Dont own but oh my, that is gorgeous!

We have them in Cherry Ginger Glaze and absolutely love them a year later.

Our never to be finished kitchen:

If you are torn between two finishes, order each in a 15 inch drawer front and bring them home. They are only about $40-50 each and look very different at home. And, it helps countertop shopping.

We have them in Maple Chestnut. I had initially really wanted the cabernet finish, but our cabinet rep told us that KM had issues with consistency with the stain (since it was so dark there was evidence of splotching or something). This is going back a couple of years, but at the time, it swayed me to the chestnut and we are very happy with the results.

also, what granite do you think would go with it? Many thanks!

We went with Gold and Silver but pretty much everything we brought home looked nice and because the door style is simple, we went more wild with the granite. We were looking with something with white in it to blend in the appliances with the brown tones. Get a sample door and take it to the granite yards when you are shopping - it helps. And, a camera so you remember it all.

I'm a KraftMaid dealer and my business partner did a Mandolay Cherry Cabernet kitchen a few years ago...there were a lot of problems. I can't recall all of them, but I do remember one: Because the door's edges are so squared off, the darker stain wouldn't adhere very well. So a lot of the doors had edges were you saw a line of unfinished wood. We have done a lot of Mandolay kitchens without problems, so I think it's the darker stains...and possibly the use of cherry that resulted in the problem that I mentioned above.

The autumn blush and sunset are both gorgeous standard colors and we never have issues with those colors. They also make the Mandolay in Maple and Birch (birch is less $$ and stains very much like the maple!)

The ginger glaze and maple chestnut kitchens above are very beautiful, btw!!

Hope this helps you decide!
Kompy

We have them in Black glaze over rutherford doors and cabs, the picture looks just like my color. I actually think the black glaze goes over the autumn glaze finish, does anyone know?

I really love the color, our camera isn't working well with the computer right now, or I'd post...sorry. I thought the cabernet was really too dark. The finish is beautiful on all the cabinets and drawers and the rutherford door has lots of spaces for the glaze to show, looks unbelievable...maybe someone else has pictures to post.

I think it was definately worth the extra$$ for the glaze..

Good luck..will try to figure out the posting when I get back from grocery store...

Here are my KM Cabs, (excuse kitchen, still a work in progress) with Rutherford style doors and Black Glaze finish...I really love the color and the cabs, I didn't have any trouble with the coloring. Email me if you need better pictures or more info. Good Luck!

Hope this helps.

Fern76

We have Cabernet on our island. Here is a pic with some choices we had for granite. We went with the Crema Bordeaux on the left in the pic. The color in the pic is very close to RL perhaps just a tad darker.

And since I'm always eager to show our granite here's on of our slabs which will be installed on Wed. YEAH!!!

I have cherry autumn blush which is warm brown , the cabernet is similar but the tone is more on the wine reddish tone, both are nice,i would pick the one that complements the colors I like, or plan to use, and the rest of the house.

Hi flowerchild,

With the cabernet, did you have a problem with the stainings?

Elyn - do you happen to have a picture of your kitchen?

Thanks!

We have them in Cherry Sunset in our laundry room and love them.
{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

We have cherry autumn blush in our yet to be finished bathroom and powder room.

{{!gwi}}

Thanks for asking this question. I'm having essentially the same problem deciding between these two finishes (except that we are going with a shaker style cabinet from Kraftmaid). I love the color of the cabinets in the picture you linked to -- do you know what kind of cabinets they were? That's the kind of color we were hoping for too. Looks kind of like mahogany to me. IMO the autumn blush is slightly lighter and more of an orange-brown, while the cabernet is slightly darker and more of a red-brown than the finish in the picture. Yesterday I was leaning towards the autumn blush. Today I'm not sure again. You're right -- decisions are hard, especially when they're expensive and might-as-well-be-irreversible.

To your question about granite, I think it's best to take a door sample with you to the stone yards and hold it next to each slab. Maybe you could try taking both door samples with you and letting the granite decide your door finish? (I suggest this although obviously it didn't quite work for us :) ...)

Good luck! I will be interested to hear which color you decide to go with.

Hi aussies,

I was leaning toward the autumn blush yesterday too. But today I'm not sure, just like you. I just found out that the picture in the original post is actually cabernet, in the same style that I am choosing. However, the door at Home depot is actually a little darker. So I'm back to being indecisive. I am going for a more contemporary look, so I am leaning toward the cabernet. But then again, from the posts, I hear that they are having problems with the cabernet stainings...makes me a little worried.

I agree with you that the autumn blush being orange-brown, and the cabernet being reddish-brown. Why does it have to be so hard?

When we couldn't decide we ordered the 15 inch drawer door from Home Depot for about $40 or so and brought it home - made all the difference in the world and helped with granite shopping as a small sample piece of wood looks very different from the drawer front. I also liked not carrying around a real cabinet door we were going to use as it was just my luck I dropped it getting out the car (oops) - since it was an extra, I was annoyed but not a huge deal. We didn't order our cabinets from them, just the sample.

i think you will like KM mandolay, it is a pretty door style. we have KM bartlett (or englewood, depending on which box store you go to) cherry doors with autumn blush stain. i originally wanted natural or honey spice cherry, lighter ones, but when i saw autumn blush in person i really liked the brown in the stain. i don't think they are orangey at all...they wouldn't look very good with our yellow walls if they were! pictures don't work well for these colors they are all very similar.
FWIW, i didn't like cabernet as much, it seemed thicker and more like paint, maroon paint. sunset cherry looked to me just like natural cherry that had been in the sun a few years, a deeper orangey red. a color i liked even better than autumn blush (but i think it has an upcharge) is kaffe cherry. gorgeous. cherry with a black glaze is also gorgeous, but too dark for our dark little home. have fun picking! kren