soapstone

Ask Primer.

Try Terra Tile on West End Ave. They deal in granite, quartz and the like--don't know about soapstone but it would be worth a call. The showroom manager, John Sweeney, seems very knowledgeable about the various options and their fabricator up in Westchester is impressive.

If you are able to get over to NJ, Stoneage is a very good fabricator (we used them for our new counters). They work with a couple of local stone distributors that have a good selection of slabs--again, not sure about the soapstone as we were not in the market for that ourselves.

I actually do not know of any fabricators of soapstone. You can try Nitti marble and tile in Queens

We used these guys. They're excellent. You can walk through their warehouse for hours and they'll patiently pull out each slab and answer questions. Only downside is the warehouse is in Hackensack, NJ. But they come into the city for install.

http://www.soapstones.com/

Can you post pics on here? I can show you our kitchen.

We don't have a car, but I'm sure we can find a train which will get us there. eliz, thank you *very* much. :)

Did my passe granite thread have any bearing on your decision??

No dealboy, not regarding the decision. The thread did, however, prompt me to get going on looking at soapstone samples, which I've been putting off due to lack of available knowledge in Manhattan.

I don't hate all granite ---- I just hate the shiny kind. Granite that's been honed or leathered can be gorgeous and interesting. We're just jonesing for soapstone, that's all.

Just keep in mind that soapstone needs to be sealed every three or so months.

I thought that all you do with soapstone is wipe it down with mineral oil

Soapstone is not sealed. The oil is purely for aesthetics. I often leave mine unoiled. Over time, the oil darkens the stone and requires less oiling to maintain the charcoalish color.

There are very few places with any significant soapstone supply. Teixiera (the website Eliz pointed out) is a substantial soapstone-only operation. They sold and installed the counters for our weekend house. The only other place like it that I am aware of is Vermont Soapstone (I believe that they too will come to NY to install (maybe not for an "apartment size" kitchen)).

You really need to rent a car/get a train and go and see the stones. There is different coloration and streaking. If you are going to Teixiera, bring your counter dimensions. They will tell you how many slabs you need, and they have literally hundreds to choose from.

I agree with nyc_sport--it's worth the car rental/train. If you give yourself enough time, they will literally take a crane and pull out every piece you ask and oil it. They don't seem to mind if you revisit pieces over and over. I highly recommend you have them oil up slabs you might initially reject because they're quite different oiled. If you're looking for soapstone knoweldge because you're still undecided, call them up and ask as many questions as you'd like. The owner is fantastic and you see that with his staff - they'll literally spend hours withyou and never hard sell.

We found a bus that leaves Port Authority and stops like three blocks from the soapstone place in Hackensack. Thanks for that rec. Maybe some day we'll have a car.....and a convenient/inexpensive place to park it.....but I digress.

>>I thought that all you do with soapstone is wipe it down with mineral oil<<

Yep--that's what I meant by 'sealing'. But no, it doesn't get the kind of sealant that granite gets. Sorry if was confusing.

bramstar, ph41 and nycsport:

Oh, so maybe the Italians rub the stone for looks.

ph41 : Yes, it's mineral oil mixed with something else. Thanks.

We bought our soapstone from Teixeira. Went out there, had them rub some oil (to see color). They installed it 120 miles away, in a weekend place in PA. Very positive experience. Soapstone is rather soft - you can cut into it, if you are slicing something on the counter - but that also means that you can sand any etches out with a piece of sandpaper. Oil it one every 3 months for the 1st year. Then once every 4 months, next year. Then once every 6 months etc etc .... You can put piping hot pans on soapstone (when you take hot pan off stove, just leave it right on counter). We love it. I have a dedicated rag that is used for oiling. Just spray some mineral oil, take rag out of ziplock bag, rub oil in for a few minutes, then throw rag back in ziplock and store in drawer until next time. Very easy. Mineral oil we just get from CVS or Home Despotic or hardware store. Nothing special. Very low maintenance. Color is dark amazon type green (for us) with beautiful marbling.

Update: M. Teixeira recently opened a showroom in far west Chelsea (as a Yankee fan, how could I not love this place?). Very convenient for us, as we live in Chelsea and have no car. It was a bang bang play.....viewed, selected, and contracted in a day. Old ugly sparkly granite removed, and sizing templated a few days later. New soapstone installed 10 days after that (our co-op's freight elevator wasn't working at the time --- I will emphatically say that NYCMatt's "no tipping" mandate would not have served him well in this situation).

LOVE this soapstone stuff. Totally easy upkeep, looks wonderful and 'sophisticated'. Oiling is optional, and the look (oiled or not) is beautiful, easy moving marbles, if you will. We selected a piece with lots of veins. You can clean it any way you want, using whatever products you have on hand. But soap & water works fine as well.

Isle- Nice to hear a Happy Ending. Thanks for sharing the last chapter. I hate when you read a post like this and never know the outcome.

I'll also add my thanks -- I need to pick out some pieces for a kitchen update and West Chelsea is a lot more convenient than Hackensack.

I'm curious to hear what they say about using it outside. I'm planning a small rooftop wet bar and soapstone is on the top of my list, but I'm worried it would get painfully hot in direct sun. Or I could make lemonade out of lemons and use it to fry eggs for brunch...

Would love to see pix, Lucy.

getting steamy - soapstone, lucy, pic

@sma, glad I could give you closure. :)

@flarf, I think soapstone is ideal for outside. It's totally non-porous, nothing harms it. Maybe a meteor.....

@bramstar, need to figure out how to do that!

@JB, let's keep it clean. Soap & water.

Lucy, I think if you upload it to a photo host like Shutterfly you can then post a link here.

flarf -- You will see examples of outdoor soapstone uses at Teixiera (or on their website). It won't be any hotter than any other (relatively) dark stone.

Working on it, bramstar! It'll happen. Maybe I'll even include a shot of me tipping "key" individuals so that the 500 lb slab got upstairs, despite the non-working freight elevator. :)