Maple vs. Cherry Cabinets
greasetrap
9 years ago
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lawjedi
9 years agoRelated Discussions
Cherry cabinets, maple floor -- yellowing?
Comments (1)Natural maple definitely will yellow. But, there are a lot of stained maples out there....See MoreCherry vs maple vs hickory
Comments (2)In my opinion the look of the wood grain should override the hardness. With cabinetry being vertical, it isn't likely it will be dinged by falling objects like floors are. Yes, kids will hit cabinetry with toys but I still think the look of the grain and how the wood takes stain is the number one consideration. Maple has a smooth grain, takes stain evenly. Cherry grain is more pronounced and also takes stain nicely. BUT, most cherry cabinets these days include sap wood which doesn't stain the same as the heart wood. Heart wood appears redder and deeper toned while sap wood is more yellow. Hickory has lots of color variation in the wood which gives it a very distinctive appearance. Attached is an example of sap wood on a cherry cabinet. My cabinets are cherry and show this much variation on some doors and drawers....See MoreDazed and confused ... can't seem to make decisions!
Comments (13)I'm so glad it's not only me!!!!! :-) I keep wanting to tell my builder that I am normally a very reasonable person. But I know he wouldn't believe me anyway. At this point, my indecisiveness about cabinets is delaying the whole project! Ugh. I do think, though, that there are many things that make it hard to be decisive: 1. Some of us have never done this before, and there is a LOT to learn. I frequently make a decision only to learn later that there are good reasons not to do it that way. OR I get conflicting information (what's better? particle board or plywood for my cabinet boxes?) and don't have the knowledge base to judge for myself. 2. It's hard to shop when you can't see the prices. How many times have you spent hours finding just the right tile--only to discover days later when you get the quote that this particular tile requires special handling (or whatever) and the labor will now be more than budgeted? Or that the roof shingles you've selected are discontinued in a 30-year and are now only available as a 50-year--which means more expense. Back to the drawing board in both situations. And it can be even harder to find something I like the second time around; after spending so much time finding just the perfect thing, it can be hard to let that go and settle for something else. 3. As someone mentioned above, everything is interconnected. Today, for instance, I am having serious second thoughts about the bathroom tile, after I saw something similar at a friend's house and did not care for it. But if I change my tile color, I will also want to change my vanity stain color. So back I go to the tile store--and the cabinet shop, where the KD will probably shoot me for proposing yet another change. 4. Sometimes things happen that necessitate or encourage a change. For example, the plumber discovered that the plumbing in one bathroom was not up to code. The wall behind the sink had to be opened up, and suddenly I saw the opportunity to put in a new recessed medicine cabinet. But this meant moving an outlet that had just been put in. Or then there was the day that the sheetrock went up and suddenly a different bathroom seemed really dark. So I requested an additional recessed light. The electrician thinks I'm wishy-washy when things like this happen. I think I'm just reacting to changing circumstances. But when I think about the YEARS I spent designing this house, I know that the "indecisiveness" will ultimately get me exactly where I want to be. Yes, it's excruciating to me, to the people working on my house, and to my very patient husband. But everyone agrees that the house so far is flat-out stunning. It took a lot of back-and-forth to get the design just right, and I guess it's just going to take a lot of back-and-forth to get the interior details just right too. Oh, and by the way, about the dark cherry cabinets? I had the same exact conflict when I started this. I always imagined I would get cherry cabinets because it would go well with the dark wood trim in my house. But it wasn't sitting 100% right with me. What finally helped me make my decision was when I took out all of the magazine pages I'd piled up over the years and began narrowing them down. But instead of pulling out pages where I like a particular detail, like I usually do, this time I selected out only the ones where I liked the overall look. At the end I realized, much to my surprise, that out of the 10-12 I loved best, 90% had white painted cabinets. And that was that....See MoreLight stained maple vs. painted maple cabinets
Comments (1)i did honey stained maple in our last kitchen (stainless appliances) but i really didn't like it at all when it was installed. the color was too close to the floor. they looked too similar. just something else to think about... good luck!...See Moreoasisowner
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