Soapstone vs. honed granite

My friend, Alyssa, an interior designer (is that right Alyssa) gave me her opinion on soapstone vs. granite.  I want the look of soapstone, uniform color, charcoal gray, square edges, not too polished and shiny.  I think we are going to go with honed dark grnite and get it cut with square edges.  I really want soapstone but everyone says it dings, could I live with dings?  I don't know, I'd love to see one in a real kitchen. 

Her thoughts:
I love soapstone too - it is gorgeous! I don't tend to specify it much because it requires a lot of maintenance and it scratches easily. Granite you only have to seal once a year, whereas soapstone you need to wipe down with mineral oil once a week for the first year and maybe 4 times a year after that. It also tends t...o scratch/chip easily - so it tends to be better as a 'museum' than a work space. Granite is much denser, so you don't have to worry about the chipping/scratching. I saw a gorgeous honed granite the other day that was dark grey with some white movement to it and looked soft like soapstone. I'll find out what it was for you.

Check out her blog, I think her favorite topic is kitchens!  Thanks Alyssa.

http://persephoneirenedesign.blogspot.com/