Hmm. Well, it doesn't look at all like the hickory in the house I rented in the winter. That had way more knots and was way more consistent in color.

I'm guessing natural cherry - no stain at all.

Granite - meh - I think granite names are made up anyway :) At least the trees you can ID by the leaves !

Thanks for the thought, Marcy, I'll take a look at cherry. The main reason I guessed hickory was because the bedrooms have hickory floors -- and those I KNOW are hickory because there are still a couple boxes in the garage. ;) My floors are knottier than the cabinets, but I googled hickory and it looked possible.

I'm thinking about staining the cabinets significantly darker, because the kitchen feels very "monochrome" to me. So I'd like to ID the wood to get an idea of how it will take a stain.

Can't restain the granite, though, so "your guess is as good as mine" probably works there. :)

I think the wood is very pretty as is, although I can understand totally the feeling of wanting to darken it. My own is a medium stained cherry. The granite is too very nice, but unfortunately there is no contrast between the two and added to that the floor is the same color.

You can try accecsories (i know sp: shut up GW) in different colors - like a dark green plant in the corner...

since its a new house to you, I would suggest living with it a while and thinking more about which part you'd like to change. Get good at photoshop and you can change the colors and see it :)

Darn, I keep losing my train of thought.

I was gonna say... My brother had a very similar range/micro deal next to the fridge and the same distance on either side of the range.

Well, I visited him this summer and he had replaced the range with a wolf with the big red knobs (looking all serious like it does) , took out the micro/cab and added a stainless steel chimney hood with a 1x1 mini glass tile behind the thing and it totally changed his rather plain builder style kitch into something trendy and fun. A couple of bold artsy prints in frames on the opposite wall and it was a new room.

Not to be a contrarian, but the cabs are certainly not unstained cherry. The grain pattern and color are not right. Unstained cherry has more of a pink color that mellows with exposure to light to a reddish brown and cherry has a fine grain to it. These cabs have more of a creamy brown undertone with no red whatsoever and a course grain pattern. The cabs appear to have a light golden stain or have an oil based poly finish (or both!).

Pecan, beech, and hickory are all good guesses.

BTW it won't matter too much what type of wood it is because to change the color you'll have to glaze over the existing finish, so that pretty much removes the type of wood that the cabs are from the equation. The bigger question is now what type of finish is on there and how can you get a glaze/toner/topcoat to stick to it!

Oh boy!! :)

Marcy, thanks for the additional feedback. I have been in this kitchen for 18 months, and it is still ALL THE SAME COLOR, so I definitely know I'm looking for a change. But it's more complicated than just the kitchen area: the kitchen is only one end of a large great room. The other end has a brick fireplace surrounded by white built-in shelving, and there's a wood vaulted ceiling. I also will not be doing anything other than stain and possibly paint (and accessories -- I won't be buying appliances). Anyway: I'll probably post "what color stain for cabinets between saltillo floors and yellow granite" later on, but I think better one step at a time. So my first issue is to determine what I realistically CAN do with the cabinets.

laranbrian: thanks for the note about the finish, I didn't realize that would be such a deciding factor. Fortunately, my entire house is done in the same cabinets, including the laundry room. I can afford to experiment a little using the laundry cabinets, and just paint them with something opaque later. Sounds like "trial and error" is probably going to be my best option.

Thanks again for the help!!

I agree with laranbrian. Not natural cherry. The first picture is more reddish and could be red birch (what we're getting). Second photo is too light and looks like the color "wheat glaze" popular at Home Depot. Granite could be Copper Canyon?

I would figure out a way to remove one of those laundry room doors and take it to several paint shops to get their opinions on how to prep the surface for new stain and clear coat and what products they'd use.

Larabrian's guesses are good. I also keyed in on the lack of red tones. Therefore, I will add ash to the list of contenders for that reason.

Hm... Could be Pecan. I have wide plank Pecan floors, and the grain looks right. Pecan is actually related to hickory, which makes me wonder if it's a premium hickory with less variation than you usually see?

Have you checked Hobbit House? I think it looks a lot like their hickory too. Hickory cabinets don't have to be streaky, and if it matches the flooring you have, you're probably right.

Is there any way to contact the previous owner and ask them?

A property that we owned had cabinets that looked like those and the wood was birch. We had uba tuba counters with them and they looked great with the contrast. A paint store or wood refinisher should be able to help you out. I wouldn't necessarily rely on advice from someone a the big box type stores.

Birch???-probably natural

Looks like birch to me as well.

I like the cabinets a lot. My own experience with any type of stain on a piece with lots of corners for it to pool in hasn't been such that I'd recommend doing it to a nice set of cabinets like yours..... but of course it's your call.

When you said possible paint change, I could see a different colored wall paint making the cabinets and counters look better, as it, being yellow, is virtually the same at the moment -- I can also see how the color goes into the family room so I'm assuming that's not easy to change, either. We armchair quarterback/decorators can easily suggest something that is not always so easily or inexpensively done. I would think, though, that putting dark handles (either a blackened iron or dark bronze) on the cabinets could break up the expanse of yellow....

Really, I think you've got a great set of cabinets, and the granite is beautiful as well -- in my job I'm always telling my clients "don't use a hammer when a fly swatter will do" -- I think you've just got a fly swatter problem there.

My first thought was birch. You usually see birch cabinets with a darker stain. A bold wall color would make these pretty cabinets stand out. And a darker cabinet hardware, too. Could you stain or paint just the island?

I'm not TKO, just poor and like looking at other people's pretty kitchens, but I really like your cabinets as is. Have you considered changing the backsplash and floor instead? I can't say I'm a fan of tile in the kitchen anyways, and I don't care for yours (but I don't know how many rooms it may cover and how expensive it would be to change out). A very dark floor in either a cork, bamboo, or hardwood would add that contrast you are looking for--especially if you couple it with a complementary backsplash (plus it would make the appliances pop).

Not to be a contrarian, as lanabrian said, but please don't change that pretty (and pretty expensive)full granite backsplash! What nice movement! Copper Canyon is a good guess, or maybe Yellow River, or one of the Vyaras?

I agree with changing the paint first, if you can. The cabs, granite and tile are all really pretty. Just changing the paint could make it all pop. One thing to consider is that lack of contrast makes spaces look bigger(I heard Candace Olson say that on Divine Design). So if you get much more contrast between the cabs and granite, you may find the space looking smaller to you. If it's a big kitchen, this won't matter, of course.

I would say natural birch

Wow, go away for 24 hours and my little thread goes wild! :)

Many thanks to everyone for the feedback and suggestions. It looks like birch could be a good possibility for the wood -- and Ginny, I have been thinking the granite could be Yellow River. It is YELLOW, that's for sure!

Taking another look at the situation, I agree with the suggestion that changing the backsplash could make a huge difference by breaking up the sort of "vertical monochrome" on that wall -- but also that that piece was probably VERY NOT CHEAP, and it would be a shame to destroy it. Maybe I'll find some mosaic-look wallpaper (or even wrapping paper) to cut to size and tape into that area, just as a visual experiment. (I've never been able to Photoshop these things satisfactorily.)

I'm also having second thoughts about paint, because this is a HUGE room (probably 35' long), and one of the long walls is 20' high. So changing the paint would effect the entire area, not just the kitchen. It could certainly be done, but the yellow works, and I'm not sure what else would. Something in the red family would be too much with the saltillo and brick; but the color really needs to be warm to work in this room, so green or blue would be odd.

I don't like the mustardy granite, and granite in general doesn't fit (in my mind) with the hacienda style of the house, but I really don't have the heart (or budget) to rip it out.

Which leaves the cabinets...

My gut instinct is telling me *paint them red* -- but a red so dark it's almost black. Not burgundy (too purple) but just really, really dark. I think it would look terrific with the saltillo floor (which I love) and really change the feel of the kitchen area without intruding on the rest of the room. But I fear a few people here might attempt to climb through my monitor to get me if I painted! :) Not to mention, we will not be in this house forever, painting is kind of irrevocable, and those are not cheap cabinets.

I think I'll look into the gel stain idea a little farther -- maybe something like 3 parts black and one part red.

Longer term: I think the island has to go, to be replaced by something more like "furniture." Currently it's 10-sided (why?!) and placed at an angle (why?!). The net effect is just sort of... a formless blob of cabinetry forming one side of the kitchen. With another very expensive piece of granite on top.

Anyway, to anyone who actually read thru THAT stream-of-consciousness... thank you again, and I will keep you posted!

My granite guy is here today installing my full granite backsplash (OK,I'm prejudiced) and he said it looks like Madura Gold, and he thinks it's gorgeous.

Staining the cabs sounds good.

Right away I thought birch. Just a guess.

It's hard to say without a closer shot, but my guess is Hickory.

I save digital pics of all our displays...here are two displays:

1. KraftMaid Bedford Hickory with Honey Spice Finish
2. KraftMaid Brookfield Birch with Natural Finish

Yours looks closer to Hickory but I have seen some birch in other brands look like yours too. I think the 'flamestitch' pattern of the wood on the recessed veneers make it look more like Hickory to me.

Pecan is the same as hickory...just a fruit bearing tree.

The first one is hickory...the second two pics are natural Birch.

Kompy

it could be Colonial Gold granite. Alder wood on the cabs? I think that staining them would be an excellent way to warm them up and they would still be beautiful. I know what you mean, my kitchen has unstained maple cabinets, good quality, nice looking but then I have a neutral Corian counter top and neutral tile backsplash. Pretty bland, so I totally understand if it just feels better with a little more contrast. I'm working on getting my counter tops changed out, they are almost 14 years old, seems impossible but they are! I am still calling this the new house... : /

Don't know about the cabinets or granite, but our range is similar to yours....I loooooovvvvvvve it! You'll use the top little oven so much--perfect for a sheet cake, muffins, french fries, casseroles, pizzas. The lower one is great for the big stuff, or two cookie sheets. I can't imagine ever having one oven again!

Donna! The cookie oven is quite possibly the *greatest invention in the history of time*. My husband has perfected his chocolate-chip cookie recipe and we use it all the time. The "big" oven gets turned on pretty much once per year, to cook the Thanksgiving turkey.

Here in Phoenix, where we are loathe to heat the whole oven in the heat of summer, the cookie oven is a godsend. It's just the two of us, so what need do we have for the full oven? As Donna said, the cookie oven is sufficient for almost everything we do, from cookies to take-and-bake pizzas to sterilizing our parrots' toys. It's brilliant.

I see painting the walls as less of an investment than staining the cabinets.

One thought I have is that I liked your lower cabs with the black on your range. What about getting some darker knobs and pulls?

Also, my husband, who never weighs in, looked at your post the other day. He said "that tile sure doesn't go with anything else in the kitchen, does it?" I was already closing the page at the time. But looking at it again, I realize a wide plank, dark, rustic floor might really change your world view.

Sparkly...I would do the minimum of changes and then you can work way into more work, if necessary. Change the knobs/pulls to an oil rubbed bronze or something that looks good with your floor (which you love). Change the backsplash, and I think that's going to be enough. I switched the knobs/pulls on my natural cherry cabinets from the shiny brass knobs of the 90's to oil rubbed bronze knobs and it made such a big difference, people thought I got new cabinets! Good luck!

My educated guess is Hickory wood cabinets based on the wood grain variations, specifically on the lazy susan door.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen Cabinet Kings Education Center