stormy Black seem to be standing up to them okay, and the Alberene almost as well. I'll mess around with mineral oil on them in a bit.

My concern about honed granite is ease of staining with oil, and ditto with honed/matte quartz plus the heat concern. Basically if I don't want shiny stone (which I don't, really) it seems like I'm either going to be avoiding oil spatters or avoiding scratches and dents.

@biondanonima (Zone 7a Hudson Valley) Thanks for pointing out the refrigerator door issue -- I hadn't noticed that, but it does only open about 85 degrees on that side. Might end up swapping it out for one with a single door that can be hung with left hinges.

"My concern about leathered granite is ease of staining with oil..."

Granite won't stain with oil if it's properly sealed, and many granites (especially dark ones) don't need sealing at all. Multiple threads on the forum about this.

@mxk3 z5b_MI I mistyped leathered when I meant honed. Can you point me to a couple of relevant threads, if it's not too much trouble? Google results have indicated generally that even sealed granite can stain, and that honed granite is more prone to staining than polished.

How about butcher block on the island and soapstone on the perimeter? Or would that be too much wood tone for you?

@nycbluedevil_gw - Well, your comment makes me very sad! I thought I was set on soapstone - I’ve wanted it for awhile. But now I’m rethinking my choice. Would you mind posting some photos of the scratches/dents? My understanding is that it’s ”easy” to buff soapstone - is that not true in your experience? Thanks!

Belvedere soapstone is very hard.