This comparing replacement with original.

Hmm. I'd prefer it to match better. And it will in a few years after they darken but it sure is off from the others. Do you have a particular "grade" of cherry in your contract/order?

Are there any other doors like that anywhere in the kitchen? Not that that would make it any better...but this is a common feature of cherry. You'd just expect to see enough of it so the one doesn't look way off.

Do you have a pic of the entire kitchen? I'm thinking the two-tone nature of the drawer is less of a problem than the fact that it doesn't appear to match any other wood in the kitchen. Seeing the whole thing might give a better idea of how it blends.

I have 8 slab drawer fronts in natural cherry and they all look uniform in color. I was told they don't use sapwood. They were installed in June.

That looks fairly typical for some companies. Of the two I think the replacement looks a bit better. Is this a large company or a local shop?

I have natural cherry cabinets in my kitchen and even with the select cherry upgrade there is some lighter and darker sections of wood. My floors are natural ash and they too have variation in color on different boards.
I do not have much variance in the slab drawer fronts but you can see it in the five piece drawers in the photos below. At first I wished I didn't have any lighter areas in the drawers but now that I've lived with it a while and the wood has taken on a darker richer tone I actually like it. It adds character. IMO I think the drawer front that you are holding in your hand looks better than the replacement one. The variation is a little more blended than in the second one.
It does look like like the center panel of your 5 piece drawers has the grain running vertically while the slab drawers are horizontal. Maybe that also contributes to making the slab drawer front look unacceptable to you. I think that the drawer front you have in your hand actually looks better than the replacement one. The variation in the first one is more blended.
Here are a couple shots of my drawers.

I guess I may have misunderstood. I thought the one in your hand was the one originally sent. Regardless, the one in your hand looks better because it is a more blended variation

Yeah, it doesn't seem to match all the other drawers and doors. Do you actually have something saying that they won't use sapwood or anything in regards to the uniformity of the wood?

I also agree the replacement looks better as at least the darker color is a match for the rest of your cabinets and the swirling isn't as uniform as the original.

Most manufacturers use a mix of heart and sapwood and you will get a mix of both in all of your doors and drawers. You don't have a choice of what you get at all.

Of those that offer upgrades to select or premium, it's a pretty hefty upcharge, 25-40% would be about market price.

Some companies do not use sapwood at all, so they don't offer "upgrades". They just charge you the premium price to begin with and that's already pretty steep.

Look at the company's wording on what they offer. If they state that they offer a mix of heart and sapwood, then what you got is within the acceptable realm of variations.

Do all the other drawer fronts in your kitchen blend better and that's the sore thumb? If so I'd probably ask for them to try again...but hang on to the one in you hand cuz that looks better than the installed one.

One other suggestion to make things blend better would be to install both drawer fronts in the kitchen. Take the extra one with the sapwood and put it on a random top drawer and take off one of the drawer fronts with mostly heartwood. The visual variation looks more natural if it's actually more varied.

My kitchen that i did in 2000 had uppers that didn't look all that great to me because of their variation. I had the contractor switch 2 doors and it made a world of difference.

I think even flipping that drawer front so that the dark was the bottom might make it look totally different. (Is that one piece of wood or 2 in the drawer front?)