Last week I started to price out the counter materials for the kitchen once more. I must have already done this about 400 times, but I just wanted to get some more options. Having almost settled on black granite I started to wonder about soapstone. I mean, look at these pictures of Brooklyn Limestone's kitchen:
Gorgeous!
Calling around for pricing was a little discouraging as the first places I called did not sell to homeowner's, just suppliers. I finally got an answer of $80/square foot from Grantops in Fredricksburg, MD. The bad news there is that is was for a green soapstone and that's not really what I want.
Compared to the quote of $45 for absolute black granite (this included measuring and installing), the soapstone was coming in at about double the cost. The good news is that I budgeted a lot for counters. I don't know what I was thinking, but I budgeted for $100/square foot. Maybe I just thought I had more space?
I guess we'll have to see what other parts of the kitchen go over budget before we can see if the soapstone is in our future.
8 comments:
We had the same problem- couldn't decide between the soapstone or the absolute black granite. We were told the soapstone slab available to us (the only one in our region!?!?) had a very green cast to it, which made us really uneasy as we did not want green. We ended up spending the extra for the soapstone and we LOVE it. We are so glad we went with it - the green is only in some of the veining and you have to look really hard to see it.
Wow. I had no idea that soapstone would so expensive!
I love soapstone. I think that if you are going to go with soapstone (and I know that this is a big if) you should seriously consider having a built-in drainboard carved or routed into it. One of the great things about soapstone is the ease with which it can be worked, and it would be a shame to not take advantage of this.
C&C:
I love your kitchen so much it actually hurts a little bit!
Christopher:
Cool idea with the drainboard!
B
I was thinking of something perhaps like this, although maybe something like this might be more like what you would like.
Personally, I think that the grooves carved into the soapstone, when they have nice, crisp edges, are absolutely stunning. I can't imagine that it would cost that much more to include them in the cost - though this may be the sort of thing where they make more of their profit.
Christopher,
Those are some great ideas!
Thanks!
B
I wanted soapstone in my bathroom, but ended up with a dark blue granite instead, mostly because of the price. Everyone I know who haves soapstone in their kitchen loves it. So my vote is for soapstone.
i'm a bit shocked by the price difference. but if its still a consideration, damn that black soapstone is so freakin hot.
they remind me of all the schools i went to as a kid...but in a good way.
all the window sill and science tables were always soapstone.
community forklift maybe?
Thanks, you guys that is a great explanation. keep up the good work in your blog.
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