Glenlochan: The Most Important Room in The House

One critical fact I've always known but recently have examined more closely and held close is that home truly is where my family is. No matter how big or small the home, if it's filled with the people you love (even if they are just there temporarily, on a break from their hectic, busy lives), it's...give a big contented sigh here....home. I'm a complete homebody at heart and I truly value the time I get to spend at home. Although I prefer bigger spaces, I can be perfectly happy in a mobile home (we started our marriage in one and we've certainly logged a lot of time in the camper in the past 18 months) or our small Philly place. But, I like to feel like I've earned a house - through hard work or sweat equity - and that's been largely true of every home we've owned. Glenlochan is probably the king of our sweat equity projects to date and I'm really feeling like we've earned our stripes with this one. Although I value my bedroom for being a peaceful oasis, and the living room for the hours of tv and other entertainment, make no mistake, the kitchen is, bar none, the most important room in the house.

The kitchen in Glenlochan is no exception. Although it will give a nod to simpler times and homey, vintage materials, it will also have sleek stainless appliances, tons and tons of heavenly storage for my many gadgets and my too large accumulation of glassware and dishes and bowls, and most importantly, lots of room for people to gather. Around the counters or sitting at the peninsula to eat or drink, in the kitchen workspace to cook, or the adjoining dining or keeping rooms to visit, there will be many places to congregate. One rule of thumb we learned from all of the other houses we've owned is that, no matter how nice and appealing the other rooms are in the house, everyone will gather in the kitchen without fail. A kitchen manages to pull people in, encourage them to stay, no matter how small and cramped it may be in there, and exude an almost magnetic attraction. So, in this house, there will be room to gather in the chaos of the heart of the house, the kitchen.

And, that brings us to the counter top installation. After multiple setbacks getting to this point, including the keen disappointment over not getting the original soapstone slabs we selected, the soapstone counters are in, and all the issues we faced in getting to this point have slipped fuzzily to the edges of my memory in favor of the wondrous beauty of these natural counters, now the focal point of the most important room in the house. I cannot help but pause every time I am in the house to run my hands over the counters, to stare at the unique veining - seeing different patterns each time - to wet an area to see what it will look like once it's oiled (that will be a while yet), and to imagine all the future kitchen gatherings that will take place around these counters. The installation process was smooth sailing - the installers did an excellent job with these very heavy slabs, cutting them to a precision fit in all cases, sliding them in without damage or mishap, making the seams practically invisible.

Forget diamonds, designer purses, shoes and clothes, and new cars and give me soapstone counters instead any day of the week. Well worth the wait and the budget splurge, these subtle yet distinctive counters promise years of enjoyment and practicality while we prepare food and fun for all of the people we love most.

On to the visuals, starting with installation day.

Yes, the right slabs arrived this time - the block/slab numbers were triple-checked!

Carefully getting the slabs in after cutting them in the front yard.

Partially installed:

And, the full finished product (the counters were wet with a sponge in the last few shots below to illustrate the rich black color these counters will have once they are oiled; until then they will be a natural grey):