I used the rustoleum cabinet refinisher last week on my MIL's bath cabinets in our new house. We reused the golden oak from another bath, and it did not look good with the new tile. It may just be the satin finish varnish, but EVERY touch shows. You can even see the hand prints in the pictures.

A better cabinet finish may not do this, but I would try a sample first.

Nancy

I just took a spice type pull-out thing and sanded off the pinkish finish on it. It looked almost 80s, but I don't think they were making these 9" base cabs at that point. Pretty fugly, I must say.

Anyway. I am using it in my bathroom between two, Norcorft Espresso Maple, shaker vanities.

I sanded the heck out of it. Used Timbermate to fill in the oak grain (undiluted), and stained it with a stain I had made to match the vanities' touch-up kit. I had this stain matched at a for-the-trade-only commercial finishing company. I put 3 or 4 coats of stain, but it wasn't getting to the dark color I needed. It was translucent.

I had an ah HA moment. I dug out the Olympic stain I used on my front, mahogany door. I didn't know at the time I was supposed to wipe stain off, so I have this solid brown front door. (Another story. Planning to have it stripped.)

Anyway, I painted on this stain and just let it dry. I let it sit for at least 2 days before I've lightly sanded it and reapplied, never wiping it off. I will put a clear coat on it before I install the cabinet.

It is a perfect match. It's so perfect I keep holding a vanity door up to it in different lights to check.

So, long story very short, it can be matched. I have 2 cans of stain that will work on touch-up and covering a whole 'nother cabinet if I start feeling frisky.

I don't think "cheaper" is necessarily the way to go, because your quality of finish, coats, sealers, etc., are definitely quality dictated. You're seeing that in the price levels of the cabinets you're browsing.

As for installation damage, how the heck could you predict that? It's going to depend upon the installers, not necessarily the cabinet finishes themselves.

If my cabinets get scratched, which they probably will, I'll use Timbermate to fill in any I can and these stains to color them. I have cats who jump up to drink out of the faucets. I predict back claw scratches within weeks. Life happens.

My humble opinion is that natural will be easier to hide
wear and tear marks.

But let me ask you a few questions...

What type of wood are you using?
Are you building these cabinets yourself? Or are you
ordering cabinets already made?

Have you visited a few kitchen show rooms to see the
various brands and get a good feel for quality? Or maybe
you are going with a local cabinet maker.

What wood do you like?

All cabinets, painted, stained even formica can show wear.
Will Black show wear more than a light stain? Sure but
what you might want to find out is what kind of wood is
under the Black Ebony or Natural stain. This will be key
in how the stain stands up and what happens if a door is
slammed hard or a fork falls and hits the side of the
cabinet door.

Softer woods (pine or poplar) will show dents and marks.
The depth and layers of the stain will help hide some of
the wear and tear. Prepare yourself that pine is pretty
but soft.

Hickory and Oak might be stronger. But as you mentioned
the grain and pattern to the wood will be obvious.

Maple is a strong wood but stains look muddy without
proper technique. Birch is kind of like maple in the stain
dept.

Ash is lovely and nice to work with and takes stain nicely
but this is a hard to find wood. You might have to order
this special.

Walnut and Cherry are great options but pricey. Cherry
stains nicely and walnut already has a brown hue to the
wood that lends itself nicely to ebony.
Both are hard and can take a beating but again nothing is
wear/tear proof.

If Ebony is what you love but you can only afford a softer
wood, consider paint. Black paint can cover anything and
is easy to touch up.

~boxer

Anything dark shows dust a lot more. That goes for a black car, a black smooth top stove, a black counter, or black cabinets. The converse is also true. Anything very light shows dark dirt more. Mid tones show the least. But you can't create a kitchen entirely out of mid tones or it's flat and boring. You have to have light, mid, and dark tones in it to create depth and interest. I personally prefer to use a mid tone for a floor, where you get both dust and dirt, and then either light cabinets with dark counters, or dark cabinets with light counters. That makes for the kitchen with the easiest care.

Pick your poison.

I have cherry cabs in my MBR that are stained "carbon." I have not seen any dings or scratches at all...the finish seems quite durable. I will say, however, that black cabs seem to be difficult in a bath. Toothpaste, lotion, powder, etc, gets caught in all the carvings. I am a neatnik, but dh isn't, so I do a fair amount of cabinet wiping. Just throwing that out there if you don't enjoy wiping cabs! :)

thank you for your input. I guess I would be wiping more with black. Do you put soap or cleaner on the rag?

No I'm not building the cabinets myself, just figuring everything out myself.. Too long a saga.

The cabinets I'm looking at are maple and birch. I understand what you are saying about "muddy" stains. That's why I'm leaning towards the black, it looks perfect. In fact they say it's a stain but perhaps it's a paint.

I found my answer exactly, it was a post by pipdog with the picture of her black cabinet chipped. I don't know how to put the pic here and i'm unable to email her.
I knew this because I have maple floors that have been stained a dark color and when we cut them you see the light wood. I put stain on it and it's great. But that was a low grade wood with a lot of markings on it. It all blends.
This is a totally flat piece of wood. If I want to touch up nicks and chips I will see it. pipdog said she touches her's up with a marker and when she's ready to sell the house she will restain the whole thing.
As soon as you find a reason not to do something you immediately want it more.

I've just started doing some internet research on black cabinets. So far I have come across stains, dyes, and ebonizing with increasing levels of penetration of the wood depending on species, open grain, tannic content, etc. Once the color is achieved there are options for finishing such as toners, lacquer, etc.
I would assume results would vary depending on which technique was used.
I've found that finewoodworking.com has some very good articles/links. Perhaps someone at the GW woodworking forum could pipe in with some real-life endurance/durability data or recommendations.

thanks so much. could you tell me on a maple or birch wood what should I look for that will wear the best?

Jo, I just got painted navy blue cabs for my island. The cabinets came with a touch-up pen. After install I went along and touched up a lot of stuff! I can see that these painted cabs will need touch-up a lot more often than stained wood. I still wouldn't trade them!

wow, navy blue! can you attach picture?
that's exactly what happens, love always overrules practicality.

anyway, after investigating, if I go with dark espresso or java the consensus is that I really can't get away with not doing under cabinet lights; an expense I was getting out of.

The reason I was considering the black was because what I was going to do before, brown stain and ivory glaze, was getting more than we were originally quoted.

In addition to the lights, the farmhouse sink looks gorgeous.

I have a couple of cabinets in black milk paint. Milk Paint seems like a good cross between paint and stain. It performs like paint so the grain does not show through or look muddy on my maple cabs. However, Milk Paint 'sinks in' to the wood like stain does so when it scratches or dings the bare wood should not show through easily. I've also read that it blends nicely when touching up. Mine are too new to give you personal life experience.

Not sure if that is a choice for you or would work in your kitchen but I thought I would throw it out there.

Jo, here's my navy blue. The marble tops won't be installed until 5/14.

really nice! did you have them painted?
I just ran into the cabinet guy I've been working with, let's just say it's a small world. I started discussing the dark cabinets and he didn't think I would have trouble with scratches etc... and he's ready to give me a good price...
The dark cabinets really might happen..
originally I was going with a brown stain and an ivory island and table.. He was flabbergasted that I'm thinking of black.
I saw your pics, the molding you have above the refrigerator, is it a regular crown molding and then another molding under it? what is the type of molding that is used under it? what are the approximate sizes?
I'm covering 6" of pipes with molding and yours looks nice.

We ordered them painted from the cabinet maker. This company (Pioneer) will paint any Sherwin Williams color you want. We chose Naval. They are a nice cabinet and I love the paint color.

The perimeter cabs are a different company (not thrilled with them)and the molding above is the cabinet company's molding on all the cabs, then an extra crown above because they made my cabs too short. They were ordered to go to the ceiling and they didn't. So they had to build up with more molding to reach the ceiling. So I'm not positive what they used, but I liked the end result. I think it would cover 6" of pipes. I'm attaching the closest picture I can find of the moldings (forgive the old fridge!) so maybe you can see better. Can't wait to see your pictures!

it's really nice, I think going through it we are focusing on it too much. I also like the countertop on white cabs. which one is that?

Thanks! My perimeter counter is blue pearl granite. My island counter will be statuarietto marble.

coming very late to the party, but I just wanted to weigh in with my experience with my dark cabinets. Mine aren't black, but espresso. In a nutshell, they were a huge mistake. They show every fingerprint, every speck of dust and every nick (of which there are many since I have two toddlers that are constantly opening the pantry doors to get marshmellows or lollipops out). After only a year, they need re-stained. My white cabinets are far more durable and show less wear. I once had black tile floors in a house and learned the lesson, and now I am learning the lesson about dark cabinets -- never again. :)

but i do love the look of the navy island! wow!

here's a photo of the damage: