For a number of years, people have been designing their kitchens around a truly one of a kind material – soapstone. This stone, with its ability to turn an ordinary counter to a beautiful and exquisite soapstone countertop, is the perfect compliment to today’s modern kitchen design. The unique properties of soapstone make it the perfect material for counter tops, backsplashes, sinks, stoves and kitchen islands.
Soapstone and all of its fine qualities will bring a touch of sophistication to a modern kitchen, an old world, rustic kitchen, or a hybrid of bother completely designed by you. Kitchen items like a soapstone sink or soapstone stoves are also quite practical, as well. A soapstone countertop does not require a sealer like ones made from granite or marble. Any stains you may have on it are easily removed with a fine sand paper, since nothing will penetrate below the material’s surface.
Soapstone as a stone is inert to all household chemicals, and is also quite heat resistant. It is formed from mineral deposits, with the main components being talc, chlorite, dolomite and magnetite. It is a steatite, or metamorphic rock, and comes in different degrees of hardness, with talc being the softer soapstone.
Because of these heat resistant and retention qualities, soapstone stoves are quite popular. You’ll also find it commonly used for wood stoves, fireplace liners and pizza ovens. The rugged and dense type heat resistant soapstone makes it the best and most obvious choice for a countertop material. You can literally place cookware right out of the over on its surface, and not suffer any damaging effects from it.
With age, the natural shades of a soapstone counter or a soapstone sink, with its green-gray, blue-gray and charcoal gray color, slowly change to a darker shade. However, with some mineral oil, you can evenly darken it out more. The color and appearance of the soapstone can be enhanced with regular applications of mineral oil. If you prefer to keep the original gray color back, a little bit of sand paper will do the trick. A soapstone countertop requires regular maintenance with applications of mineral oil. This helps the stone maintain its sheer.
One look at a finished soapstone countertop or a soapstone sink and you’ll quickly understand why it is one stone everyone loves to use. As a material, it can easily be cut with a saw, and hand finished with sand paper. Because of this easy workability, soapstone can be made to meet your specifications, along with any type of edge profile you wish for.