Picture of wall where backsplash would go and picture of the fireplace in the adjoining living room.

There are a couple of ways you could go. I'd either do a subway tile in a soft color, white, or I'd pick a black and white patterned tile.

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Improve your lighting and do the soapstone for the backsplash. I use LED 4000k always in kitchens so it moght be as simple as changing the bulbs in the lighting you have . 4000K mimics bright daylight so can really brighten up a space in a hurry.The reason I say this is that you already have 2 finishes for counters and IMO no more additional finishes should be done

If I did soapstone I would only take it to sill height. I lean toward a soft, neutral handmade tile similar to the wall color and taken up to the ceiling.

Patricia, I agree about having too many different surfaces in the space. But, now I’m freaking out about the soapstone and it’s durability. I love natural stone (I was a geology major in college), and the look/feel of soapstone I’m in love with. The honed black granites just didn’t have that same feel for me.

I hope I’m not making a huge error. I know you have used it in many home - what is your clients’ experiences with it in general?

A soapstone backsplash would be very handsome in your gorgeous kitchen.

I just put soapstone in my kitchen for the perimeter. I used a light gray/green subway tile. (First pic) I think yours would look really nice with the soapstone backsplash too and that was my second choice. I would have liked an upgraded style for the splash like a swoop or a ledge (sorry don’t know the correct terms).

I have PA soapstone and it’s very hard. I do not have issues with scratching or chipping yet but we’ve only had it about a month. There are a few light scratches where someone didnt use a cutting board but they blend right in and disappear when I oil it- which I don’t do often because I’m liking the natural look for now! Anyway I love it so much and I am so glad I didn’t compromise and do granite!

I did a 2" backsplash everywhere except behind the sink, where it went up to and included the sill. I considered tile or wallpaper for the space above but I think I like it just painted. The black of the stone and the short splash makes it look more like shadow than backsplash, and I wanted the protection from water/ spills.

this photo is from construction, obviously.

I have plans to get a large scale photo printed on metal to hang behind the range (just waiting for my poppies to bloom, hoping to use those as the subject.)

I use LED 4000k always in kitchens so it moght be as simple as changing the bulbs in the lighting you have . 4000K mimics bright daylight so can really brighten up a space in a hurry.The reason I say this is that you already have 2 finishes for counters and IMO no more additional finishes should be done

You do not have to make sure your lighting is all 4000k. In reality, CRI is more important to get accurate color. The general rule is: The higher the CRI, the better the color rendering capacity. CRI is independent of color temperature. These are two different things. For example, a 5000K (daylight color temperature) fluorescent light source could have a CRI of 75, but another 5000K fluorescent light source can have a CRI of 90.

I think you'll be fine with just soapstone on the sink wall, but what about the cooktop wall?

Soapstone and white subway play very well together:

Don’t freak out! You are not making a mistake choosing soapstone.

Our soapstone, one of the hardest varieties, (Belvedere), is now almost 7 1/2 years old. My husband has often said, choosing soapstone for the kitchen was the best choice we made. It requires no upkeep. Just dish soap and water, is all that’s needed to clean it. We stopped oiling years ago. First we stripped off all the oil (easily done with a blue Scotch scrubby pad, Comet or Bon Ami, and water.) Since then, we’ve just let the counters patina on their own.

The only chips we have are small, and around the undemount sink. But then, my friends with granite and quartz, also have chips around the sink. I took a black Sharpie marker, and colored in the chips, making them invisible. You can’t do that with any other counter material. As for scratches, just two small areas, where the chief cook in this house (husband, again), dragged a cast iron pan. That was 5 years ago. A bit of rubbing with a rough green Scotch pad, and a dab of mineral oil…and two days later the scratches couldn’t be found.

The key is to test the soapstone slabs for hardness. Get a very hard variety (Stormy Black, Anastacia, Belvedere, to name a few), and you can’t go wrong with soapstone. Best to buy from a true soapstone dealer, like M. Teixeira, Vermont Soapstone or Garden Soapstone, and not some generic stone yard, where soapstone is an after thought. And, always ask for samples, so you can test at home.

Snappity’s counters with sink runnels, (from Vermont Soapstone),are gorgeous! Here’s my Belvedere, from M. Teixeira. It has beautiful green and white veins, which we paired with Celadon green crackle tiles.

The baking center