tonyvaughn Depends on your style & Taste, I beleive Granite is over usedm I installed Quartz, it is nice, however, I miss the stainless counters I have had in the past. Soapstone was my second choice
All About Interiors LLC Granite trend is still active and going strong in most houses I design. Quartz and soapstone are different looks and both good choices also. It is all up to personal preference but the granite frenzy is still alive and well.
Carolyn Albert-Kincl Design Ten years ago everyone wanted granite, 5 years ago most people wanted granite, now about half want a quartz product and have no interest in granite. Do you see a trend here??
Carolyn Albert-Kincl, ASID
Overland Remodeling & Builders Soapstone, Granite and Marble are all porous, many homeowner doesn't know that but those have to be re-sealed at least once a year. If not sealed you're at the risk of having your countertop changing its tone if lemon juice/oil/wine is spilled on it, not to talk about bacteria. Quartz from the other hand, is non-porous, it's scratch proof and heat proof (Caesar Stone at least) and best of all... you don't have to re-seal it. makes it a great candidate for a kitchen countertop.
CMR Interiors & Design Consultations Inc. I like Quartz but I still love honed granites...but not busy patterns. Quiet soft patterns and flamed granites.
Island Soapstone Really, Overland - maybe you should do some research or hire a knowledgeable stone guy next time.
Many stones are impervious and chemically inert - many granites and quartzites and all soapstones. That means that they require NO sealer and will NOT react to changes in pH. In fact they only maintenance they do require, is a wipe-down. Besides: nobody has developed self-cleaning countertops yet!
The quartz surfaces you claim are scratch proof and heat proof consist mainly of plastic resins. Read the fine print in the warrantee carefully - they will only claim their products to be "resistant" under very specific circumstances to boot. They do burn and discolour and some have been known to stain. We have replaced some that had shown wear patterns in heavy use areas.
As far as the bacteria thing is concerned: If all contaminants are cleaned off, there is very little for bacteria to grow on. The hospitality institute did comparative testing of popular countertop materials and granite ranked second only to stainless steel when it came to the reduction of e-coli in laboratory testing (see http://www.hi-tm.com/Documents/Countertops.html for the full text of their finding) I am sure unblemished quartz counters should compare well to the natural stone. An added bonus is that the natural stone does NOT contain Microban - a pesticide that gets added to many plastic products to make them "antibacterial" (read more about Microban/triclosan here: http://www.beyondpesticides.org/pesticides/factsheets/Triclosan%20cited.pdf )
At least be informed about a product before you start spreading half-truths and straight up lies about it.
All that said: countertop choices are a personal preference and not everybody will like natural stone, just as not everybody would like plastics or recycled materials. That is the joy of living in a free market - you can pick whichever product suits your situation, budget and aesthetic.
Overland Remodeling & Builders @IslandSoapstone. As you know, soapstone is very soft, so it scratches easily - ie opening a bottle of wine is enough to scratch the surface - I didn't see you mentioning that in your comment, where is your truth?
Every material available today in the market has its pros and cons, and to be more specific to this discussion, natural stones will require maintenance and will involve less chemicals, man-made stones, i.e. quartz, will involve chemicals and will be almost maintenance free.
onthefence Overland, what I understand of soapstone is that the only 'sealer' needed is mineral oil or beeswax. I don't really consider those chemicals. From what I've seen too, the sealer is optional. If you don't want the dark glossy look, skip the oil/wax.
Island Soapstone @ Overland: I have never claimed otherwise. In my previous reply to you, I merely responded to the poor information you chose to put out there.
There is no "perfect" material out there and making choices should be based on good information from professionals. That is, after all, what consumers depend on when they have to decide on what they are spending their hard earned money on.
Maybe if you open your bottles of wine in such an extravagant way, soapstone really is not meant for you. We have, however, installed it for many messy cooks, vintners and professional chefs, and all of them loved it. Not one of them would have preferred a different material. though.
Our shop carries all kinds of natural stone and a few lines of man made stuff. It is my business to know all these products and guide my clients to materials suitable to their specific situations. There is no "one size fits all" solution, and we always make sure to inform our clients about the characteristics of their material choices.
Sheila Steelman Thanks to all. I do have budget constraints so I don't want to make a mistake and be unhappy later when the countertop fails to meet my expectations. We've lived in our house 33 years and it's time for an update.The Formica original to the house has been very satisfactory but as you would think, it's now well worn and dated. I've not seen any granite that excites me but the soapstone is intriguing and I'm going to check it out. Thanks for all the info.
tonyvaughn I have had Forica, stainless, and now Caesar Stone ( Quartz ) and Formica is the most practical! Loved the Stainless, done it a few times. Caesar Stone is not as user friendly as one may beleive. Lemon or Lime Juice, anything acidic will etch, and I have pure white, so it does stain, however, I have a gel bleach to remove stains. It is however, Beautiful
Overland Remodeling & Builders @Islandsoapstone. As a soapstone fabricator I wouldn't think you'll ever talk to the favor of any other material which makes it conflict of interest.
I'm sure if you were a quartz fabricator you would find tons of articles to show us why quartz is better, but since you're a soapstone fabricator you're sharing the articles that shows the best of your material.
I'm talking from personal experience here , not from from articles I found on the web and let me share with you my story:
My wife have called a plumber as the air gap overflowed when she used the dishwasher. The plumber came and found there is a clog in the pipe - he did a great job unclogging our kitchen sink, then he said that the air gap needs to be replaced - my wife who have no plumbing experience and trusted the guy told him to go ahead and replace it. The plumber put it a new air gap and left. After two weeks the air gap was installed a stain showed around it on our brand new granite counter top which we both loved. We thought, maybe it will go away... After a month the stain got even bigger (about 4" inch around the air gap) and could really see it - this time I decided to take out the air gap to see what is going on... I took the air gap out and found plumbers putty around it!! This putty is very oily and if used on those surfaces it will stain them - he was not knowledgeable enough to know that.
After going back and forth with the plumbing company they have paid for new countertop. This is what got me to give a try to quartz.
So for the past 2 years I have Caesar Stone in my kitchen and my wife loves it! We never had staining issues and she is a heavy cooker.
I find it an honest advise to share with someone my personal experience with this material.
Norm Walters Construction Inc. The lab testing link above doesn't include Quartz or Solid Surface as they would not have given the results they were intentionally looking for as both Quartz and Solid Surface have a NSF (National Sanitary Foundation) rating for use in food preparation areas.
Island Soapstone Hi Norm - as noted in my previous, previous reply, I am sure that an unblemished quartz surface should compare well to granite if such a test were run today. Given the date of the test (1999), man-made surfaces were not nearly as prevalent as they are now.
The reason why engineered surfaces are considered food-safe, though, is that one can exactly quantify the ingredients of those materials. It is known precisely how much of chemical A or resin B was used during their manufacture. Since all natural stones vary considerably in their geologic qualities, it is not possible to say for certain that stone A consists of such a percentage of mineral A and so much of mineral B. These numbers will change for pretty much every sample taken from any particular quarry. Since there is no certainty of their composition, the NSF is hesitant to say any natural material is food safe, on the off chance that they might be wrong and get sued if someone gets a case of salmonella.
As far as honesty and bias go: In my previous reply I did mention that we supply all kinds of surfaces, both natural and man-made. It is our company policy to assess the needs of the clients and base our suggestions for suitable material on the merits of each situation. We educate our clients to the benefits and draw-backs of all choices concerned but do not, however, give them information based on rumors or advertising hype. Also as mentioned before, the public depend on the information supplied by professionals when they make their decisions. The least we as professionals could do, is to disseminate the CORRECT information.
Overland, I am glad you like your Ceasar Stone and am sorry your plumber managed to mess up your granite. Please know, though, that there are many stones around that would NOT have shown a mark from the oily plumbers' putty.
Saying that ALL granite stains, based solely on your one-time experience, is a little like saying that all plumbers are idiots. It just is not true.
CMR Interiors & Design Consultations Inc. You are right. No, granite doesn't stain.
Anyone who would say that has never taken a piece of honed granite and purposely tried to destroy it. I have with my clients. I also have had honed granite for over 9 years and I cook a lot of high acidic foods.
I have never had my Granite stain-its a super hard dense material. However marble does stain fairly easily...its a softer material.
My clients really wanted the honed and so they took a piece of light colored granite, put ketchup, berries, red wine on it overnight. Cleaned right up just perfectly the next day.
It was a fun experiment. It didn't stain and they are still in love with their honed countertops. I would never do shiny. They show every crumb, every water ring, every acid mark.
feeny Since the professionals seem to be bickering about who is right about soapstone and who might be self interested in their responses, let me just weigh in as a homeowner with three year old soapstone counters who has absolutely no stake in what you choose for your kitchen:
1. Soapstone counters are NOT porous.
2. They do NOT need to be sealed.
3. Because they are not porous, they are impervious to heat and chemicals (which is why they are used in chemistry labs).
4. However, they DO need to be maintained with either soapstone wax or oil to retain a dark, even finish.
5. The waxing is neither time consuming nor onerous (we do ours every 3-4 months and it takes approx. 10 minutes), but it may be more maintenance than some homeowners want to deal with.
6. They DO scratch, but the scratches disappear into the patina the minute they are oiled or waxed. So the scratching isn't usually a problem.
I also happen to think granite and quartz are great countertop materials, but I cannot speak to their virtues or drawbacks as I don't own them. My understanding is that each material has its own pros and cons, so pick what you love the look of most, or what sounds like it requires the kind of care you can live with.
Twisted Minds Custom Designs Overland, if I were interested in soapstone, I would inquire with a soapstone manufacturer about the material as they would be the most informed on the product. Just the same as with quartz, granite, laminates, etc. I personally am a concrete artisan so I am partial to concrete, and if people have questions about the material, I like to be knowledgable and give them solid answers to any questions they may have. Just as island soapstone replied to an uninformed quote on the material of their profession, I also will comment on misleading posts from those that state falsehoods or misinformation on materials I am knowledgable in. I find it a disservice to professionals when anyone comments negatively about a certain product without full knowledge. As a professional, I do try to sell my product of choice by listing all the benefits of it, but also inform those that it is not always the best choice in every setting. I never talk negatively about another product as do most true professionals in trade. To stay in business and have a solid reputation, I believe the projects I inform clients on that concrete would not be the ideal choice, are just as important as the ones I do create with concrete. To put the wrong material in the wrong setting would only turn off potential clients from considering the material for their project. Sheila, with that being said, if you would like some more information on concrete, I've created a discussion page on concrete FAQ's, feel free to check it out if it interests you, and if you have any further questions, I'd be happy to try and answer any!
Overland Remodeling & Builders @TwistedMinds: I agree and let me add, I'm not oppose to granite, soapstone, marble nor concrete. I'm a general contractor and not a fabricator so I really don't have any interest to talk to the favor of any material available in the market.
What I do find when talking to clients though, that they are not informed/educated enough about the material they have purchased I.e. granite requires maintenance.
I think my comment has been interpret wrong, I was not trying to talk to the favor of any material, I was trying to educate Sheila about the important fact I found many other contractors fails/don't want to educate about and that's re-sealing your pours counter top whatever material it might be, if its porous it have to be re-sealed.
I think every material have its own uniqueness, some requires maintenance, some don't, and if any of my clients or the readers who read this post love one material over the other, and maintenance is required and it's not an issue for them, they should go for it.
Carolyn Albert-Kincl, ASID
Many stones are impervious and chemically inert - many granites and quartzites and all soapstones. That means that they require NO sealer and will NOT react to changes in pH. In fact they only maintenance they do require, is a wipe-down. Besides: nobody has developed self-cleaning countertops yet!
The quartz surfaces you claim are scratch proof and heat proof consist mainly of plastic resins. Read the fine print in the warrantee carefully - they will only claim their products to be "resistant" under very specific circumstances to boot. They do burn and discolour and some have been known to stain. We have replaced some that had shown wear patterns in heavy use areas.
As far as the bacteria thing is concerned: If all contaminants are cleaned off, there is very little for bacteria to grow on. The hospitality institute did comparative testing of popular countertop materials and granite ranked second only to stainless steel when it came to the reduction of e-coli in laboratory testing (see http://www.hi-tm.com/Documents/Countertops.html for the full text of their finding) I am sure unblemished quartz counters should compare well to the natural stone. An added bonus is that the natural stone does NOT contain Microban - a pesticide that gets added to many plastic products to make them "antibacterial" (read more about Microban/triclosan here: http://www.beyondpesticides.org/pesticides/factsheets/Triclosan%20cited.pdf )
At least be informed about a product before you start spreading half-truths and straight up lies about it.
All that said: countertop choices are a personal preference and not everybody will like natural stone, just as not everybody would like plastics or recycled materials. That is the joy of living in a free market - you can pick whichever product suits your situation, budget and aesthetic.
Every material available today in the market has its pros and cons, and to be more specific to this discussion, natural stones will require maintenance and will involve less chemicals, man-made stones, i.e. quartz, will involve chemicals and will be almost maintenance free.
Hopes that makes it more clear now
There is no "perfect" material out there and making choices should be based on good information from professionals. That is, after all, what consumers depend on when they have to decide on what they are spending their hard earned money on.
Maybe if you open your bottles of wine in such an extravagant way, soapstone really is not meant for you. We have, however, installed it for many messy cooks, vintners and professional chefs, and all of them loved it. Not one of them would have preferred a different material. though.
Our shop carries all kinds of natural stone and a few lines of man made stuff. It is my business to know all these products and guide my clients to materials suitable to their specific situations. There is no "one size fits all" solution, and we always make sure to inform our clients about the characteristics of their material choices.
I'm sure if you were a quartz fabricator you would find tons of articles to show us why quartz is better, but since you're a soapstone fabricator you're sharing the articles that shows the best of your material.
I'm talking from personal experience here , not from from articles I found on the web and let me share with you my story:
My wife have called a plumber as the air gap overflowed when she used the dishwasher. The plumber came and found there is a clog in the pipe - he did a great job unclogging our kitchen sink, then he said that the air gap needs to be replaced - my wife who have no plumbing experience and trusted the guy told him to go ahead and replace it. The plumber put it a new air gap and left. After two weeks the air gap was installed a stain showed around it on our brand new granite counter top which we both loved. We thought, maybe it will go away... After a month the stain got even bigger (about 4" inch around the air gap) and could really see it - this time I decided to take out the air gap to see what is going on... I took the air gap out and found plumbers putty around it!! This putty is very oily and if used on those surfaces it will stain them - he was not knowledgeable enough to know that.
After going back and forth with the plumbing company they have paid for new countertop. This is what got me to give a try to quartz.
So for the past 2 years I have Caesar Stone in my kitchen and my wife loves it! We never had staining issues and she is a heavy cooker.
I find it an honest advise to share with someone my personal experience with this material.
The reason why engineered surfaces are considered food-safe, though, is that one can exactly quantify the ingredients of those materials. It is known precisely how much of chemical A or resin B was used during their manufacture. Since all natural stones vary considerably in their geologic qualities, it is not possible to say for certain that stone A consists of such a percentage of mineral A and so much of mineral B. These numbers will change for pretty much every sample taken from any particular quarry. Since there is no certainty of their composition, the NSF is hesitant to say any natural material is food safe, on the off chance that they might be wrong and get sued if someone gets a case of salmonella.
As far as honesty and bias go: In my previous reply I did mention that we supply all kinds of surfaces, both natural and man-made. It is our company policy to assess the needs of the clients and base our suggestions for suitable material on the merits of each situation. We educate our clients to the benefits and draw-backs of all choices concerned but do not, however, give them information based on rumors or advertising hype. Also as mentioned before, the public depend on the information supplied by professionals when they make their decisions. The least we as professionals could do, is to disseminate the CORRECT information.
Overland, I am glad you like your Ceasar Stone and am sorry your plumber managed to mess up your granite. Please know, though, that there are many stones around that would NOT have shown a mark from the oily plumbers' putty.
Saying that ALL granite stains, based solely on your one-time experience, is a little like saying that all plumbers are idiots. It just is not true.
Anyone who would say that has never taken a piece of honed granite and purposely tried to destroy it. I have with my clients. I also have had honed granite for over 9 years and I cook a lot of high acidic foods.
I have never had my Granite stain-its a super hard dense material. However marble does stain fairly easily...its a softer material.
My clients really wanted the honed and so they took a piece of light colored granite, put ketchup, berries, red wine on it overnight. Cleaned right up just perfectly the next day.
It was a fun experiment. It didn't stain and they are still in love with their honed countertops. I would never do shiny. They show every crumb, every water ring, every acid mark.
1. Soapstone counters are NOT porous.
2. They do NOT need to be sealed.
3. Because they are not porous, they are impervious to heat and chemicals (which is why they are used in chemistry labs).
4. However, they DO need to be maintained with either soapstone wax or oil to retain a dark, even finish.
5. The waxing is neither time consuming nor onerous (we do ours every 3-4 months and it takes approx. 10 minutes), but it may be more maintenance than some homeowners want to deal with.
6. They DO scratch, but the scratches disappear into the patina the minute they are oiled or waxed. So the scratching isn't usually a problem.
I also happen to think granite and quartz are great countertop materials, but I cannot speak to their virtues or drawbacks as I don't own them. My understanding is that each material has its own pros and cons, so pick what you love the look of most, or what sounds like it requires the kind of care you can live with.
http://www.houzz.com/discussions/346684/Concrete-Countertops-FAQ-s-by-Twisted-Minds
What I do find when talking to clients though, that they are not informed/educated enough about the material they have purchased I.e. granite requires maintenance.
I think my comment has been interpret wrong, I was not trying to talk to the favor of any material, I was trying to educate Sheila about the important fact I found many other contractors fails/don't want to educate about and that's re-sealing your pours counter top whatever material it might be, if its porous it have to be re-sealed.
I think every material have its own uniqueness, some requires maintenance, some don't, and if any of my clients or the readers who read this post love one material over the other, and maintenance is required and it's not an issue for them, they should go for it.