Well I am definitely "team soapstone" so I say go right ahead. Too much white gives me a headache.

However now that you've posted a picture, brace yourself! Folks on this forum, including me, love to give a little extra advice so....me, I'm a function before form sorta person. I notice your refrigerator is over next to your wall ovens, correct? And the sink is on the other side of a sizeable island (I'll let those who are passionate about the waterfall/no waterfall weigh in on that). if so, you have what is called a "barrier island" - the flow for cooking is almost always to take food from the fridge and move it to the sink for rinsing, then prepping, then on to the stove. You will be going around and around that island whenever you are preparing a meal. So consider, at minimum, putting a prep sink on the island and at maximum re-thinking your layout with attention to having everything conveniently arranged to minimize your steps.

Secondly, again with "flow" - you have a nice distance between sink and cooktop, which is naturally where you would slice, dice and generally prep food. But the cabinet in the corner, that goes to the counter? Might get in the way. Again with going around things. Consider making that cabinet a standard one so that you have continuous countertop. if what you really are after is an "appliance garage" maybe it could go on the other side of the cooktop.

I'm not a pro, so look for many more expert folks to come give you advice!

IMO quartz is just fake plastic stone so soapstone 100% better choice for sure and why not a nice easy to live with REAL stone for all the counters and backsplash and wall color last 2 choices to mkae and IMO all LED 4000K lighting before making those choices.To cross infront of arange to go from fridge to sink always bad design I think the island was a bad choice a u shaped kitchen would have been much better . Who designed ythe kitchen? Cabinet salepeople only care about selling cabinets an indepednat KD is the way to go.Whu on earth wine glass storage by the range . I see no large drawers for pot staorage and spces never belong beside the range.

@millworkman@gardengrl66 z5 thank you for the advice! I would love suggestions on the waterfall island as well, just didn't want to ask too many questions in one post :.) We have seating at our current island, but never use it since the breakfast table and chairs are so close. Thanks!

Well you can certainly post more than one thread, if you have questions that are specific, like the waterfall issue. (Answer one question, was the waterfall your idea from the start or encouraged by your designer, or photos on this and other sites? Do a search for "waterfall island problems" before you commit) There will be some cross-fertilization, and you definitely don't want to post the same question (or a slightly different version of it) twice.

In response to the above, it does look like you have drawers under your cooktop, and it is a cooktop not a range, correct? In which case you probably have plenty of storage for your pots right where you need them. And the spices will be fine if they aren't up against an oven. I have a spice pullout on one side of my cooktop and a utensil pullout on the other and it is great. But I'm sort of with Patricia on the wine glass storage - it is nice to keep dishes and glassware somewhere accessible to the sink and dishwasher, both for steps but also to decrease drop-and-break potential! And if you actually cook, you will be creating some smoke and grease that may get on to those nice glass doors. If you really want to display your glassware, I see a spot between the windows to the right of the sink (currently open shelving which is its own discussion thread!), that might be a good place. Also accessible to your wine-drinkers in a way that lets them fill their glass without creating traffic in your cooking zone!

We used concrete-looking Silestone on the perimeter and then wood butcher block on the island to calm the space down and add warmth. In our case, the backsplash was the room’s hero piece. In your example, the proposed counters become the hero. If you go soapstone, the eye will be drawn there first.

Two additional thoughts. One, white is easy to keep clean. Two, hard water, if that is an issue, may show up on the soapstone.

You need more warm woods. It's far too caucasian. Skip any waterfall entirely, unless you're doing sleek modern slab doors. Waterfalls are just a huge chunk of expense waiting to disappoint you with a poor seam match.

@gardengrl66 z5 I think I suggested the waterfall island to our designer just from viewing pics on houzz. The plans are drawn for a gas rangetop, but we just decided to switch to an induction cooktop. There will be cabinets underneath the cooktop. The layout is pretty much the same as what we currently have, we aren't changing the footprint of the kitchen. There is a view from the windows and I have seen other houses on our street put upper cabinets where we have open shelving, but this seems to take away from the view. Thanks so much for your help!

With soapstone, if hard water stains do show up, vinegar (or sandpaper!) would take care of it. Unlike other stones, soapstone is impervious to vinegar.

I love soapstone, and if you are considering a dark counter you may be interested in this recent thread on leathered black granite. There are some beautiful options!

You might want your glassware closer to your refrigerator or wherever you'll keep wine, and near your cooktop you might want to store oils, spices, and other items you'll use while cooking. (So you might decide against glass fronts there.)

The windows look wonderful!