They really do look like two different finishes to me.

I know this is probably silly but did you wipe any of them off? On my monitor they look terribly dusty so it is difficult to say. Good luck with a resolution.

They look like different species of wood to me. Not all walnut.

Can you post more pictures? And do you still owe him some money to use as leverage if he won't cooperate in making things right?

Here are some additional pics. In this one - you can see the lower two drawer fronts look great - but the top slab is odd - different finish or color or something.

Here is a better up close of the front of the refrigerator and pantry surround area.

@holly - yes, we still owe the cabinet maker money.

FWIW - Cabinet maker has been wonderful to work with thus far and I would like to hope that he will help us work through this issue. However, it seemed a little odd when I asked him today about the variation in the color and he said that the reddish tone / variation wasn't even noticeable until the finish coat was applied. If that was the case though, would we seem the same "variation" across all the other cabinet and drawer fronts?

Have to wonder also why the panels are so decidely two toned, as if by design.

Are they installing them? I would think someone would have stopped the job to question.

very different looking and very 2 toned. I hope they make it right!

Are those center panels veneer? They appear to be taking the stain differently. It's troubling that the cabinet maker would install these without working out these issues first. Unless you requested a two-toned kitchen, that is. You are only mentioned being unhappy with the slab drawers. Does that mean you are okay with the two-toned refrigerator cabinet and pantry?

Sorry if my earlier post wasn't clear. We are not happy with the entire area of the refrigerator and pantry in addition to the slab fronts. The other five piece drawer fronts as shown in a prior picture matches very closely with our expectation and the sample door we were provided. The only two tone design we requested was related to the white painted maple uppers and walnut, natural finish lowers.

There should not be any stain on the walnut, but simply a clear coat of varnish.

Yes, the center panels of all the walnut fronts are veneer. However, why are the five piece drawer fronts (including the center panel) different than those areas around the fridge and pantry? That just doesn't make sense to us.

The top drawer front panel that is so dark compared with the rest of the drawers could just be the wood variation. If this is a custom maker, he should have seen this, and used that piece for another application. The fridge surround looks totally different. Maybe he got his wood mixed up, or his supplier did. I would not accept this, as the surround is so different, and his blaming it on finish coat is not acceptable. I'm of the opinion that something went wrong at his shop and he's not owning up to it. It will cost him all this wood, labor and finishes. Don't accept it. I'm so sorry you have a situation like this to deal with. I hope it works out well for you.

If this is because of the veneer and you're able to change the drawer fronts, switch to all slab drawers. I wish I'd done that with my natural cherry as the slab drawers are so pretty without the stiles and rails hiding the grain.

" ... it seemed a little odd when I asked him today about the variation in the color and he said that the reddish tone / variation wasn't even noticeable until the finish coat was applied"

So what was that? An explanation? An apology? An excuse? If he could see that the reddish tone was there after the finish coat was applied, why did he leave it like that and go ahead an install it? Did he not think there was anything wrong with it? Did he not care that it didn't match? That he would find this acceptable for installation is bizarre. Regardless of whether it is caused by different woods, the clear finish, human error, or whatever makes no difference. SOMETHING went wrong and he should have fixed it.

Spartans99, please keep us posted on this. I'd really like to see you get this resolved and learn how they go about resolving it. My dream kitchen is walnut with the clear finish. After seeing yours, I'm having second thoughts. I hope they are able to make things right for you.

"There should not be any stain on the walnut, but simply a clear coat of varnish."

There's your problem. Wood grows on trees. You can't expect the trees to grow consistently and finish perfectly. That's why God invented stains and glazes.

I agree with Trebruchet. I've built a number of cabinets over the years, though I'm not a professional, and there are always variations in how the wood takes the finish. It can be different between plywood veneer and solid wood, between different panels of plywood, and between pieces of solid wood. Unless you mask this variation with a grain-obscuring stain, this will be an issue, particularly with lighter, clear finishes. The wood will often look rather uniform until it has finish applied. At that point you see variations, but you don't keep making cabinets and discarding them until you get them all to match perfectly. I happen to think that those cabinets are more beautiful with the variation in tone and grain, and they look well-built and of high quality. The cabinet maker has done a great job of building them. I would only fault him for not advising you to expect this. Lastly, over time some or most of those cabinets will change tone, whether you want them to or not because of the wood species and exposure to light, and they will probably become more uniform with the darker wood lightening up.

This post was edited by kudzu9 on Sat, Aug 2, 14 at 7:14

Really? We are going to admonish the OP because they didn't make sure the contract said "all exterior parts of the cabinets should be the same color"? Isn't that a given?

I agree with kudzu9. First that the natural product has been skillfully and beautifully worked, here, and the results, while not matchy-matchy, are gorgeous. Second, that the only possible fault apparent is that the cabinet maker did not think to warn the customer of the natural variations in a natural material with a natural colored finish.

I think the work and results are gorgeous. It is we humans who think everything should be perfect, and match. Nature doesn't work that way. When you use natural materials and a neutral finish, this IS to be expected.

It is truly a beautiful set of cabinetry. MUCH more timeless and beautiful than an artificial surface.

Your expectations that unstained wood would not have color variations is understandable, because you had a vision of what the kitchen was going to look like and you aren't cabinetmakers.

But if the material is not flawed and you specified natural unstained wood - what you see is what Mother Nature handed you in the luck of the woodworking draw. It's well within the natural color range for walnut. From a woodworking forum: "It's just one of those woods that can have a lot of color variation. It makes it particularly important to try your best to get all project parts from a single board if you can, or at least from the same tree if possible. Of course sometimes this just isn't possible, so you either learn to love the color variations or become really good at coloring wood during finishing to even all the different colors from the different boards out."

I'm assuming he used a walnut plywood for the panels and walnut solids for the stiles and slab front drawers. Right there you have guaranteed variation because the process of slicing the tree to make plywood exposes a different kind of grain than the process of slicing boards. And it's coming from different trees, probably different mills and different areas of the country ... all that affects the grain and color.

Walnut can have unexpected tones that show up when you apply the finish - it's pretty much a medium brown-grey color without finish. If a cabinetmaker is making the sort of furniture that shows up on magazine covers and costs more than my car, they will test each board and select matching ones. It's time-consuming and expensive,

Here's a picture of unstained walnut as flooring ... notice the color variations.

deee said, "Really? We are going to admonish the OP because they didn't make sure the contract said "all exterior parts of the cabinets should be the same color"? Isn't that a given? "

With natural products, variation is a given.

OP, the wood is spectacular, and the cabinets are beautiful. I understand your disappointment, since you weren't expecting a windowpane effect.

But I can also see that natural variation may be at play. In your first photo, the panels on the island look darker that the rails and stiles (but it could just be lighting). The inside panel of the fridge surround appears to have a lot of variation (I see a couple of lighter stripes toward the top).

Are the rest of the cabinets as dramatic as the fridge surround?

lazygardens, this isn't direct towards you but I get frustrated by people on this forum that repeatedly patronize posters.

If a homeowner asks too many questions about the process, they are at fault because they are not letting the professionals do their job. If the homeowner lets the professional do their job and something is askew, it is the homeowner's fault for being uneducated.

So, in this instance, it appears that some of the posters think the homeowner is at fault because they did not specify the acceptable variations in finish. Come on ...

I think we've all seen natural cherry with that sort of variation, so we shouldn't be too surprised that natural walnut has it. Walnut isn't as common for cabinets, and I don't think I've ever seen it unstained, so we are all learning something. It doesn't bother me so much in the fridge cab, and the stiles and rails should lighten over time. Don't know if it's as responsive to light as cherry is. But I don't think the drawer bank looks so good with the variation, so I'd probably change to slab drawers. Slab drawer cabinets have beautiful richness and graining.

He must not work with Walnut often, first thing that should have been made very clear to the OP is there is a tremendous variation in walnut and to keep it natural finish there will be a wide variation in color/grain.

It sure looks like the center panels are veneer which is generally lighter....again he should have informed you that there is a large variation and he would have to tone the panels to match the stiles and rails, and not just clear coated everything

Walnut color and tone varies greatly depending on where the tree was grown and if the lumber was steamed to remove the sap coloring (most of it is)....the drawer bank looks to me like the lower fronts came from one place and the slabs came from another

On second thought, I am now wondering if the cabinet maker made the fridge surround in his shop (possibly to save on shipping from where he ordered the doors, he did not want to pay extra shipping and handing on the large pieces?), he also milled the slab fronts with local lumber (again cheaper to do that then have the door company send you slabs) and he purchased the remaining 5 piece fronts from a walzcraft/conestoga

I wouldn't have thought to specify that the color should be consistent! Can he go back and stain them to make it homogeneous? I actually think the fridge panels are interesting, but I wouldn't like the slab drawer fronts next to the other drawers.

Agree with deee. It should be the job of the person building the cabinets to inform the customer that this would happen. She was obviously surprised and disappointed, and from what some of you had said about the natural properties of walnut, she would not be having this reaction if the cabinet maker had educated his client. Had she know, she might have selected a different material, or chosen to have a stain applied, or chosen to do without the veneer panels, or otherwise been prepared for this outcome. The cabinet maker obviously knows more about wood choices and how they finish than his client. Why wouldn't he share that information?

"With natural products, variation is a given."

Then why don't we all have two-toned kitchens? I have shaker style cherry with less variation than the OP's cabinets. Why? Because I was informed about the differing ways that solid wood and veneer absorb stain as well as the natural variations in cherry that using a stain would help to make more uniform. I did not know either of those things before I shopped for cabinets.

Variation within strip flooring is one thing. Having cabinets that look like they're made from a couple of different species of wood is another. The cabinet maker should have tested the finished look by dampening with mineral spirits, and then he should have reported the results to the homeowner and asked if color variation was acceptable. If not, then stain to match.

This site linked below has a huge database of wood species photos and lots of info on things like color changes. Lots of varieties of walnut are listed. It's an excellent reference site.

I think you are completely reasonable in expecting a more uniform color in your cabinets.

Here is a link that might be useful: wood species photo site

lazygardens photo shoes variations, but just different shades of the same tone. RED is a whole different family than Brown, and I can't imagine the same wood turning RED with a simple varnish.

I'm with you. I would be bothered by the completely different color hues. It would be understandable, light vs dark in the SAME color family, but 2 different families on one piece of wood? Looks to me like 2 different woods.

I just walked in our pub and looked at the butcher block top, stained in a walnut tone, and yes, there are variations, but every little piece of the block has the same tone.

Maybe the fix would be to strip the whole thing, stain it all one color, and then apply varnish?

I am sorry this happened to you. Good luck with getting the contractor to fix it for you. If you still owe money you do have leverage. An unhappy customer is not good business for any contractor.

Fingers Crossed for you!

Yes, there's natural variation, but I'd expect that there's some selection of materials by the cabinet maker, too, and not just as it comes off the tree.

Analogy: Diamonds come in a wide variety of colors, clarity, etc. So if I specify a diamond ring that uses a cluster of diamonds, I'd expect that the jewelry maker selects diamonds of the same or very similar color, unless I specified that I want a piece that uses different colored diamonds.

The grain is gorgeous and (once the shock wore off) I think I'd feel lucky to get the variation in the fridge surround cabinets. I would want more uniformity in the drawer stacks though and would probably request that the top drawer be remade to match the lower drawers ( if possible) since they ended up uniform in color. Beautiful species of wood.

Thank you all for your feedback and comments. As always, this forum gives me a lot to consider and each of you taking the time to offer your perspective is tremendously appreciated.

Cabinet maker met with DH and I this morning to look at the areas of concern. We walked through everything together and without hesitation, he offered to replace whatever was needed. He was extremely kind and professional about the entire situation. He has been wonderful to work with throughout the entire process. I continue to be thankful we chose to work with him and look forward to using the gorgeous cabinets he has crafted.

This looks like you purposefully ordered two-toned cabinets. If you didn't purposefully choose and discuss two-toned, the cabinet maker needs to do some new work for you.

Yes, wood has variations in tone -- such as the flooring example -- but these cabinets look as if one type of wood was used for the frames and another was used for the flat panels.

I don't expect perfection in every tiny thing, but this is a very expensive part of the house and it is WRONG. I would take whatever action is necessary to get it fixed.

I realize this isn't your vision, but I wanted to say that I think you have beautiful, beautiful cabinets. The workmanship is clear.
It's great you have such a professional cabinetmaker.
Your kitchen is really going to be a work of art.

Spartans- so disappointing but glad cabinet maker plans to make it right

While I appreciate his dedication to customer satisfaction, this cabinetmaker is on the road to bankruptcy.

This is a perfect example of when you don't give customers what they think they want. This customer wanted only clear coat and a consistent finish. The two are usually mutually exclusive, especially in the case of walnut.

Having customers sign in advance that they acknowledge there will be variations does no good. I ate a built-in breakfast nook 20 years ago, despite possessing a signed stain sample.

This guy needs to get like the Soup Nazi on Seinfeld. "No cabinets with clearcoat only for you!"

By the way, cabinet finishing is an entirely separate trade from cabinetmaking.

I know guys that know how to mix based on the weather on the drive to work.

Smaller cabinetmakers try to do it themselves.

My wife was in charge of all the safety and security when Jeep built their new paint shop in Toledo, Ohio. Any type of silicone was forbidden on premises, let alone used to build the building. There's an awful lot to know.

This post was edited by Trebruchet on Sat, Aug 2, 14 at 17:58