<p>I’d love to use soapstone but the kitchen in the house I’m renovating will only have one north-facing window and I want to keep the counters light. I’m planning white Caesarestone on the perimeter counters and am looking at marble or quartzite for the island.</p>
<p>We chose a VERY light granite…Ivory Fantasy. It was the lightest one in the place. We LOVE it (we have a ton of windows…room is bright anyway…but I just wanted something light).</p>
<p>I have soapstone countertops (Green Mountain, which I believe is one of the harder soapstones). We remodeled last summer. So far, so good. I love the way it looks, and I’m finding it to be very easy to maintain. We have white cabinets, brazilian cherry floor, and the soapstone looks gorgeous.</p>
<p>Vballmom
I love both of your selections. I know zero about the durability of quartzite, but marble in a kitchen requires more TLC than I could provide, especially in a light color. Marble is more porous than granite. It is more susceptible to stains and scratches. OTOH my best friend has marble in her kitchen and loves it, but she never cooks!</p>
<p>They require so little maintenance – and they can look different depending on how often you use mineral oil on them. For some weird reason, I prefer not to use the mineral oil in the summer and the countertops look lighter gray. When fall rolls around, I oil them every month or so, and enjoy the very dark gray/almost black look, but with the beautiful veining. I have cherry Shaker cabinets, heart pine floors, and the soapstone cabinets really look good.</p>
<p>They can be cleaned with anything, absorb no stains, hot pots can go directly on the surface, and I have not had a problem with scratching (had them for 5 years now). Maybe my soapstone is harder than some others also?</p>
<p>The only “downside” I considered when deciding on countertops was size. I have two 10’ countertop lengths. If I had gone with granite, I could have had whole pieces of granite on each. The soapstone I selected could not be gotten in 10’ lengths, so I have a seam. That was almost a deal breaker for me, but when I saw other kitchens with soapstone seams, I decided I’d rather have that than the granite. I realize others would disagree, but I remain delighted with my countertops!</p>
<p>Someone else may have said this already. I think built-in microwaves are a terrible idea. I’ve burnt out so many microwaves over the years, and a small countertop one costs all of $79 vs. $500 for a built-in.</p>
<p>New poster to this thread, wondering … What does one do with the space vacated by the built-in microwave? It seems I would spend at least $500 figuring that out! But I’m kitchen-design impaired.</p>
<p>We bought a counter top mw oven that fits the built in opening and ordered a custom trim kit for $100 to make it looks like built in, works wonder…</p>
<p>My counter space is at a premium so that’s why I’ll be getting in built-in microwave as well. In my last house I did what artloversplus did, bought a custom trim kit and put an inexpensive countertop mircowave into an existing open cabinet.</p>
<p>I guess if you’re removing a built-in microwave, you can buy doors and turn it into a cabinet, or add shelves for cookbooks, or put in a puck light and add glass shelves for display, or…probably lots of other ideas out there.</p>
<p>Mine is 16 years old and still going also. If you have a small kitchen, I think it is a good compromise, two in one:) This thread is tempting me, however, to get a designer hood.</p>
<p>Thanks for the ideas. But it does feel as if I’ll need to replace my dying built-in microwave with another one given the size of my kitchen and the likelihood that it would cost more to cover up the empty spot. I have a teeny-tiny kitchen … When I get a chance I’m going to scour the thread for hints about things a space-limited and budget-impaired person can pull off!</p>
<p>When we had to replace a built-in microwave, and didn’t want to spend the $600 for the “right” model, we trimmed out the hole, changed out the electrical connection to a conventional socket, and put a regular microwave on the resulting shelf, for a grand total of $200.</p>
<p>Since we are talking microwaves. Do you have one with a handle or push button to open? We have an over the stove built in one with a handle and we are on replacement handle #3. The stupid thing keeps breaking. Trying to decide which style is better, the push button opening kind or the handle. I don’t know if we just have a dud set up with ours or what but I’m tired of paying $50 to get a new handle for the microwave.</p>
<p>the push botton varity in my brother’s rental unit also broke(locked up). And I think you need to replace the whole thing. you are lucky to spend only $50 to replace the handle only.</p>
<p>That’s easy: put in a real range hood vented to the outdoors. Braun is a brand with excellent performance at a comparatively reasonable price. I’m with Thumper’s H: it is a deal-breaker for me.</p>
<p>My range doesn’t face the outdoors; it faces my dining room. Whether my about-to-break handle on the microwave holds out will spell the difference between replacing the microwave first or replacing my refrigerator (where the light bulb hasn’t worked for 10 years or so). I’m sure making my kitchen sound backwards! To do anything substantive, I’d have to break the bones of my 100-year-old condo, which I’d be loathe to do even if I could get board approval …</p>
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