Poplar is dirt cheap, while maple is fairly expensive. Neither takes stain very well as others have said. You might look at a moderately priced wood which will split the difference. Birch is an option, but I have a feeling your cabinet maker may not like it. Alder is another wood that takes stain well and has a similar look to maple. Your cabinet guy will probably be fine with it, since it's currently pretty popular for furniture and cabinets and reasonably priced. Here's a photo of my den in alder. I did the staining and finishing myself so I do have some first-hand knowledge on working with alder (these were RTA unfinished cabs). It is entirely possible to get good results with stain on maple - I made a coffee table with maple legs and alder top that matches the den perfectly. But I think the issue here is that two different people are making the poplar paneling vs the maple shelves, so your odds of mis-matched colors are pretty high.

As picky and anal as I am, I can't see it in the 1st pic. In the 2nd, if you're referring to the line where the face frame is put together, I wouldn't agree to repaint the whole thing, either. I can't even find words to politely say how silly I think this is. That's wood movement, not paint. You can wait until it's cold and the wood shrinks, and paint the crack. Then, wait until it's humid and the wood swells again, add a paintable acrylic caulk that will move with the wood and paint the cracks again. These are so miniscule and normal I would suggest you move maybe 3' away from your doors and you will find it disappears. I was talking to a cabinet company about my gorgeous Wilsonart counter top a friend built. The company told me Wilsonart won't even warranty its product if it's not made on MDF. Even plywood has too much movement for them. I think your cabinets are gorgeous. If you decide to rip them out and go crackless plastic, LMK. I'll come pick these up. BTW. "Factory finish" refers to something as beautiful as you have. A professional did that, not Harry Homeowner and a can of spray paint. Plastic is plastic. Someone above was right. A factory would tell you over the phone that it's (crazy) normal and too bad for you. Your professional is trying to make you happy with something beyond his control.

So, in line with this thread, we had completely custom cabinets crafted as part of our kitchen remodel one year ago. We had a good many difficulties with our cabinet maker and believe that the painting was done hastily because he was late. We were told that painting was done 'in the booth'. He used a pre-catalyzed lacquer color matched to Benjamin Moore Atrium White (not BM paint,however), formulated to California requirements. Well, the doors (and cabinets) under/around our sink have been repainted twice and the doors are peeling and chipping yet again. Yes, water does drip down (we have a farmhouse sink and water drops down the front tend to be a pitfall), but we are very good about monitoring this and these doors DO need to be able to stand up to some moisture (they are flush inset doors). In any event, the paint cracks follow the joints of the doors and the peeling always starts at a seam or joint. The latest painter who's attempting to fix this says that the doors weren't primed properly in any of the previous paintings. This is not just ridiculous -- it's expensive to have these doors repainted 3 times a year. I know about the restrictions on formulations in CA. So, I'm wondering if there are cabinet companies elsewhere where we can send our doors and a paint swatch for repainting -- and appropriate baking to make the finish more water resistant. That won't help failures on the cabinets themselves, but the doors are by far the worst. Any ideas or recommendations out there?

Thanks Suzanne. I was just coming back here to answer my own question for anyone who might be considering using Scherr's in the future. We decided to go with the Maple. They say that the painted Maple door should look just like our Poplar sample. If anyone is considering using Scherr's, I would recommend getting a sample door as soon as possible. The sample door takes a while to be delivered if you want to see it finished, because they are made to order. Ours took almost 4 weeks to be delivered after I ordered it, which is why I am in a bit of a rush now making the decision. It would have been faster if we didn't want it painted, but we wanted to make sure they would do a better job of finishing the door than we would do on our own. (The answer is definitely YES!) Also, when I requested the quote, I didn't mention what type of wood I wanted, just gave them the door and drawer style #s. I did not find out until this week that soft maple was an option. I didn't really spend much time thinking about the materials and was just waiting to make sure I liked the door. I should have researched it more earlier in the process.