Maple is usually the blotchy one when staining gets into the browns. Must be a thinly pigmented stain here as alder is usually quite even and takes brown well. If he's custom be sure and get exactly what you wish..Can he show you more stain samples-there's kind of a tiger eye in that wood cut...he can get select species or knotty as well as specify the sizes of the pin holes in the boards. Be picky. Rustic cherry is nice too.Love alder with smooth colors of cabinets or furniture/surfaces adjacent-like the black bit there-nice.

It is not blotchy at all. We love working with alder and have made quite a few kitchens in the knotty alder as well. It takes a "good quality" stain very well. Now as with all woods there are some areas like the end grains that take the stain a little differently but to me this is the beauty of wood. If my clients wanted perfect then then they would want a paint.

Travis Alfrey
Pinehurst, NC

I was looking at rustic alder (knotty) cabinets (plato brand) and they did not seem blothy. The stain was a bit lighter than your picture. Can you get a sample door made before you place your order?

K, what would you guys call this style of kitchen?

Ooh I like that! I don't know that it would be called tuscan, but it's definitely traditional with the corbels, rope molding, large crown, raised panel cabs with mitered edges, etc. I love the stain too.

It's certainly more formal than most kitchens you see today, and much more traditional. I guess it's not the current "in thing" but I personally love the style and am planning many of these elements in my own new kitchen.

But bear in mind I'm pretty weird since that way-over-the-top "tuscan" kitchen from your other thread kind of sung to me as well. :)

taggie, I don't think you are wierd at all. I love this kitchen, the huge crown and mitered end panel cabs and the color are fantastic! And yes, I really like the over the top kitchen I posted also, but in a different way.

These two types of kitchens I posted were common in the very high end homes 2003-present in the area where I live. Lateley, in the last few years, I have seen more "contemporary" or modern style kitchens, which I like but don't love. In a modern loft, high end apartment, etc I would love it, but not necessarilly in a beautiful estate type home.

I like the creamy white kitchens I have been seeing here, but I would want them more "ornate", even baraoque! ;)

Here's a knotty alder kitchen, from this month's Renovation Style magazine (from BH&G). It's described as french country, but it has similar moldings and corbels as the Tuscan kitchen. I like the hood and the backsplash tile...and the herbs! :)
{{!gwi}}From Lavender Lass farmhouse pictures

The picture you attached looks like Maple to me? Alder seems to take stain well (ie...no blotchy parts). We used Alder wood in our bathrooms and bar area but they stained it dark and there are no blotchy parts. It is really pretty...
Also, FWIW, there is "clear Alder" and "Knotty Alder"...we used Knotty Alder but I asked the cabinet makers to use wood without a lot of knots...lol
HTH
Capegirl