So pretty! I love the un-oiled soapstone with this look. I also have Stormy Black from M Teixeira. It’s a great hardy counter.

I got Stormy Black after seeing photos of your counters—yours were the only photos I could find!

It is so beautiful in its subtlety! What is the backsplash?

I knew I forgot something! Company: Mission Stone Tile. Type: 4x5 subway tile, whisper white.

Gorgeous! And hooray for horizontal outlets! (so many people don't do that, but should)

Beautiful❣️Well done❣️

@jDl I hope you're still around. I love your cabinets and countertop! I've been looking for examples of soapstone in a less traditional kitchen. How do they look 9 months later (ie. how uneven is the color now)? Also, I'd love to hear about your Artcraft cabinets as that's the brand we're probably going with. Do you like them? Are they holding up? More pictures would be delightful too...I love the shelves and brackets next to your range too.

Hey! The soapstone is a bit darker in spots where there heavier use. But I regularly (like every few weeks) scrub the counters down with a sponge and dish soap, which pretty much returns it to how it looked in the photos. I keep intending to buy some sort of higher strength degreaser but I find dish soap works fine enough. I have some scratches around the sink where we put an in-sink dish rack, but not too much anywhere else. I’m overall very happy with the material—I just love how it feels!

The cabinet quality seems very good! I wipe them down and haven’t seen any discoloring or chipping anywhere. The drawers are great, slow close still works, nothing has even had to be adjusted for being out of plumb (even though a kid may try to hang on them on occasion). No problems at all.

I’ll try to send you pictures…the kitchen is no longer as neat as it was in the photos! 🤣

Here are some pictures. You can see the contrast where the countertops gets more grease/oil close to the stove and in my prep area. The photos make the differences seem more dramatic than real life but it definitely is lived-in!

jDI…our soapstone counters, Belvedere…a very hard variety (also from M. Teixeira), are now over 6 years old. Every 4-6 months DH, the chief cook, will scrub down the counters with either Comet or Bon Ami, some water, and the back of a blue Scotch scrubby sponge. Excellent at removing the oxidized, more active areas of the stone, and brings the entire stone back nearly to it’s original color.

Jdi… your kitchen is sooo lovely. I’m going for similar knob/handle style. Do you know the style numbers?

Thank you!

I don’t think I have numbers but the knobs are the Kinney Knob, 1.25”, honey bronze, and the pulls are the Riverside pull, I think 6”?, also honey bronze.

Warning on the knobs—They don’t have that little extra piece in the back that keeps them from turning and getting loose and I’ve found one needs to be tightened every few months. Minor issue but still an annoyance!

Your kitchen is beautiful! I especially love your cabinets... what a beautiful wood color! I'm wondering, have you baked anything in your gas range oven? I was thinking about getting a Bertazzoni 30 inch range, but I hear some complaints about the cooling fan being loud and blowing on the cook who may be using the range top at the same time. It's difficult to tell from reviews sometimes if they are referring to a gas or duel fuel electric oven so I'm not sure if there's a difference there either. Have you experienced this at all? Any other likes or dislikes about the range? What about the hood and speed oven?

Thank you!

Gas range - yes I do a lot of baking! I’d also seen the complaints on the fan and the noise. I don’t think it’s noisy, though I’m not that sensitive to noise, but the fan blowing hot air directly out the front is definitely annoying, especially in warmer months. I am happy, though, that I knew about the issue going in so I could make the decision with full information. My guess is that this is an issue for both gas and dual ranges, because it supposedly has something to do with keeping the electronics cool in the front.

But overall, I really like the range! The burners are powerful (at least compared to what I previously had), it’s relatively easy to clean. The oven, even with convection turned on, has some warmer spots, but I’ve been able to adjust for that fairly easily. I thought I’d be annoyed by the analogue temp gauge, but it’s actually sort of charming. And I really love the look of the oven—that it’s flush with the cabinets, the knobs, etc.

Speed microwave - this is fine? If I hadn’t been particular about aesthetics, I would have gone with something cheaper and simpler, but I couldn’t get anything that fit flush, below countertop, that wasn’t this particular item (I think there was a Smeg option, but I ruled it out for some reason—I suspect probably a bad review I saw somewhere). I have used the speed oven for baking and roasting, and it works decently enough, though the actual oven works better. As a microwave, it’s also fine, though again, for a microwave, I wish I’d been able to get something that was $200 and not $1000 and had actual number buttons and not just up/down arrows.

Hope this helps!

I forgot to mention the hood. This is also fine—a bit loud—but came free with the oven. I don’t have a way to vent to the outside, so it doesn’t do much, but it’s better than nothing, I guess. If I had had another few thousand to spend, I would have gotten the Vent-A-Hood.

Thank you so much for the honest opinions of your Bertazzoni's! It's such a shame about the blowing air on the range. =( So many have that now, and it's a real deal breaker for me... the Bertazzoni's are so pretty, too! This has helped me with my decisions very much, so thank you for taking the time to write that, I really appreciate it! Enjoy your new kitchen... it really is SO gorgeous, I just love it!

@Sweet Stuff DO NOT BUY the Bertazonni. The fan isn't loud. It is that in addition to the fan sound it produces a whistling sound from the air going through too small of holes. It sounds like you are in a winter storm in Maine for the entire time the range is running and while it cools. It gives you a major headache.

I posted videos on the Facebook page for Bertazonni. https://www.facebook.com/Bertazzoni.NA -

It is such a shame.

@jDl - my bertazonni make a whistling sound. This is not the hood. It is just from the oven turned on. It is in addition to the fan noise. What model do you have?.

I have posted videos of the whistling sound on the Facebook Bertazonni page - unless they take them down to hide how awful this stove is. [https://www.facebook.com/Bertazzoni.NA](https://www.facebook.com/Bertazzoni.NA/)

Other than the noise I would love the stove but as it gives me such a headache from the whistling sound is terrible.

Wilma

Thank you for your opinion on the Bertazzoni.  I am going with a different range altogether because of the blower... I think that would really bother me too.  I'm going with one that doesn't have so much electronics and computer boards that it needs a fan to cool it down.  Seems like an oxymoron to have to cool down an oven, but I guess that's how they make most of them these days.  Just sucks, because it is so pretty!

@Sweet Stuff The Lacanche range is very pretty and has very few electronics. Have you looked at them?

Wilma, I’m sorry to hear about your oven! I don’t hear any whistling when my oven is on, but my impression from reviews was bertazzoni has consistency issues.

jDI, no, I don't think I ever came across Lacanche ranges while I was researching... thank you, I will check them out!