I have soapstone in my kitchen, good friends of mine also do. Even my parents and aunt in NJ have moved forward with SS in theor kitchens. Soapstone was one of the first counter top materials ever used in this country and many of those tops are still in service today!
Not sure what reasoning you were given to avoid using this material but from my experience I can tell you that I have no regrets and would not ever use anything else if I were to do it all over again.
SS is a softer stone (some choices are anyway) and can show the patina (scratches etc...) but they fade out quickly and become unnoticeable, they just blend in.
A good company to check for variety and price is
Soapstone Kitchen Countertops : Soapstone Sinks Tile :: M Teixeira Soapstone - they have alot of different types and very good prices.
There is a man in Hillsborough, NC (I can dig his info up if you'd like) that did our fabrication and install, he was very good.
I encourage anyone to give this material a try. It's appeal to me was that it was NOT granite, granite is overdone these days IMO is overrated in it's aesthetic and functional values.
If you want something different and unique in your kitchens take a hard look at SS.
Welcome to City-Data.com forum! Make sure to register - it's free and very quick! You have to register before you can post and participate in our discussions with 700,000 other registered members. User profiles and some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your free account you will be able to customize many options, you will have the full access to over 15,000 posts/day about local topics and you will see fewer ads. 
Soapstone Info wanted
Linear Mode
