I have both maple and birch in the house we are currently building, although neither in kitchen cabinets. I have seen some beautiful maple cabinets, but they are tricky to stain and as others already mentioned, wouldn't recommend staining them dark. We have maple doors and trim. I paniced when they were first stained because I thought they looked terrible. The painter did need to condition them before staining, and once the final finishes went on they looked great. I think they look beautiful, but it does look a bit blotchy in some spots. Our birch cabinet is in the boys' bath. It's medium to dark and is gorgeous. Our cabinet maker recommended birch over maple because it does take the stain better and I have to agree. Price wise - I think they should be about the same.

I'm also deciding between maple and cherry so appreciate this thread. Does anyone know if there is a way to minimize the yellowing that occurs with maple? Wondering if there is a particular light stain that helps even out the yellow appearance or is yellowing inevitable as maple ages? groschuni, I LOVE your two-tone and have considering doing something similar. Did you go with natural maple or a light stain? What about the stain on the cherry? My builder (also is a woodworker) LOVES & recommends cherry but said when he had a cherry shelf laying in his shop with a clamp on it, after only 1 week, he was shocked how much the color had changed. He had to order a new shelf. I've been told that maple doesn't take dark stain well so if you want medium-dark cabinets, cherry might be best.

I'm resurrecting this thread...have a slightly different question in addition to all of the issues already discussed. I'm going to order from Conestoga I think. I'm replacing white thermofoil doors which are 20 years old and haven't really faded, but there are a few where a candle or the toaster got too close and caused some minor melting....Most people think they look nice, but in my mind they are still "cheap". The uppers are 42" I'm going to stick with white and just buy doors to match the existing boxes which are fine. Also, I have granite and it's hard to find someone willing to remove it to install complete cabinets. My question is....will a mapleframe/mdf center FEEL like a real wood door? Will it feel different than my thermofoil? I'm talking in terms of both surface and the weight in your hand as you open and close it. Will the outside edges and the panel raise etc be sharper than thermofoil? If I get mdf center will I still have the defined edges I am looking for. If you've had thermofoil you will know what I am asking. I'm toying with getting 5 peice mdf...but don't want to lose the wood look or feel... I think the mdf center is my best bet. My husband is what I like to call..anal...pretty sure he will be bothered by cracks, but he doesn't want the fake plastic look either. Pretty sure all wood is not a good choice for me, too bad because I love wood... The style I am leaning toward is https://www.cabinetjoint.com/cabinet-door/monarch-square/  but I am also toying with shaker style. Wondering if the shaker trend is headed out....Also considering doing a grey island by applying end panels. Guess I could start a new thread for those questions.

This thread is ancient, but just to be clear on the discussion of birch vs. maple, it depends on what variety of maple we are talking. Hard maple varieties from northern climates can get up to 1500, some even close to 1600 on the Janka scale. That is significantly harder than birch which falls around the 1250 range. Both are a "hard wood" but if you want a straight up resistance to denting the maple will usually win, BUT softer maples won't be as good and will be closer to birch. To get good, hard, properly dried and aged premium maple from the right climate and right species, will be an up-charge over birch and is worth the $$.