Hi-
How light did you mean?
I have a kitchen with "honey" maple cabinets. I would say they are light (but not "natural"), and they have mellowed a bit over the last few years.
I don't have a way to post pics yet but hope to open a photobucket account this weekend and will send a link later if that is the color you are looking for.

(BTW, our honey maple is 10 years old. We are planning a re-do of the counters and island, but all of the perimeter maple cabinets will stay as they are still in good shape and quite neutral to all styles.)

Hi dtchgrl! We are thinking about going natural, but I would love to see any type of lighter maple! Thank you!!

Mine are caramel maple, which I consider a light to medium maple. Maple does not take dark stains well at all. If you choose to go with a natural maple, they do yellow a bit. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but just so you know they will change. I have not noticed any color change on mine.

patti- your cabinets are beautiful! Is your countertop granite? What is the name of it? Thank you so much for sharing your pictures! =)

My fridge/MW wall -- this "cashmere" (natural, or very close to it) color is accurate:

A badly lit muddy pic of the range wall:

And an even muddier pic of the sink wall:

Do a search for mustbnuts' kitchen too -- hers was beautiful. HTH.

Blue

Mine is not the fanciest kitchen on this forum, but the cabinets are maple (honey finish). I too wanted to get away from the medium (too dark) oak cabinets that I had for 25 years and wanted something light, light, light. Hope this helps.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen pictures

bluekitobsessed. I love your kitchen. Your counter looks amazing with your cabinets! Thank you so much for posting!

mountainbasketmaker- thank you for your pics. Your kitchen is great, and your cabinets are beautiful!

So far, I am really loving the maple cabinets!

jagamaha-

Thanks for the compliment. My counter is granite--Ubatuba, very dark green with black and gold flecks. Very easy to take care of!

bluekitobsessed,

Your kitchen is beautiful! What kind of undercabinet lights did you use? The lighting looks good in the picture!

blue - I'm sorry, I copied pic of your corner shelf and then forgot where I found it. I posted it on my "sink area" thread looking for suggestions. I hope you don't mind.

Here are natural maple cabs from Wellborn Forest.

We went with natural maple. Here are two views - Better overall view in the 1st, but better lighting for picture in 2nd

Thank you so much! The pictures are great, and all of the maple kitchens I have seen are beautiful!

Great thread! Patti823 and Chefkev, are those frameless cabinets? Custom or brand name?

I loved my maple cabinets what they were installed nine years ago. They looked beautiful, like chefkev and abbycat's cabinets. I loved the pure wood color without stain or embellishment.

We get a ton of light from a southern exposure, and now my maple cabinets are very yellowed. They're not hideous, but they are very changed, and in the upcoming reno I will probably sand and paint them a light color.

The cabinets are tough and sturdy, so in that sense they met my expectations, bit I didn't count on the power of sunlight to affect their appearance so dramatically. I still can't seem to get a picture posted here but believe me, I'm not kidding about the yellowing.

If your kitchen isn't in direct sunlight, pale maple might stay pale.

Good luck!

rc
in Vermont

I had natural maple in my previous house. I'm probably in the minority but I'm okay with the color change. In this photo they are about 8 years old.

idrive65 - lovely warm color! Wish I had gotten maple instead of oak sometimes, but maple is more $$. Can you post a pic showing the top of your cabinets and valance over your sink? Just saw a peek of the arch (and would like to see the peak LOL) - I'm trying to figure out what to do over my sink. Thanks (and sorry for the hijack).

We used natural maple for our recent reno

ajsmama - Thanks! We don't live there anymore, I tried looking for an old pic but wasn't successful. The cabinets went up to 7.5' ceilings and we used standard crown molding, and the over-sink valence was shaped like a cathedral arch.

Sorry did not give you link http://i717.photobucket.com/albums/ww179/hkglass/kitchenreno2008077.jpg

dasistgut-
My cabinets are made by Homecrest, and they are framed cabinets.

Hi jagamaha,

We just moved into our house in December. All our cabinets (and floor) are light maple. The cabinets are Shoplace maple with a pearl stain. Here are three daytime shots (taken today) and a night shot lit only by the recessed LED lights.

I have light maple cabs with a mocha glaze:

dasistgut - mine are framed Mid-Continent
rcvt - Thanks for the info about aging & color - I've been a little concerned about this although I feel better after seeing idrive65's picture.

I think we are going to do the natural maple color! We are going back and forth between cherry and natural, but I am really loving the natural! Thanks again!

Jagamaha,

I like the look of natural maple and we even strongly considered them for our kitchen.

Being a bit of a woodworker, one thing I want to warn you about is how different natural maple can look under different clear finishes.

I would say that most of the cabinets sold in the US are clear coated with a pre or post catalyzed solvent based varnish. These products have a slight amber tint to them and tend to look really good over darker woods.

Over a wood like un-stained maple the look has a yellow hue to it that many don't care for. I certainly don't. This tends to get worse with age. While shopping for cabinets we pressed a lot of suppliers and custom builders on this issue and all indicated they considered natural maple a "risky" choice when used under their finishes.

The other basic group of clear finishes are the waterborne finishes. On most woods these tend to have a cold look but over maple and pine they look much better. The only risk here is that some of the waterborne finishes have the slightest blue tint to them.

The upshot of all this is that once you pick a builder or a supplier I would order one of their doors and leave it in your kitchen for as long as possible. Near a window if possible. Even maple under the clearest of waterborne finishes can develop a slight yellowness to them which I just don't like.

Or you can just find a lighter stain in the honey/cinnamon spectrum. Then it really does not matter so much as these neutralize the natural yellowness with age look of maple.