Sorry, wrong wood. Curly cherry with spalted maple

gorgeous! looks like heirloom quality furniture.
frankly i am sick of common woods that are stained and then sold as 'ebony' 'ebonized' 'wenge' 'wengeized' 'latted' 'cappucinoed' 'mochad' 'cinnamoned' (insert you favorite brown food)... :)

Nothing like unstained, natural wood with fantastic figure!

remember not to 'accessorize' the kitchen. The wood is the art here!

I like the bases (the curly cherry?), but I don't like the maple as it shows up on my monitor. I love different wood tones and grains, so I'm not sure if it's the photo or that I don't like the strong contrast in that insert panel on the uppers. To be honest, I would probably combine different woods with that much contrast in a different way, no matter what they were.

The spalted is a bit much for me in cabinets, but our friends have spalted maple flooring and I fell in love! I wouldn't have been able to look at any other option the same if I'd seen it before we had our flooring in. I sure like it better than our all-too-trendy and dark Brazilian Cherry. The curly grain is gorgeous...adds so much depth and interest. I've seen curly maple, but not curly cherry.

I can definitely see the spalted maple as flooring.

I really do love figured woods, my house is full of pieces made of cherry and figured maples, and bamboo and walnut. I just don't like the combination here with the cabinets. A whole kitchen like this seems a bit overwhelming. Maybe if it had some glass in the uppers, and only one combination, instead of the spalted maple, cherry and curly cherry.

I too love a nice wood grain - but I'm boring and so my favorite, hands down is rift cut white oak. That said, I really adore the curly or the bird's eye maple and cherry woods. Have seen them at our local upmarket lumber supply yard, *love* them, desparately want to use them a la pharoah, and can give them 45 thumbs ups. The spalted though ... not so much. Like lascatx and rhome, I can see it as flooring. On the kitchen cabinets it looks like OSB (oriented strand board?). The curly cherry on that horizontal cabinet in the first picture, on the other hand, looks lovely.

I think they are beautiful, but that granite should definitely not be put with those cabinets! It's making me dizzy! You would want a VERY plain granite if you are going with such a cabinet choice!

Carla in Sac

I agree the pattern on the granite competes to much. I love the cabinets in the bottom pic.

I love the combination of woods. It is both modetn and rustic at the same time.

I love spalted maple. I have only seen it made into bowls and such like. I think the combination would be great in a cabin.

The wood in and of itself is beautiful. It almost looks as if they were trying to match the granite to the wood inserts in the upper cabs. At a glance... they appear to be granite like.

a great big YES from me.

pharoah, your line about not accessorizing resonated with my response to the pics -- I would want a solid color countertop to go with that beautiful wood. Ah, I see sautesmom and madeyna had my reaction too.

Maybe make an island out of it? Or some accent cabinets?

Just plain slab fronts in the spalted maple would look so cool in a modern kitchen!

Love the cherry too.

Beautiful, I too love figured wood. I have seen a small kit done with spalted maple and it was beautiful and truly a unique kit.

I like it very much. The contrast of the cherry frames and maple panels on the uppers is beautiful, a nice combination, tho probably best in relatively small spreads. I think it depends on the layout of the kitchen, and the number and placement of cabinets. I particularly like the arrangement of upper cabinets in the picture. I don't know if the horizontal cabinet in the middle is darker or if that's just the lighting, but I like the slightly darker look, as well as the shape difference. It's a bit of relief from repetitive vertical doors. I think a lot of same-shaped doors next to each other would be too much. The base cabinets are gorgeous, and are a great foil for the uppers.

The wood is beautiful, but that granite is all wrong. The floor should be a dark flat honed granite, and the counters stainless steel. That would really make those cabinets pop out. Its so 'blah' right now.

Gorgeous cabs, I agree with the others on a simpler, less obtrusive countertop to allow those doors to shine!

Thanks so much for all of the feedback. I completely agree that the countertops need to be very subdued with those cabinets. In the log house that we are building, we have wide plank pine floors, 12"-14" log walls and rough sawn cedar plank ceilings. In the midst of all this wood, I just love the idea of figured wood with two colors. Otherwise, I feel like the kitchen is just another bland wood element. Thanks again, guys!

Oh I wish I could say I like it, but it's just not working for me, sorry. :c(

Another negative vote trickling in, but if you love it and you don't care about being neutral for resale, then it doesn't matter.

so sorry but i'm not wild about it either. The wood is beautiful, but I see it more in a lovely accent piece in the living room or bedroom. Just too much in a kitchen imo.

Just have to ask are you thinking of Soapstone counters?

I like stainless steel counters, but don't think the cool color would be right for the warm color in the maple and cherry.

I, too, am a stainless counter fan, but can't see it with these cabs. I wrote in against using the spalted as cabinets, and have been reading others' responses. Now that it's been pointed out that the those otherwise gorgeous counters compete and detract from the wood, I've taken another look. I think that solid, dark counters (I'm imagining a rich, deep brown) would have a completely different impact, and I can start to see how great it could look in your cabin.