Soapstone, Carrara or Both?

Both!
We've chosen our counter tops! So... one decision down- one million, two hundred, seventy six to go!!!

The counters will be soapstone and the 3'x 7' island is bianco carrara marble. In keeping with the spirit of an antique farmhouse we loved that both stones would have been used in a turn-of-the-century kitchen. We started off looking for solid soapstone, but fell for the gorgeous veins in the slab we picked out. We will need two slabs of soapstone. The slabs are about 5' x 9' which we are told is large for soapstone. I will only have two seams, both will fall behind the sink (really only one is needed, but for structural integrity they put in two.) Initially I contemplated all soapstone or all carrara, but in the end all of one type just seemed too much for our kitchen. Ever since our first trip to France I have always coveted marble for a kitchen surface, so I am very happy to have incorporated both. There was just something about the veining in both stones that made them look perfect together. The word on the street is that carrara is running very grey and muddy these days; several of the slabs we looked at were very nondescript or overly busy, but not pretty. I was very happy to find an articulate piece! The marble will be honed.

The water on the second chosen slab was starting to dry which is why is appears blotchy.

Pictures of the carrara are a little washed out. It's really a pretty piece!

The indoor warehouse had "lovely" fluorescent lighting...this photo shows the guys moving the soapstone after I asked if I could see it in natural light! They had to move it to a garage door opening in another building! They really loved me for that! But hey, I don't have a windowless box with fluorescent lights as a kitchen!