Isn't grease and food stuff going to soak into it? We finish lumber to stop that kind of thing happening.

Have you ever seen one of the homes that are not painted. You leave them natural and stain them. There is always mud along the bottom where the rain and dirt splatter on the lower portion of the siding.

There was a kitchen reveal that featured unfinished walnut cabinets. Those cabinets were RTA. They simply oiled them to repel stains. That's the closest almost unfinished.

Emma, that's what I'm concerned about but still wanted to run it by and see if anyone had done it.

Homechef, I'm open to almost unfinished. Do you by chance remember what oil they used? We've used mineral oil on cutting boards before and I wonder if this would be a good application for it. How can I search for this home reveal? Would love to see it in pictures. Thanks!

Worst idea ever. Just try to scrub off spaghetti sauce off of a board from the hardware store.

I would not have unfinished wood cabinets in a kitchen. Even if you can keep them from getting splattered or dirty (next to impossible) the wood is porous and will soak up humidity, especially around the stove and sink, which can warp it. I guess you could oil it as Homechef suggested, I have no experience with that. But if you want to be able to clean them, the best choice in my mind is to clear coat them, no stain just a natural, clear topcoat. Just depends on how much you use your kitchen, our house is definitely lived in so I keep the cleaning and maintenence in mind with all my remodeling/redecorating decisions. If it isn't easy to clean, and can take a good scrubbing, I won't have it.

Here is the oiled cabinets that Homechef might be referring to, linked below.

I'm pretty sure that the HGTV article is referring to buying unfinished cabinets to save money, and then finishing them with paint or stain and poly yourself at home rather than leaving them in their unfinished state.

Here is a link that might be useful: Vsalz kitchen reveal

I've been pricing replacement doors/drawer fronts and for the few additional cabinets I'll need. Most RTA sites offer an unfinished option or two, all say things like "sanded suitable for painting/staining" or similar wording in the description. So laughable is right. They don't mean that you should leave them unfinished. However, just a clear poly topcoat is fine if you don't want to stain them. I'd probably do 2-3 thin coats just to ensure there's good coverage.

Understood, jdesign. But the OP asked about raw, unfinished wood and if that was OK in a kitchen. I think we can all agree that would be a big no. Oil, poly, stain/poly or paint would make the wood finished.

Thanks for all the feedback! I think everyone has confirmed my suspicion that unfinished is not a good idea, and I definitely won't be considering it anymore. Oiling with tung oil though sounds like a do-able option and I might explore it more. Thanks Laughable for the link to the oiled cabinet reveal! It was very helpful and inspiring to read through the OP's process.

I re-read the HGTV "article" again and I think they really are saying unfinished is an option. Here is a paragraph from the article and I've included the link below.

"You'll have almost unlimited options when it comes to completing the look of unfinished kitchen cabinets. The first and by far the easiest choice is to leave them in their stark, natural, unfinished state. Unfinished cabinets tend to give a kitchen a welcoming, rustic, casual feel, and certain types of wood like cherry, mahogany and ivory offer a high-quality unfinished appearance."

Maybe this was aimed at people who don't use their kitchens? Anyways, that's why I come here for real advice :)

Here is a link that might be useful: HGTV article

If you want an easy DIY option for finishing "ready to finish" cabinets, you can do Rubio Monocoat Oil. It's a single coat process and designed for floors, so durable. There are lots of colours, or just plain. I did that on my cabinet fronts - the finish is quite matte, and with the "5% white" colour it actually looks unfinished (doesn't really change the colour of the unfinished wood). My fronts aren't completely installed so I don't have much experience with living with them. But I researched it to death and decided it was a good option for me.

Well, that sort of makes no sense at all, since ivory isn't a wood, and both mahogany and cherry are rather pricey woods, so not woods one would think of being budget choices. I think that idea of leaving kitchen cabinets unfinished is bonkers. I doubt it has been done much anywhere for long and looked nice. Raw wood is the last thing you'd want in a kitchen. If you like dark wood, then doing a General Finishes Java Gel stain (google it), or similar, might be an easy way to go. I did that on a vanity I rehabbed and it was much easier than traditional wood refinishing (which I've done other times). There might be lighter gel stains or similar that are fairly easy to apply, and that might work, too. I've never heard of anyone actually having unfinished wood cabinets in the kitchen (on purpose), and I can't fathom it being a good idea!

I had a local custom cab maker build all my cabinets and they were unfinished. (I did the finishing work myself to save $$$$.)

All I have to say is the cabs for the main part of my kitchen were finished immediately, the cabs for my wet bar sat unfinished (and un-used) for several months b/c of reno-fatigue on my part.

I didn't want ANYONE getting near those unfinished cabs. They still ended up with a few spots that got oil splash on them and they were a PITA when I finally got around to finishing them a few months ago.

The occasional water (NOT everyday use) wasn't really a problem. The surface got wet from water droplets and had a chance to dry out.

The few places where oil hit wouldn't take the stain. I ended up having to spot sand any place grease might have touched.

0/10 would NOT recommend unfinished cabs for ANY space that is going to be used.

Laughable found the thread that I referenced. Thanks for finding it. I thought the walnut cabinets were wonderful.

Here is some costing information that may help you. I just paid $3,000 to have my custom RTA cabinets from Scherr's painted. My total order was $17,000 including the paint charge. I selected SW Dover White, which matches the trim color in my house. Scherr's will do custom colors for you. Barker's has two available paint colors.

This is around 20% for priming and paint. What you have to decide is whether it is worth it to you to pay this extra charge. I have previously painted a house full of custom cabinets. At the time, it was worth my effort to paint them myself. In this home, it won't be quite as easy, so I chose to pay the extra charge for the convenience. I think I will have my hands full assembling the cabinets.

It is more difficult to stain wood with good results. That's why I found the walnut cabinets so interesting. I have tried to stain furniture before. I found it very difficult. Painting and getting a good finish is much easier.

Good luck with your decision.

Thanks to everyone for all the great suggestions!

Feisty, thanks for sharing the fruits of your research. That looks like a wonderful though expensive product with some very nice color options. The 5% white you mention is an option and I'm also curious about the cotton white because I want to keep the cabinets light in color. We will definitely be re-finishing our old oak floors as well and was already thinking about using a natural oil based finish, so this might come in handy again:)

Szruns, while the Java might be too dark for my taste, I see that general finishes also have some lighter options. I'll keep it in mind if we decide to finish ourselves.

Texas_Gem, thanks for the anecdotal advice :)

Homechef, that's interesting you found staining to be more difficult than painting. Our cabinet design actually started out as white and we were going to go with white thermofoil before moving away from it due to concerns about performance. I would have liked white painted cabinets but everyone we talked to estimated a 15% upcharge for going from stained wood to painted wood, which is why I started considering having a more natural wood finish instead. Anyways, I did look at Barker as an option as well and see that they have the option for paint grade unfinished doors. How much time did you spend per cabinet when you painted your custom cabs? We are going with slab type doors, so hopefully that will make any DIY jobs a little easier.

When you go into the individual cabinets on Barker where you specify your cabinet style, width, etc., you can choose them unfinished or finished. It will give you the exact price for the upcharge for that particular cabinet. You will be able to figure out from that if it's in your budget to buy them finished or not.

To paint right takes forever. Prep, prime, sand, paint, sand, paint. But doing it right means it will look good and last longer.

I'm planning on repurposing my current cabinets and then buying new doors and drawer fronts, and a few complete cabinets from Barker. And I will get them unfinished. I'm not looking forward to the painting but, for me, I'm saving enough to make it worth it. Plus, Barker doesn't do the paint color I want. I only work very part-time, flexible hours. if I worked full-time, I'd pay for finished.

Only you can weigh the time vs. money factor.

Painting doesn't take a lot of time. Waiting for the paint to dry does. Plus, it depends on how many cabinets are involved. You need sanding, priming, drying, sanding, painting, drying, sanding, painting, drying, drying.

I built a home with custom cabinets with primer only. I wanted a finish that looked brushed rather than sprayed. The only way to get that type of finish was to do it myself. They turned out beautifully, too. It took about two weeks including the drying.

jgHG, if you look at the specs for coverage, Rubio Monocoat oil is not that expensive. Plus, it's one step. To compare with other processes you'd have to do a bit of math to account for multiple products and/or coats. A little Rubio goes a long way.

Oh, heck with all this stuff.

Get yourself some Latex, Exterior, DARK paint base. BM is a 4 or 6.
It goes on shockingly white, but dries absolutely clear. And ridiculously inexpensive in the face of all finishes.

Paint base gives such a matte finish, you won't be able to tell where you left off, so don't stop in the middle of a door.

I've been using this on antique doors I stripped down to raw wood. I didn't want any sheen whatsoever, because I wanted an unfinished look. The Exterior part of this has all the UV and moisture resistance you'd expect of an exterior paint. But without any pigment it's just a protective layer.

Interestingly enough, I used some over some paint that was chipping, because I liked the rustic look. It glued the chips down without the gooey look of poly. You can't see it, but you can't chip the chips off.

Oil is a finish. This is actually a finish, too. But this is a truly invisible one.
Oh - I also used it on my mahogany front door I stripped. It's holding up great after 2 years. Still looks like gorgeous, raw wood.

Wanted to mention for anyone who has found this old thread and is thinking of a minimal finish on raw wood cabinets that oil-based rub-on finishes can eventually turn yellow.

CEFreeman Could you please give me a little more info on the finish you're referring to? Is it Benjamin Moore? It's a paint base that has no color? I would like to finish my white oak cabinets in something that keeps it close to the unfinished appearance. Thank you!

I have the same question for CEFreeman as HeatherInOR. What paint base are you recommending? Thanks!