Here's a few more things to consider. Cherry tends to be pricier than maple. Natural cherry is darker than natural maple. I believe that maple is harder to scratch and dent than cherry. I'm told that cherry does its darkening in the first few months and after that it's done, but I don't really know. I believe that cherry is considered trendy and/or the high end wood choice. Having said all that, get what you want!

Although new cherry cabinets are just gorgeous, we are going with maple. The reason is that whenever I have been to see a kitchen (where the renovation is a few years old) with cherry cabinets I have noticed that the cherry often darkens unevenly. The cabinets can look quite different from when they are new after a few years and I just didn't care for the difference.

That said, it's still a tough decision.

Maple is a lot harder than cherry...cherry is only around 950 on the Janka scale. Maple is around 1450 Janka.

if you tend to like maple more and are worried about the darkening of cherry, then you should go with maple, which tends to be about 8-10% less expensive than cherry.

You could also consider red birch. Some call it pink birch, but essentially it is the heart wood of the yellow birch. It has similar grain to cherry but doesn't darken. The downside is that fewer cabinetmakers use it-- not a problem if you are going custom, however.

I'd go for the maple. And we probably will. :)

Susan

On the pro side, maple is cheaper. On the con side, if you like a deeper cherry color, doing so in maple will look too artificial.

To me nothing beats the rich look of real cherry wood.

So if you like the rich cherry color - go with the real thing

If you start with cherry that has little or no stain you will see it darken considerably and perhaps unevenly. If you start with a middle or darker stain you may not notice much difference at all. But the character of cherry is more apparent if it has little to no stain on it. That said, you have to enjoy that character of the wood to enjoy cherry. Also, it seems there are certain styles of cabinets -- kitchens that have large expanses of shaker style cabinets-- that seem to just look good in maple (though they look good in cherry too) whereas cherry seems to "go with" maybe a slightly more "furniture" style of door. But, of course, you should follow your own intuitions about all this and get what you like best!

I was going to go with cherry cabs in a shaker style. My contractor and KD warned me not to do it. Cherry is a much softer wood. My contractor stated he would bring me a door from his cherry wood cabs and show that I could make an indent mark on it with just my finger nail.

I went with maple, shaker style. If you have small ones that could potentially damage what you chose or a husband/boyfriend (like my boyfriend) that doesn't pay attention when doing things, you might want to go with a harder wood.

f you like the look of maple. Go for it. Cabinets are too expensive not to go with what you like.

I have to disagree about cherry being a soft wood. It's called a hardwood for a reason. Although it may not be as hard as maple, it is very hard, and the difference would be barely discernible. I would have to take a knife to my cherry cabinets to scratch them, and I'm pretty sure that would scratch any wood.

I agree that if you want the color of cherry you should go with the real thing. Cherry definitely does darken over time, but most of the darkening happens within the first couple of months. So, the samples you see in stores usually are old enough to show you the "after" color. My cabinets have darkened very evenly, even with some more exposed to sunlight than others. About the grain, we went with a custom cabinet maker (who cost substantially less than the mid-range manufacturers we had considered), and he was very picky in selecting the specific pieces of wood for my cabinets. I wanted to have subtle graining and little sapwood, and he accomplished this beautifully. If you won't have this kind of control and want less graining, go with maple.

If you want something lighter, a natural maple can be gorgeous. I will say, however, that a friend who got maple with a natural finish has been very disappointed in how much her maple has yellowed over the five years since it was installed. It started out very light with little yellow tone to it, and now it is decidedly yellowish. So, if you go this route, be sure to investigate the type of finish and its propensity to yellow over time.

Maple does have the distinct advantage of being less expensive, but the difference isn't huge. For my whole kitchen, there would have been a savings of less than $1,500 had we gone with maple.

Now, there are so many different stains available, particularly in Maple- I don't see as many choices in Cherry. Funny, having grown up with my parent's orangey tone Vilas maple and swearing I would never have that in my home, I have Maple shaker cabinets! But the tone is very rich, and yet light enough for my smallish kitchen- I think I will go for the dark cherry in a more formal furniture style for my Master bathroom (will tie in with bedroom better)

{{!gwi}}

Another thing to be aware of is that with maple (especially hard maple) it is very difficult to get a very uniform color when staining the wood a darker color. It has a tendency to to become blotchy when stained. If you go with soft maple, it will take the stain more evenly, but on the other hand soft maple is not much harder than cherry.

The previous posters are correct that most of the darkening of cherry occurs quickly with little or no perceptable change after that. I bought a cherry dining room set with six chairs shortly after moving in, in 2003, at a deep discount, going-out-of-business sale. A couple of years later I decided that I ought to have purchased 8 chairs, I found another furniture store that carried that furniture maker's work, and ordered two chairs and was sick at first at how dramatically different the color of the two new chairs was. Now two years later, the new chairs seem to have caught up, and its anybody's guess as to which are the two new ones.

If you want a warm, medium to dark stain I would go with the cherry. I don't think maple takes any stain well except the light ones. Otherwise, the finish just looks blotchy and uneven.

If you go with maple, keep it natural or light. Cherry will look terrific no matter how dark you go.

BTW, I have nothing against maple - I chose it for my previous house and was very happy with it. And it was frosted maple - oh so very 90s!

Nicole

as noted above, the quality of the wood is as much an issue as the actual wood type itself. a high end cherry cabinet will have reverse raised panels of solid wood and likely a nice tight grain. they will change color quite evenly. ma mentions an uneven color change...those are probably less ensive cabinets and likely have veneer doors which won't change like the frames.

i prefer cherry for a stained wood as it takes a color much better. you can start with a light stain (we have one on our kitchen cabs called cherry autumn, which is just a bit darker than natural). but then i absolutely hate blonde woods :) that said there are some beautiful blonde kitchens here....i just wouldn't want to live with them heh heh

i have maple floors in my library....they do yellow over time, so do keep that under consideration.

My favorite is hickory, since I'm OK with knots and streaks, and it's _way_ harder than maple.

But I like the look of cherry better than maple: the grain is more open, shows more figure, has a wider range of subtle colors and shading. But as with hickory, it isn't for everyone.

As for cherry being 'trendy', I don't think so. Practially all of new kitchens you'll see on GW are all white. Stained wood of any color isn't trendy, its downright rebelious.

Thanks to everyone for the comments. I thought we'd decided but after going through some of the comments I'm not 100%. We having the measurer come out in a week so we don't have to lock in our choice until just after that when we meet with the designer.

Of the samples, I prefer the way the maple looks as I didn't like the grain in the cherry (although my husband says that if you really like wood, you'd go with the cherry since it does have a grain).

So, I thought we'd settled and picked maple. We picked a door style with a bit of a design so the price wasn't substantially different, about $30/linear foot less for the maple than the cherry. However, we liked a colour called Cabernet, which is a bit of a darker, rich, reddish colour. So the only thing that concerns me is some of the comments about maple not taking a stain well.

I have a week to think about it and hope I feel confident in the decision by then! Thank you all.

I'd also like to hear more comments on the "maple not taking stain well".

Like sillysimms I prefer the less grainy maple vs. cherry. However, I'm looking for a very dark espresso stain. None of the manufacturers seem to offer the dark stains with maple. So maybe there is something to it not taking the stain.

On the other hand, I just saw a friend's new kitchen with maple cabinets stained dark espresso and it looked fabulous. I didn't notice any blotching or unevenness. Is this something that would change over time or once the stain is on evenly will it remain that way?

many times when cabinet builders have to stain maple, they mix the stain in the poly (or whatever finish they are using) instead of actually trying to stain the wood. It looks great...until the cabinet gets scratched and the bare unstained white wood shows thru. Maple is really nice, but just too darn difficult to stain nicely.

maple is harder than cherry and also more dense

i compared the weight of maple and cherry cab doors in lowes the other day and the maple was so much heavier

this is a consideration for me since i'm trying to lighten up our kitchen, both color- and weight-wise

right now i'm torn between three door styles, all schuler (the maple and cherry seem to be the same price at lowes):

a rustic maple door in "holbrook" (wide rails, deep inset panel, shaker style), with cashew glaze burnished....this resembles knotty pine or knotty alder....problems with this door are its weight (heavy) and the fact i might tire of the variegated knotty wood look

or....a cherry door in "ashford" (like the holbrook, only with a stepped inner rim) in either natural glaze burnished or wheat glaze burnished (i prefer the grainy/wood look of cherry)...problem with this door is cherry's tendency to darken...our kitchen is small and a pale, almost blond, color might work best

or...a maple door in "ashford" (same as above), in either cashew glaze burnished or hazlenut glaze burnished...problems with this choice are, again, the weight of maple, and maple's tendency to appear very fine or closed grain, almost plastic looking

anyone have any suggestions?

We considered maple for our cabinets but were told that medium to dark stains would be difficult to apply evenly.

We finally decided on cherry because we like the tight grain. We ordered 'select' cherry which avoids any sap wood which does not stain well.

We went with a medium stain, Varathane Traditional Cherry, and are very happy with the results. Almost a year has passed and the color has not changed.

Here are pictures:

These are maple stained cherryish.

It is so much personal preference & I wish you well making the choice. I've had two maple kitchens and currently have cherry. I wouldn't trade my cherry now for the maple. It is so warm and rich looking. Do be careful if you want the richer warmer, red cherry color. You may not be happy with a maple stained that way over the years. The maple does change a lot in color, yellows to oranges. A good quality cherry should have a grain that is tight and not that "showy." And yes the darker the stain to start it will change very little. Also, the poly or top coats can prevent some color change too. Have you picked your flooring or other furniture? That can really help your decision. We went with brazillian cherry floors and they look great with our cabinets. It is such a personal preference, but I'd sway towards cherry if you want more of a reddish brown darker color and if you want lighter natural go with the maple.

I struggled with the same question: Maple or Cherry. I love cherry and have a few pieces of cherry in the house, but chose Maple for a couple reasons. It was somewhat cheaper than cherry for one, and I really liked the look of the wood better than cherry...which surprised me. (I also LOVED the stain that this particular door sample had...)

We ended up ordering Schuler Freeport Maple with a Harvest Bronze glaze. Between the time that we ordered it and the time it was installed, I was SURE I had done the wrong thing and should have stayed with cherry. But I have to tell you, they are all installed now and they are gorgeous! I am so pleased with both Schuler as the manufacturer and the maple with the Harvest Bronze glaze. The cabinets look "satiny" (I made that word up I think), and rich but you can still see some detail as to grain, so you can tell it's real wood.

Overall, I really don't think you can go wrong with either wood and if you react strongly to a sample that you see and fall in love with it, like I did, then go with your heart! (And have fun!)

Cathy

JTSGranite: WOW! And I thought my cherry cabinets looked good!

As far as maple vs. cherry, it's a personal choice of course, but here is my opinion. Not to offend any maple cabinet owners, but I found the maple cabinets that I saw looked almost like there was a frosty sheen on them, kind of like frosted nail polish. I didn't care for that.
It seems that all the painted cabinet I saw, were maple under the paint.

I chose cherry with a medium stain called Briarwood. The cabinets have been installed for about 3 months. I have not noticed them darkening, but that doesn't mean that they haven't. It just means that if they've darkened, it sure hasn't been noticeable. As far as durability, since we've only had them for 3 months, I probably shouldn't speak yet. But I will say that I am very hard on things in general and the cabinets have been no exception. I tend to bang things around.. lol. So far we have no gouges, scratches or dents - and THAT, I would notice.

I have been very pleased with our selection, and I would say with 100% certainty, that if I had to do it all over again, I would choose exactly what I have.

I have cherry cabinets stained a medium red color. They are 13 yrs. old and have not darkened much. As someone else said, mine have a very tight grain. When we built our home, my daughters were 1 and 3 yrs. old. There are no dents in my cabinets. The finish is very hard. If I built again, I would probably have cherry cabinets. They are beautiful and I think timeless. I doubt my cabinets will ever be "out".

Boxiebabe - thanks for the "WOW". Your cabinets are very nice as well. The stained glass on some of the doors are just beautiful.

I agree, that my cherry stained cabinets may have darkened but not significantly.

I always advise clients who want a dark stained wood cabinet to go with cherry, oak, or alder. All 3 woods do much better with dark colors than do maple. Most cabinet companies that offer dark stained maple used a tinted top coat to achieve the darkness in addition to stain. It's very hard to get maple to stain any darker than "medium" without blotchiness, even for a professional woodworker who has lots of experience. For a mass produced cabinet line, you have a lot more variation coming out of the factory than you would a custom woodworker who can hand select (and charge you for it) wood with matching grains. So, for many people, the mix of heart wood and sap wood in a cabinet which can create tonal variation in the finished product is undesirable, but unless you are willing to significantly move up in price pint, it's what will be available. To minimize the differences, a medium toned stain is always best to bring out the character of the wood, yet minimize differences. Trying too hard to obscure the character of the wood itself (going with a dark tinted top coat, or bleaching) makes the cabinetry look less than good quality and more fake, IMHO. If you're going for a fake look, then why even bother with wood? Melamine or thermofoil will suit you just fine.

What about using a cherry cabinet without stain...just natural...
is it possible the doors and cabs will look different from each
other in time? Not uniform without a stain on it?

Thanks.

I have two friends who went with high end, custom, solid wood maple cabs with natural finish several years ago, each. The cabinets have yellowed quite a bit. I imagine this would not be a problem with a darker stain.

Here's my maple cabinets in my very traditional kitchen. I had a great cabinet maker. The finish is beautiful and even. He did warn me not to go darker than this, or I would lose the soft grain of the maple. I don't think theer is anything "fake" looking about them.

Just my opinion, but nothing beats cherry. It has a beautiful grain, keeps its color for years, and is just naturally rich. My new cherry cabinets with a cocoa finish were installed this week and are beautiful. I have several pieces of cherry furniture that my husband made for me when we were first married (20+ years ago!) and they only get better with time.

Neighbors did maple with a dark stain two years ago, and the color already seems to be yellowing.

I like both so we went with both. Maple for the wall cabinets and cherry for the island and trim. Here's how it turned out.

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

larrylwill - Those are gorgeous! Do you have an overall picture of your kitchen?

Laurie

I'm also deciding between maple and cherry so appreciate this thread.

Does anyone know if there is a way to minimize the yellowing that occurs with maple? Wondering if there is a particular light stain that helps even out the yellow appearance or is yellowing inevitable as maple ages?

groschuni, I LOVE your two-tone and have considering doing something similar. Did you go with natural maple or a light stain? What about the stain on the cherry?

My builder (also is a woodworker) LOVES & recommends cherry but said when he had a cherry shelf laying in his shop with a clamp on it, after only 1 week, he was shocked how much the color had changed. He had to order a new shelf.

I've been told that maple doesn't take dark stain well so if you want medium-dark cabinets, cherry might be best.

mrs-mjt: Thanks. The cabinets are both natural maple and cherry. I'm not a big fan of stains. I love the natural look. Yellowing of the maple is mostly in the varnish. If the cabinetmaker uses a modern non-yellowing catalytic varnish the maple color changes very little.

I'm a wheelchair user and in the process of renovating my kitchen. Since I'm always bumping into the cabinets i have the tendency to scratch and dent cabinets . does anyone have an advice what wood and what color to use?

I would use a lighter color wood because I think scratches would not show as much as on a darker color like cherry. Also, maple is a harder wood.

What about putting bumpers on the chair? Would something like that be possible? It's always better to prevent a scratch than try to cover it up. Just a thought.

here is an interesting article that I think could answer your question Abla regarding hardness of different woods http://www.hardwoodinfo.com/consumer/rediscovering-hardwoods/types-of-wood/ And heres one with the pros and cons of several wood choices https://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/decorating/different-types-wood#maple

Thank's for your advice. I will look into bumpers I'm not sure if it's possible. So maple is a harder to scratch and dent? if I decide to go with maple what color should I go with?

Thank you, I'm going to check it out.

This is my 15 year old Maple kitchen. I love my cabinets.

Kitchen update · More Info

Kitchen update · More Info

Kitchen update · More Info