Oiling soapstone

I have soapstone countertops in my kitchen. I love them, they are so pretty! They have a matte finish and some really cool veining. They don't require a lot of maintenance, but you can oil them periodically if you want. It really changes the look.

Here is one section, not oiled. You can see that there are some lines in the stone where my dish drying tray recently sat. If you don't oil the counters, you can see water marks, although they fade after a little while (a few hours or so).

I use an old washcloth to spread a thin coat of mineral oil around the countertop, making sure to get the front edge.

This is the countertop immediately after I oiled it. It's nice and shiny and the watermarks are gone. But it's a little too oily/shiny for me. So I take a clean washcloth and buff all of the countertops after I oil them. And this is how they end up.

A nice warm glow, but still a matte finish.  I do this about once a month, which minimizes any temporary water marks (unless my husband has been brewing beer, then there is water EVERYWHERE). It only takes about 10 minutes, not a lot of effort for something that I love so much!