When we first started designing the kitchen, we figured carrera countertops had too high a risk of staining (especially with us), granite would be too shiny and new looking for our 100-yr old house, but soapstone would be out of reach. Surprisingly, it wasn't much more expensive than granite. Going to the stone yard to pick out our slabs was fun, but made me VERY glad we were not selecting granite. A pro and con of soapstone is that there were only a few types to choose from. It would have taken forever to choose one granite out of hundreds, but one of four soapstone slabs is a much easier choice. Fortunately, we found one that was exactly what I was hoping for - charcoal, no green, nice white veining, perfect leathery texture. Love it!
Once installed, step 2 - figuring out how to treat them. Apparently soapstone won't stain, but will darken with use. To keep them from aging unevenly and to get the darker color we wanted, you can rub mineral oil into the countertops. We'd heard that waxes work nicely too, and don't need to be reapplied as often as mineral oil, so that's what we used. It's essentially a big lip balm for your countertops. We used a beeswax/mineral oil mix called BeeKeeper's Gold from Williams Sonoma. Below pic shows untreated stone on the right, waxed stone on the left:
