I will be perfectly honest. I am not part of the "white kitchen" crowd. I ALWAYS prefer stained wood over painted.

That being said, while the granite looks great with the stained wood, I, personally, don't like that color of stain against the natural maple. If it was between that or the coconut doors you posted yesterday, I would go with the coconut.

If you have hesitations about white, are their any other stains available, something that might go better with the maple? A walnut stain would go well.

This post was edited by Texas_Gem on Mon, May 19, 14 at 21:12

I agree with Texas about mixing the two woods. I do like white kitchens & would choose the Coconut. I have no knowledge of the two cabinet brands so can't advise you there.

I would do the white. It's a natural with beadboard and the light wood. The medium color stains on maple look dated IMO. Or I'd use a darker stain. I have a KM cherry vanity with Kaffe stain and GO Light for a counter. Alder is also pretty in a dark stain.

You could paint your island black if you go with the white. Then your granite would work and the contrast could be striking.

I like the island and stained cabinet together fine, but not sure about it with your floor, the bubble wrap in picture makes it tough to see with the floor. I too like the creamier one from before, I think it was the coconut.

I also prefer the regular shaker door over the other door style with your beadboard island; in case those are the styles you are considering not just colors.

$700 for molding is. cheap. Nothing wrong with a veneer center panel. It's preferred for paint. And you're comparingja full overlay door with a partial overlay door, so of course the partial overlay will be cheaper. Change your original door choice to a veneer partial overlay if you have to. Keep the white.wood, wood, and wood, is too much wood.

i like both the doors but not the island. can you paint the island white or black as someone else has suggested? the island color reminds me of my fake oak cabs that i got rid(very 90s)
since your new cabs are such a big purchase, go with what you like and retro the island to fit the new cabs.

I like both the white and the stained doors. No offense meant to any of the beautiful white kitchens, but does anyone put in anything but white these days? Before I even look at a reveal of a finished kitchen I already know the cabinets are going to be white shaker. Nothing wrong with that, it is beautiful and is the current trend. But, stained wood is beautiful too. If the stained cabinets fit into your budget better and you like them, get them and don't worry about whether or not it looks dated. Everything is going to look dated in 10 yrs.

I like more contrast with wood stains. So I would either go darker or go with white.

(I don't think white kitchens are all that dominant in real life. They certainly did not dominate when I was house hunting a year ago in CA and they don't dominate where my parents are looking now in the mid-west. If you go to Houzz and look at the kitchen pictures, white cabinets is the biggest category, but if you add the light, medium and dark wood categories together, you end up with very close to a tie between white and wood stained.)

Okay, well I still haven't ordered the cabinets argh!! The wood stain is just not floating my boat. The coconut paint finish is what I would like. The pictures of the doors are not the doors--they were just there for the color. The door I am considering is the Schrock Morgan full overlay.

The other thing is, I could go with Schrock Entra with APC and the Brie finish in the Ingalis door. Any thoughts?

I've done plenty of kitchens in the Kemper Echo which is the same as the Schrock Entra. Skip the APC and only upgrade the drawers. The Brie is a yellowish white, and does look good with a lot of woods, but in a lot of lights, it does say YELLOW and not white. The Alabaster is the most popular of their white finishes, and I think so deservedly.

I vote for coconut based on the other thread. This one is too stark and the stain does nothing with the island, unless you paint it.

I would choose the finish you like best and then do something to the island. Paint it black, grey, navy. But I would not leave it in the yellow brown colour.

I just do not like the stained wood. It's way too much wood. I like the painted.

Live wire oak, the 3/8 sides are strong enough for the granite? That's what I was getting nervous about. I started looking at the schrock and skipped the entra. The KD said the finish wasn't as good as schrock. I did see a paint finish agreement online for the schrock entra stating that wood changes the paint finish can crack and its not a defect. Your opinion would be awesome.