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lisadlu Unfortunately, there are not many cabinet makers that do this type of grain matching as well as what she has. You must have the cabinet company show you what they have done. Sometimes, the grain matching is done well but the interiors (boxes and drawers) are not so great. I saw a cabinet job where the finish was wearing off (in a few months) on grain matched teak cabinets, which are absolutely stunning in looks (teak veneer: think amazing wood work on boats). The boxes were flimsy when you felt them. How sad is that the finish quality was not good enough on such beautiful cabinets! Teak grains are more linear and without the slight curves that you see in the walnut. The color is a bit more orangy in a beautiful way. It is rarely used for kitchen cabinets because the cost is so high. I ended up going with a company that is rather expensive but the quality of their cabinets were amazing inside and out. I also suggest that you ask the cabinet manufacturer how they finish the edges on the slab veneer doors. If they just glue on the veneer, they often chip easily. Some (many) offer solid edge bands that are 1 to 2 mm thick which tend to protect the edges better. (incrases the cost of the cabinets) I looked at another company's veneer cabinets where the edges were chipping only months after the installation. They had sapele (ribbon mahagony), which is another very expensive veneer wood cabinets. Slab veneer cabinets look best when you use the veneers of wood that show no other fabrication process can achieve, ie continuous grain matching across doors and drawer fronts. Obviously, this is extremely difficult (and requires talent) because if they screw up on a door, they have to figure out how to match that grain some other way without redoing all of the other doors that came off of the same veneer sheet. I suggest that you really look at the quality of the work in installed kitchens, if you are willing to pay for that quality of work. You are paying for the "eye" of the cabinet manufacturer how he/she decides to lay out the sheets of veneer for you so that the beauty is maximized. This is something that you can't tell from a single sample door. Good luck.

ck_squared, DH and I can't wait to see the finished kitchen either! We have been dealing with some serious health and financial issues for both of my parents the last 3 months, so the remodel has been a low priority. Kitchen still needs: hood, backsplash, appliance toe kicks, steam oven installion, French door stained or painted, Solyx film to obscure contents of pantry cabinets, finish light and outlet installation, painting touch ups and barstools. (At least the kitchen is close, the bathroom is still a gutted space.) I would post "nearly done" photos, but the paperwork for my parents' insurance claims and VA benefits is spread all over the island right now.

Technicolor, that is a great idea to add space if you have a standard size opening. I may do that in another room. Our master bedroom has an 18' wide opening for the closet, so we need a way to hang multiple doors without a frame. Sochi, I would love to see pictures of the whole wall, as well as the hardware. I was planning on using wood veneer doors (rift cut white oak stained gray to tie in with gray tones used elsewhere, or maybe walnut to match the vanity), but using standard slab doors painted an accent color (a shade of grayish blue, likely) probably would be faster and cheaper to order. (Most of the walls in the house are painted Dunn Edwards Fossil - an off-white with a slightly cool, taupish-gray undertone, with a couple of accent walls in shades of blue.) What size are your doors? If I get rid of the custom built-in "armoire" in the center, I could use 3 pairs of 36" doors to span the space, with less expensive drawers, shelves etc. behind the doors. If I keep the 4' center section, I have 84" openings on each side. I could do each side with a single pair of 42" wide doors (or 40" doors if I use 2" thick vertical "columns" at each end like in the kitchen). I could also use four 20-21" wide doors for each opening, which might look nicer, but will cost a lot more to buy twice as many pivot hinges plus the contractor's time to install the extra hinges. We do have enough floor space to open wider doors, so it is just an aesthetic and cost based decision. What do you think would look better?