Well- one of them has a foot in it!

Seriously, I like the lighter stain, since I like light and bright to begin with, but for me, the grain in that wood is so wild that the darker one tones it down a bit.

LOL Jay! Yes, I had to stand in the big one to get a shot down at both of them. See anything else?

The bottom one may have some more red to it. But it may be that they are both the same, with the dark vs. light backgrounds throwing me off.

The inside did not stain well on the dark one. And, the plywood stripes (on edge of the interior shelves) are more noticable in the darker one.

Not sure what you are going for... but could you stand them up and take a picture from the front so the lighting is more even (and no foot :) )

Are you gel-staining? What did you start with?

I just see one is lighter looking than the other. Both look fine to me. Maybe leaning towards the darker one even though like Jay I like light and bright. They will probably look better with their doors/drawers back on. I always thought your cabinets were lovely as they were. I know oak is not in right now but I still like it.

jakabedy saw what I saw; the bottom one has more red. I was afraid it was noticeable.

They were both stripped using Citrustrip, and then sanded to smooth the wood. The top one has two coats of walnut stain and the bottom one has one coat, and is still darker, plus redder. Sooooo, not sure what to do next. I think I'll put some mahogany on the top one and see what happens.

kirkhall, I didn't bother stripping or staining the inside at all, just left it was it was. I figure they're finished, won't show much anyway, why bother. There's no plywood on the stiles or rails, they're all hardwood. But you're right, the cabinet builder didn't go a good job matching the grain.

The bottom cabinet is original to the house, and we had the top one built when we added on to the kitchen in 1996. They're supposed to be the same wood, oak, but I wonder now if one is red oak and one is white oak.

Also, and I don't know if you can see it in these pictures, some areas took the new stain unevenly and I see the splotchy look in places. That might be fixable, I don't know.

Like I said in another post, dh is against painting the cabinets, and my trading piece is the tv, but I was holding it out for changing out the tile, which he also doesn't want to do. However, I may have to trade it for painted cabinets if I can't make them look better.

I love oak and would probably go darker. Wish I had advice for you re if they are different types of oak.

Well, either the sunlight brought out the red in the bigger cabinet, or the light hit them differently for some reason.

I got dh to help me stand them upright and put them side by side, and the color is almost identical. He saw the splotches too but without going really dark, there's nothing more I can do to these two. I can use conditioner on the rest though.

{{!gwi}}

Well, I think they look nice! I still think painting a few might be fun, but if you want to stain them...they seem to blend together quite well. I can't remember (long day) are you going to have any glass uppers or display area without the doors? That might break up all the wood and lighten things up a bit...but I do like the oak and the grain.

I think oak is making a comeback and will be very popular, as the white kitchens start to fade a bit. There's something very cozy about a wood kitchen and the rustic/modern DAT thread, on the kitchen forum, is showing a lot of wood...especially beams and cabinets! See, you could be starting a new trend! :)

LOL I really had to look hard to see a slight difference in the first picture. I thought the one was just lighter is all. Together in the next picture I can not see a difference and of course on the internet I can not see the blotches. They look good.

LOL be sure to wipe the foot prints out of the one. Hehehehe

After all this, dh thinks they aren't red enough! I did take a door from the bathroom cabinets which match the flooring really well, and they don't come close to matching. I wiped off as much as I could with lacquer thinner and will try again tomorrow. I think I'm going to end up making a blend but dh is going to try to match the floor tomorrow.

Shades, I guess you see better than I do, because I could have sworn the colors were way off before I put them together.