Another vote for walnut.

I want to vote Cherry. I really want to vote for the Cherry, but the Maple provides the best color scenario.
I vote Cherry.

talk about mixed reviews.... walnut

Hmm... from my vantage point...

Maple seems a bit bland. It also looks like it is trying to match the floors, but misses by a tad.

Love the walnut and the cherry.

Thinking of the kitchens that have a white perimeter and dark island cabs... I think the walnut could work and not be too dark.

I vote walnut. It's just plain yummy.

I like the walnut. It's a beautiful color.

Walnut. Otherwise it will be a sea of greige.

My vote is to be cautious about 'character' wood. It can get very busy. A small piece like in the picture is fine, but blow it up to an entire countertop and it could be overwhelming in such a kitchen.

My personal mantra when it comes to wood is that if you are paying up for premium wood, pay to get the best quality. That would mean straight grain, all heartwood countertops unless you like busy countertops. That's just my personal opinion.

Mike- Which one suits you? Are you the calm guy at the beach...pick maple. If you're more the business suit/no nonsense guy...pick the walnut. If you are warm and like a little sportier look...pick the cherry :)

Seriously, before reading any of the responses, I voted for cherry. That's probably closest to my personality...I like color but not strong contrast and want a warmer feel in the kitchen. I think the cherry balances the gray nicely and will keep it from looking too cool, especially if you have long winters.

I vote maple, with cherry second. However, I think it's hard to know without seeing the kitchen and the cabinets in place. (Don't suppose that's a possibility? Is the wait time for the wood too long for that?) It also depends on the style and the look you want. The maple will be more uniform, quiet, could lean more modern but also would work very well with a vintage stove in my opinion. The cherry would be busier and more of a show-stopper and would also work nicely with vintage elements. The walnut strikes me as too dark, but with the lighting etc being so different in your sample pics than it will be in the final, I can't say that for sure.

Funny enough, my oak countertop looks different installed than it did laid out on sawhorses. So much depends on context, the cabinet style and the hardware etc. I am not very good at visualizing things from small samples. Luckily I don't think you can go wrong with any of those woods. They are all beautiful, just in different ways.

Love the walnut and love your gray cabinet color too.

It's going to depend on how much contrast you want. The maple matches your floor best, but seems blah. The walnut is a stark contrast and the cherry is the pop of red.

Personally, I'd vote cherry.

I love the cherry. The light colored portions of it pays homage to the floors and the colors in the rest of it provides warmth and richness.

I vote for the walnut 100%. I love the gray cabinet color also :)

Thanks for all the votes! Cherry and Walnut are practically tied with Walnut at 8 votes and Cherry at 7. Maple is losing with 4 votes.

You are all reflecting my opinions. I am the calm guy at the beach, LavenderLass...and that draws me to maple probably foremost. I love when a room feels serene. Still, the walnut is sumptuous and rich, and would communicate really well with my copper stuff and the rubbed bronze hardware I am drawn to. And the cherry is so warm and sweet, almost loving (OK, have I gone too far?), but not so much heaviness as the walnut.

Keep voting!! I love hearing so many opinions!

Cherry. 2nd choice walnut. The maple is awfully close to the floor color and I prefer a bit more contrast.

My vote is for the maple.
I like the utilitarian-ness of it (as opposed to the dark luxuriousness of the walnut/cherry)
I like that it has a bit of a euro vibe to it.
I like that it is lighter, which is different from the trend towards darker wood counters (at least on this board).

Here's a pic with light-coloured cabinetry (but you can imagine it as maple counters.) Now obviously, your kitchen will not look like a cave, but there is a simplicity (serenity/utilitarianess) to the colours that looks like something you might go for.

{{!gwi}}

Mike- If you're the calm guy at the beach, then I'd pick the maple. You can always bring in some accents of the walnut to work with the copper, but I think all walnut or cherry countertops might be too busy for your space.

Hope that helps :)

If you're okay with the red tones, I vote for cherry first, walnut second. Go for walnut if you prefer brown over red. I too like contrast between the floor and the counters, so I don't love the maple with your choices.

Oh goodness, I found something to love about all of them... The maple is light and airy. The walnut is dramatic and classic. The cherry, though, sings next to all that gray, bringing in a warmth and richness the others lack. So my vote is for cherry.

However, I like lavendarlass's analysis, too. My kitchen is too low contrast and boring for some, but it's calming to me. So, you might feel most comfortable with maple, rather than the more dramatic cherry and walnut.

I purposely don't look at the other replies.

I vote maple. The whole scheme feels Scandinavian to me in that one.

With the others, I would feel as though you needed to add more color to your other choices to balance it.

my 2 cents

I'm surprised, because I am -always- a walnut girl, but I love the maple with your other choices. As others have said, it has an organic, calming feel and layer, tone-on-tone vibe I REALLY am digging.

I suppose I should add the disclosure that I am not a big fan of red tones, so the cherry is my last choice even though it does nod to your floors.

This is fun! I hope you post after pics. :)

I am the daughter of mtnrdredux and I am 10 years old. I vote for the second choice (walnut). The walnut pops out and the maple is too light and the cherry is too orange. This is why I think the walnut is the best choice.

To mtnrdredux's DD--sounds like you might need your own GW user name if you're following in your mama's excellent design shoes! ;)

Mike--the maple, while not a "pop" is very serene. Reminds me of Swedish design with blonde and grayed out tones. I usually like a darker contrast in a room, usually the floor, but the maple speaks to me. As you can see, any of the woods would work. I see the reasoning for any of the choices. It just depends on the look you want.

Maybe the voting tide would turn if you posted a pic of the actual range instead of something that approximates the color. I think seeing that huge design element would help. Do you have a pic?

Has the point that the pine floor will deepen in color over time been discussed? We stained ours slightly to add a little red to the gold tones and bring them just slightly deeper to begin with, but the last 3 years of aging have brought them to their current medium-dark honey color. Very nice.

If you are not cutting directly on the wood counters I'd suggest staining the maple very slightly to bring it in line with the floor. That's what we did and, again, it looks good. Except that our entire version cost significantly less than the refrigerator in the picture Francoise posted, it looks a lot like that. We have the same windows wrapping around over a wood counter, but our really nice pine floor is a bit warmer and richer in color.

Whatever, though, my choice is the maple. I love the darker woods but prefer the counter not be so much darker than and different from the floor. Harmony.

I love the contrast of the walnut. Is there an option to get it as a plank rather than butcher block? That would look less busy.

Along the lines of Rosie's advice, another finish that would deepen the maple somewhat is Waterlox. You won't want to cut on it, but it's a tough finish that resists stains and water. I used Waterlox on my beech butcherblock, and it brought out a deep golden tone (even orangey on beech, but I'd think less orange and more gold on maple).

Cherry

Walnut! No doubt!!

Wow, I really want to say walnut. I love walnut. I am planning a walnut and gray kitchen. But, when I think of the big white chambers in my garage that I am trying to sell and put it on my ash(similar to pine in color) floors with the gray cabinets I think I have to vote maple. Here is a picture I found on Houzz that might help, the cabinets are grayish, the floors are pine-like, and there is a butcherblock next to the stove on the countertop.

[Traditional Kitchen design[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by Austin Architect Rauser Design

I'd pick maple for the serenity factor.

If I was gonna wear it, I'd choose cherry. If it was a piece of furniture, I'd choose walnut.

Another vote for maple; I love the serenity of it in combination with your other components. Particularly after seeing the example that localeater provided. The walnut would be my second pick.

Any chance we can get a picture of the space, or is it being built now? Also, what color will walls/back splash be? If you have a wild back splash, I vote maple. If it is plain b/s and paint, I vote cherry.

And I think that no matter what you choose, you really cannot go wrong. This is one of the only times I've seen a not-so-clear winner here, so you did very well with your selections
:-)

Maple first then cherry. I second the Scandinavian vibe... feels serene and 'flowing' with the other elements.

I see merits in all three.

Let me ask you this - do you want the butcher block to be a "wow" or a "hmmm" design element?

If you want focal point "wow" - I think going with one of the bolder woods would be in line (walnut or cherry, depending on your preference toward redness levels)

If you want a serene "hmmm", I would say to go with the maple. I think that the maple will blend in and be something that people would see after the rest of the kitchen.

Also worth thinking about is WHY you decided that you didn't care for the alder...knowing the reasons you decided against it may help you to narrow down your remaining choices more.

Localeater--the pic you posted is from one of my major inspiration kitchens, how synchronistic. The pic is definitely affirming to my slight instinct toward maple.

Breezy--I don't think I have a pic of my stove but I did find this one online, and this is my exact stove:

Bahacca--I don't have any useful pics of the space, just a couple of poor-quality cell phone shots. We are renovating it as we have time and its a couple of hours away. Fingers crossed, it looks like our house may be sold by the end of July, and then we'll be up there permanently. The walls are the creamy white in my original shots. The backsplash decision feels a million years away. I would love wooden knobs but my other half really hates them so we'll probably end up with rubbed bronze and maybe even some copper thrown in (and when I think of that with the walnut, I get excited). Nickel and chrome hardware would be a no brainer with the stove but I really want something other than the silvery tones for the hardware.

You all have been unimaginably helpful. I appreciate your responses SO MUCH!!!

And I forgot to mention, for the people who like statistics, that Maple is currently winning with 14 votes; cherry and walnut are tied at 11. How interesting!

Nice range! Have you also decided to use your vintage sink in the kitchen? If so, I'd want to emphasize those elements and stay with a classic, but masculine style. This is a very nice kitchen...do you think the stained beadboard would work? Then you'd have a nice balance between the gray and wood :)
{{!gwi}}From Cottage house plans

I'm changing my vote! Based on this feedback from you "I am the calm guy at the beach, LavenderLass...and that draws me to maple probably foremost. I love when a room feels serene"

I would NOT do the cherry and I'd stick with the maple. It's definitely the most serene.

I agree with Chiefy. YOU just told US what you should choose. Maple. It will look great with that Chambers. Can't wait to see it done!

Yes, I hear you loud and clear now...isn't it funny how you can know something in your heart but not know which voice to trust until someone tells you what your heart said! I think maple is going to be the one.

There will be more kitchens in my life to work walnut and cherry into, no doubt!

Thanks, from the bottom of my heart...

One last question before you order the maple -- what does your other half think?

Yea for maple! And hey, nice stove. Fellow Chambers person here. I have a model C high back in mint green. Are you missing your timer on that one?

"isn't it funny how you can know something in your heart but not know which voice to trust until someone tells you what your heart said!"

Yes!! Same happened to me when trying to decide on my island counter material. My heart wanted walnut, but I had trouble really saying it. Others suggested soapstone or a granite to compliment my Carrara perimeter. I struggled for months and months when I finally just came out with it here after another member prompted me. Felt so good!

I voted for maple early and will stand by my vote. But I want to say again that my vote is for durability reasons (and not design reasons). I would not stain the maple, but that is for design reasons, I think maple picks up stain in a weird way. The reason I am posting again isn't to weight the vote but to share a thought I had about end grain maple. Could you have a section made in end grain and have that mounted in your counter for a durable surface some where. There is a kitchen on this site that has an island that I think is marble, then at one end has an end grain section made of walnut. IT IS BEAUTIFUL, and practical.

Glad you have clarity!

I'm changing my vote too because you know what you want.
The maple isn't my thing, but you love it and that's what is important.

Without looking at the other votes, I went immediately for the maple because it blends with the floor and the mood your colors suggest. The walnut looks too dark to me for the rest of the colors and the cherry is like, where did this color come from? It doesn't seem to go with anything else.

And its funny as my favorite woods are cherry and walnut, but in your case, the maple looks perfect.

Mermanmike,

Sounds like you've made the right decision for you and your kitchen.
We all look forward to seeing your kitchen as it emerges.
Keep us posted. Have fun!

Deedles--the pic of the Chambers isn't actually mine, just a look alike. I haven't actually cooked on it yet; it's been in storage since I bought over this past winter. I didn't even realize it had a timer, actually, so that is good news.

Enduring--I really like the idea of insetting an endgrain piece. I know exactly what you mean and I think it can look really sharp.

Thanks everyone for all the support and encouragement. I hope to have my cabinets in about a month and hopefully some good progress pics within two months.