Soapstone
Soapstone countertops: what they do in a working kitchen.
Soapstone is the one stone in our yard that people either walk straight past or will not leave. Almost nobody is neutral about it. The ones who stay have usually cooked in a kitchen that had it. The ones who walk past have usually heard one thing about it: that it scratches. That part is true. It is also only a third of the story, so here is all of it.
Talc is what makes it feel the way it does
Soapstone is a metamorphic rock. The geologist Hobart King describes it as consisting primarily of talc, with varying amounts of other minerals such as micas, chlorite, amphiboles, pyroxenes and carbonates. Talc is the softest common mineral there is. It is the reason a honed soapstone slab feels smooth and a little warm under your hand, where granite feels like glass.
The words "varying amounts" matter. Soapstone is not one thing. King notes that the other minerals in the rock change how hard it is, and that the harder varieties are the ones preferred for countertops because they are more durable than a nearly pure talc stone. Fabricators say the same in plainer terms. In a Stone World round table on working with soapstone, one specialist put it this way: some quarries produce soapstone as hard as the softer granites, and some produce it as soft as the softer marbles.
So the first thing to do with soapstone is to stop reading about it and go press a thumbnail into the actual slab.
It does not stain and it does not etch
This is where soapstone beats every other natural stone we sell.
King lists its properties as nonporous, nonabsorbent, heat resistant and resistant to acids and alkalis. Each of those words does a job in a kitchen.
- Nonporous and nonabsorbent. Red wine, oil and coffee have nowhere to go. That is why soapstone is never sealed. There is nothing for a sealer to soak into.
- Resistant to acids. Lemon, vinegar and tomato do not etch it. Compare that with marble, where an acid dulls the polish for good.
- Heat resistant. A pan can come off the burner and onto the counter. The same property is why the stone is used to build wood stoves.
It is also why soapstone has a long history as a laboratory bench top. A surface that shrugs off spilled acid and a hot flask is a good surface for a kitchen too.
It scratches, and you can fix that yourself
Here is the part people have heard. A stone built on talc is softer than granite or quartzite. Drag a cast iron pan across it and you may leave a mark. Cut on it and the knife will win.
The difference is what happens next. On a polished stone a scratch usually means a service call. On soapstone it is a few minutes of your own time. The fabricators in that Stone World round table agreed on the method: fine-grit sandpaper takes the scratch out, and a wipe of mineral oil blends the spot back in. One of them said a fabricator should not hone the surface finer than a homeowner could match with 220-grit paper, for exactly that reason.
Light scratches often do not need sanding at all. Oil alone hides them, because what you were seeing was a pale line on a darker surface.
Oil changes the color and nothing else
New soapstone is a soft, chalky gray. Wipe mineral oil over it and it turns deep charcoal, sometimes nearly black, and any veining stands out white against it.
People assume the oil is protecting the stone. It is not. As one fabricator in the Stone World piece said, the oil is only for looks. It makes the stone darker. A soapstone counter that is never oiled is exactly as stain proof as one that is oiled every month.
That leaves you three ways to live with it.
- Leave it alone. It keeps its soft gray.
- Oil it. It goes dark and even. The oil wears off, so you repeat it when the color starts to lift.
- Wax it. The same fabricators mention beeswax as an alternative that builds the dark patina faster.
You can change your mind at any point. Stop oiling and the stone drifts back toward gray.
Soapstone suits people who want the counter to age
Every material we sell comes with a trade. Soapstone's is unusually clear.
You get a counter that asks for no sealer, takes heat and ignores acid. In return you accept a surface that marks and changes color. If you want the kitchen to look in ten years the way it looks on day one, this is the wrong stone. Look at engineered quartz or porcelain. If you want something hard that still looks like stone, look at quartzite or granite.
If a counter with some history on it sounds right to you, soapstone and marble are the two that give you that. Soapstone is the one that does it without the etching. Our five question chooser walks through the same decision for every material in the yard.
Color narrows it too. Soapstone comes in grays, blacks and greens, often with white veining. We do not see it in white or cream. If you want a pale counter, that points to marble or quartzite instead.
It works in more places than the kitchen
The properties that make it a good counter make it a good fit elsewhere. Heat tolerance is why we cut it for fireplace surrounds. Being nonporous is why it does well as a bathroom vanity top, where toothpaste and perfume would mark a marble.
See the slab before you decide
Because soapstone varies so much from one quarry to the next, a small sample tells you less than it does with other stones. We keep soapstone in full slabs at the yard so you can see the veining across the whole piece and feel how hard that particular block is.
Bring a rough sketch of the kitchen with the longest run measured. A slab is only so long, so the sketch tells us early whether a run needs a seam and where it would go. Then we template, cut and finish the top in our own Hartford shop. Our own installers set it.
Our soapstone page shows what is in the racks now. Come to Airport Road and put a hand on it, or tell us about the kitchen and we will tell you what is on hand before you drive out.