Well, me and my husband liked stained and painted cabinets so we are doing both. Maybe you can do mostly cherry cabiets with a few cabinets white (under the sink or something). Just an idea. I definitely don't think white cabinets would devalue your home. They are super-popular right now and makes kitchens look clean and bright. Good luck!

White cabinets are indeed popular right now but they are a PITA to maintain.

Wood stained cabinets and white cabinets have both been around in various incarnations for a long time. Just a quick look at this board and you'll see folks are about 50/50.

One thing to remember is that wood stained cabinets can always be restained / repainted. I doubt that painted cabinets can ever be stained.

Gee, this sounds like my house! DH really wants maple or cherry stained cabinets. I agree that his choice would be beautiful. BUT, my heart belongs to creamy off/white cabinets. Even though my budget is about to burst, I'm still getting my creamy cabinets. DH says, in the end, it's my choice. He got to choose when he built his "dream" garage. After all, fair is fair! Good luck! Either one you get will be beautiful. I really like the idea of mixing both white and stained wood. Best of both worlds.

Barb

Agree with NYmommy--use both! Although mine will be painted, my cabinets will be one color, my island another. My DH also said final choice is up to me. There are probably a few kitchens in the FKB that have both if you try searching there. Someone else may remember some kitchens they can tell you to look up. Good luck on whatever you decide!

if you have a piece of furniture you love, then i would say get wood cabinets that coordinate with that. whether it's painted or stained. i see a door at the end of your kitchen. it looks like people might walk through it. so in that case i would suggest stained, because of the frequent cleaning involved with white cabinets. i think it also depends on the cabinet front. shaker white would be a lot easier to maintain than our raised panel beaded cabinet doors, if they were painted. to lighten the kitchen can you get a door with a window? if your door leads outside.. good luck
kren

I also am debating this issue because i have always wanted painted white cabinets but also love cherrywood. I bought my bed several years ago and still absolutely love the color stain of the wood. i might go with mostly cherry mostly because initially I was going to go with painted cuz i thought it would be cheaper but it turns out cherry will be cheaper so unfortunately that influences my decision since appliances come first with me. I still want to opt to mix colors though and have some portion be white. AND as i couldn't sleep last night I thought I can always sand and paint my stained cabinets if I really regret it down the line but I think it would be harder to strip paint and stain cabinets...

I loved the look of white cabinets but was worried about the maintenance. So I'm getting a cream island and maple perimeter cabs. I've also seen white uppers, dark lowers, which makes sense to me because the lower cabs get the wear & tear. The "unfitted" (non-matching) look is very popular now. Good luck.

We are doing both mostly for the reason bluekitobsessed. Oyster white on top and mid tone cherry on bottom. We will have two additional narrow cabs on either side of out range to tie it all together. We did not want to have to worry about chipping or dirtying the lower cabs by our dogs.

BTW, I think with your table a mid toned cherry stain would look great so if you decide to go that way you should be fine.

All I can tell you is that my heart does skip a beat when I see a beautiful off white kitchen. Not to say that there are not other wood finished kitchens that make me drool. My DH said exactly the same thing.. and the KD turned her nose up at my cream color kitchen.. so I picked cherry. The cabinets are being installed and I feel that this was my BIGGEST mistake in the whole house. I am sad I don't have the cream kitchen.. even though I KNOW the cherry will look great too... I would really, really REALLY think on this as it is a big $$ decision! Good luck!

I LOVE a white kitchen. Those are the kitchens that grab me. They are classic and will never date a kitchen. We have a mix - white perimenter cabs and a cherry island. Go with what you love. Can I just add that IMO, the painted cabs are not a problem to maintain or clean. I've read some posts that people think they are, but it's just not been my experience. Good luck with your decision!

We are in Indy and debated the white vs cherry cabinet issue for some time before landing on Cherry with a light stain. Not sure who you are working with in Indy, but we looked at Mouser cabinets at Reese Kitchens in a white / cream color. First (which bugged me) - they are the same price as cherry. Secondly, they do require more maintenance / or have more potential issues. In addition to the normal nicks and bumps, the paint has the potential to open at seams as the wood moves - part of the "character" of white - which may or may not bother you.

We ultimately went with Kline Cabinets out of Maxwell, IN (north of greenfield). They do all custom work and install the cabinets as part of their pricing (which was lower than any of the other "cabinet only" quotes we got). They were willing to do painted maple or cherry - same price. We opted for cherry with a honey stain and have no regrets. We got raised panel doors, but the shaker doors they had on their display were wonderful. Six weeks to build AND install. They use top grade materials and all Blum hardware. If you have not inked a deal on your cabinets, I would encourage you to check them out. I have attached a link showing our cabinets.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen Pics

My humble opinion, worth what you paid for it:

Your kitchen is small and narrow. I think white will open it up, where stain may close it in. I'm not sure how a painted shaker style would look, perhaps a bead board door? I think mixing both stain and paint in a kitchen of this size might look too busy. You can mix more colors, surfaces, styles, etc., in a larger room, but I feel smaller rooms should have fewer elements.

White with say a soapstone or similar contrasting counter would give a vintage look. It would be a classic kitchen, and not in anyway devalue your home.

Again I caution, this opinion is just that, an opinion. Do what your heart says is right. You will see it every day, and it should both please you and make you feel proud.

I do agree with the other posters saying white painted cabs are classics. It would brighten the area and make it look larger if that is important to you. We too have a galley working kit and our cabs are painted red. I immediately saw the area getting smaller looking as they were being site painted. It didn't matter to me but it might to some people.

Kitchen styles, colors, etc., are cyclical, so if you sell in 10 or 15 years, it will still be a 10 or 15 year old kitchen that someone will be buying, so it probably does not matter.
That said, I notice you have white woodwork, so a white kitchen with a few well placed cherry accents could look gorgeous.

I've noticed on this forum that men as a whole like stained cabinetry, while women prefer painted. In my case, at my previous house, I wanted to paint all the millwork white in our remodeled master bedroom and library because I knew it was needed to complete the "look" I was trying to achieve. My husband put his foot down equally hard against, paint, but I wore him down and got my way. Mixing stained and painted woodwork did not hurt our resale, but actually helped because those rooms were the real showpieces of the house. I wondered if we waited another 10 years to sell, whether that would still be the case.

I grew up in an old home that had many, many layers of paint on the doors. Cleaning them was next to impossible, so you had to repaint them. My mother swore she would never have painted woodwork again (she hasn't).

At this point, my husband has pretty much demurred to my choices because I have pretty much always been right (at least from an aesthetic standpoint).

I have all cream colored cabinets in my present house and don't find them to be that difficult to keep clean. We are renovating a new home and I thought I wanted all cypress cabinets, but ended up choosing off-white cabinets again with a cypress peninsula. I love the mix of stained wood and white/cream together. I agree that a white kitchen will always be a classic. Go with what you love.

We will have a large island that will be rift sawn oak and will combine that with white cabs in the rest of the kitchen. I agree with the rest of the posters in that you can't go wrong with classic white. It will brighten up your kitchen amazingly and I don't think you would regret having them. Good luck.

We had the same debate initially. But as many noted here, the white/off white kitchens pix were always my favorites. We priced some beautiful cherry cabinets but in the end elected to go for the painted. No regrets. They are lovely. No issues so far in upkeep but they are relatively new - time will tell on this issue.

We have all off-white and it isn't hard to keep clean at all. A wipe with a cloth when necessary. The solid use of light color really lightened and opened up my kitchen (which although not tiny, is not huge either), and after two years with it I can still say it was absolutely the right choice for me. My husband does like wood stain better, but he said "The kitchen is yours - I don't cook - so do it the way you want it." A kitchen remodel is the most expensive thing you do in your home, and you'll be living with it for a long time, so take the time to be sure about what you want. Keep looking at lots of magazines, forum pictures, etc. and tag all the ones that "speak to you". Hold off until you're sure.

Really, I don't wish to be offensive to the white cab lovers. If you have it and like it, lucky you.

But I don't see how anyone can seriously argue that this isn't a trend, and bound to crash. Look at the % of white cabs on this site: anything this common starts to look, well... common.

Yesteday's 'timeless' is today's 'tired' is tomorrow's 'tiresome'.

Yes, it's a clean look, but also cold and uninviting.

Look at it this way-- if you get the wood and hate it, you can always paint it white.

But buy white, and your stuck with it.

I agree with you oruboris on your comments.

We are really pleased with our choice of mainly cherry with just two cream colored distressed hutch type accent pieces. It gives us the richness of cherry wood with a bit of the old antique feel with the painted hutches

oruboris:
I don't agree. We do have stained cabinets, not because of any trend, but rather because they fit with our decor.

Following your logic, since the 50's stained cabinets have been the norm. There are probally a far higher precentage of stained cabinets in kitchens today than painted ones. I suppose that makes stained cabinets, um, ... well common? And cherry? Often refered to as timless, I suppose that must mean in the next decade or so it will become, um, ...well...tired, and then tiresome?

And berryberry:
When is the last time you tried to strip off a modern stain finish so that you could paint over your cabinets? Easier said than done.

In any case, if your kitchen works well, looks new, has a reasonable level of quality componets, and feels good to you and yours, it will take decades before it will become dated. Only a few trends in kitchen design have not lasted over the past 50 years, painted and/or stained cabinets are not on that list, but Avacado green is. :-)

Bravo svwillow1 !!

IMHO white and stained are both classic and will always be classic. What dates a kitchen is the style of cabinet and accessories.

There are numerous white kitchens on this forum that are to die for, just as there are an equal number of stained that are to die for. It all comes down to each individual's style and taste and what makes them smile when they enter their space.

In addition, if you feel all white kitchens are cold, you clearly have not taken a look at the FKB where there are numerous white kitchens that are as warm and inviting as they come. Again, a cool look and feel vs. a warm look and feel is a matter of personal taste and one that should be left up to the personal choice of the kitchen owner. Take a look at the Sweeby test. It's priceless.

But it isn't just white v. stained, is it? Its a couple nearly identical shades of white v. oak birch maple cherry alder hickory poplar pine lyptus bamboo finished in any combination of provincial bourdeaux puritan natural earlyamerican sienna espresso fruitwood etc.

If 90% of new cabs were being done in the same wood with exactly the same finishes, that would be tiresome, too. White has a way bigger market share right now than golden oak did in the late 70s/early 80s, and 20+ years later most people are still avoiding it, and paying less for a house with that color kitchen since its considered an automatic tear out, based on color alone.

Oruboris,
White kitchens and white woodwork are dating back to the late 1800s and the early 1900s (at least). If a century old fad constitutes a trend then I guess white painted woodwork is a trend. Admittedly, the oil-based white used back then was cream or yellow once several years had passed, but still, the concept of white painted cabinetry and white painted wood is not a new one at all.

Didn't say it was new, just said it's really, really common right now. Way more common than it was 10 years ago; probably more common than it will be 10 years from now; and more common than gold oak was in the 70s, and that backlash is still going on.

Again, I'm not trying to be offensive in anyway to those that like white. But anyone still in the process of deciding should take the extent of the trend into consideration.

'Classic' looks can still go out of style, it's just that they come back... eventually.