I have always loved AtHomeDads light cherry kitchen too. I've never heard the term hearwood....is that the same as sapwood? In KraftMaid, you will get sapwood showing up on Natural and Honey Spice. I actually have an 11 year old KM Lyndale Cherry Hutch Display in my showroom. It is Honey Spice and the sapwood is very noticeable. It will only be more prominent as the cherry wood around it, darkens. Someone posted here recently about their her light cherry Medallion cabinets having sapwood and how it bothered her. If you go in to this, knowing there will be some sapwood, you are fine. If you don't want to see any sapwood, go with the Sunset cherry. There will still be some variation, but the sapwood will not show up as much. Also I posted a picture of Medallion's Pecan finish recently. It is very pretty and the sapwood doesn't show up as much with this finish. Or maybe we just got lucky on this one. I think you meant 'heartwood'...just figured that out. Heartwood is the good wood...sapwood is the lighter streaks you see in cherry. At least that's what I was always told.

Just in case you don't see my original reply: Hi. Sorry...I have been swamped at work and missed this til now. I have not heard anything about the old Muslin finish peeling off. Was that the original problem to the finish? Or is it the "FIX" that is peeling off? The only problem I can remember with the Muslin (and I only did a couple of them) was the mineral streaks in natural wood looked like blue streaks. After I sold one or two, I warned my clients against the finish for the streaking problem. The couple that I did do, I did not hear back from the homeowners on any issues. If I had to guess as to why it was discontinued, I would say because it was very similar to the 'whitewash' aka 'frosted' finishes that were popular in the early to late 90s. Did KraftMaid give you any kind of warranty or paperwork to sign after they 're-finished' them at your house? I'm not an attorney, but I would think your issue now is the re-finish...not the original finish warranty...because that was covered up. Did you sign anything after it was sprayed? Or has it all been just done piece by piece? I do think you should try for something. You might not get 100% of what you spent...you have had the use of the cabinets for all these years. What year were they originally done? But if I were the CEO, I'd think you should get some compensation towards painting them or replacing them. Also, FYI, The lifetime warranty on Kraftmaid wasn't implemented until probably sometime in the early 2000s. I can't recall. Livewire_Oak? Do you remember. Good luck and please message me when you hear back from Kraftmaid. Kompy

Hi. Sorry...I have been swamped at work and missed this til now. I have not heard anything about the old Muslin finish peeling off. Was that the original problem to the finish? Or is it the "FIX" that is peeling off? The only problem I can remember with the Muslin (and I only did a couple of them) was the mineral streaks in natural wood looked like blue streaks. After I sold one or two, I warned my clients against the finish for the streaking problem. The couple that I did do, I did not hear back from the homeowners on any issues. If I had to guess as to why it was discontinued, I would say because it was very similar to the 'whitewash' aka 'frosted' finishes that were popular in the early to late 90s. Did KraftMaid give you any kind of warranty or paperwork to sign after they 're-finished' them at your house? I'm not an attorney, but I would think your issue now is the re-finish...not the original finish warranty...because that was covered up. Did you sign anything after it was sprayed? Or has it all been just done piece by piece? I do think you should try for something. You might not get 100% of what you spent...you have had the use of the cabinets for all these years. What year were they originally done? But if I were the CEO, I'd think you should get some compensation towards painting them or replacing them. Also, FYI, The lifetime warranty on Kraftmaid wasn't implemented until probably sometime in the early 2000s. I can't recall. Livewire_Oak? Do you remember. Good luck and please message me when you hear back from Kraftmaid. Kompy

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!