amberm145, that would be one of my most thrilling points! Traditional, flesh eating strippers don't do anything with stain. However.... [insert drum roll] If you put a coat of Citristrip on your stripped wood, it will such the stain right out of the grain. See my pictures above. And we're talking a very dark, 1920s door with tons of paint and clear coats on it. and I have not sanded a speck on the 15 doors I've worked on, nor the kitchen cabinets I've done, other than to brush off the dried Citristrip as I mentioned above. The golden oak cabs I did got very light natural wood, too. I was able to ceruse them with a vinegar (I choose ume plum vinegar, just because I had it) and then a very thinned wash of Varathane 'Sunbleached'. I wanted them to stay light. I love that I don't have to sand.

Nancy... so right! I hate it when they do that and DH is also be blame! First he says... do what you want. then when final sign off is here... ummm, "you think that will look good?" Grrrr! I'm usually a Pacifist... but now I'm close to "passing a fist" right though his face! Just a little joke I saw on Facebook. LOL. Trying not to let this project get to me. drewem, your kitchen sounds like it will be a winner. If I had an island, I'd probably do something similar.

I think it is regional. On Gardenweb, white is very popular. In the suburbs here, distinct off-white and glazes are popular. In the city, dark stains, very dark brown, maroonish, black. Talk to a realtor, and also look at a lot of real estate online, particularly at new construction, houses that say "recently renovated", and houses that look heavily staged.

Looks beautiful! Did you paint them yourself? Were they sprayed or brushed? I'm thinking about painting ours but it seems daunting since we have a large kitchen like yours.