Lindy, if I knew the formula for "Custom" I would have no problem sharing it with you! :) The company that I borrowed this sample from is Dickinson Cabinetry in San Jose, CA (408-227-0445) in case your builder would like to contact them. We are either going with them or Savage Designer Cabinets in Rocklin, CA. They are both custom cabinet makers who get their doors from Cal Door. rollie, the brand is Cal Door and almost all custom cabinet makers we've talked to in N. California get their doors from them. Also, the company they all get their corbels and moldings from is Enkeboll Designs. vfish, before we got a chance to actually see the door styles in person, we chose the Napa door (all right, maybe it had something to do with the name since we're building on a vineyard!) However, once we went to go look at the different door styles, my DH and I both immediately picked the Delaware door! As far as the style of our home, well, let's just say I started quite a thread about that on the Home Decorating forum entitled: What would you call this style? I guess we've determined it to be a "Spanish-Inspired Santa Barbara California Mission/Italian Villa" style home! :) Our initial draft renderings and floorplan are on the thread, if you're interested in taking a peek...

I have never stained rubberwood, but I imagine it is like staining any wood. You want to get yourself a brush or a staining pad if the surfaces are large. You can also use a rag to apply the stain. You will want to lightly sand the wood before applying the stain to remove grease, mill glaze, dirt, finger prints, etc. I would do this with a fine grit sanding block. There are really two ways to stain....slap it on and wipe it off or spread the stain on evenly without wiping. Which application method you use will likely depend on what the cabinets you are trying to match look like. Wiping the stain off will result in a lighter color than if you were to leave the stain on. Also, wiping the stain off is easier for novices to do. After the stain is dry, you will want to apply a sanding sealer. Let that dry, sand with your fine grit sanding sponge, dust off and then apply two coats of poly or varnish of your choice.

Rhome is right. The difference between a white kitchen and an all wood room is huge. Will your new kitchen have a lot of natural light? I'm biased because I know I couldn't live in a kitchen that was all stained wood, but a stained kitchen with wood floors in a space without a lot of natural light reads dark and heavy. Sometimes that can feel cozy and comforting to people. Thinking about Rhome's questions, the Sweeby test, and looking at kitchens online will hopefully help to narrow in on the feeling you want to create. As to the glazing, this has been discussed often. You could search around here to read some of the discussions. A lot of people feel that a glaze on white or creamy cabs is dated, and that it makes the cabs look dirty. I feel like getting out a sponge and scrubbing cabs like that, myself. I painted the dark 70's wood cabs in my house 12 years ago and I glazed and crackled them. (hey, it was the 90's!). Soon after, I thought they looked dirty and wished I hadn't done it. Tastes change. You could always have them installed without glaze and have it done later if you really miss it. Finding a direction can take some time. Good luck!

I have alder and I love it. But it was quite an ordeal getting them right. When I chose them I told the cabinet maker I wanted a "nice warm natural" color. Out of that, he focused on the word "natural" and only sealed them. That might have worked except for the fact that there's a lot of variation in the wood. Here's what showed up in my kitchen: I totally freaked at the clown stripes. We had to have them pulled out, stripped and stained to even it out. It was my mistake to be so general, I suppose, his to place that lighter board where it stuck out like a sore thumb. It cost us $2K and months of delay since we went to any available slot in the cabinet maker's and GC's production schedules after that. It was worth it though. Here's what we ended up with when they stained the lighter boards to make them fit in and then stained the whole expanse: and another spot where you can see the wood to better advantage: I love the richness of the wood and its rustic quality. I hope you will too. Just specify that you want the boards hand selected for uniformity or good attention to the stain.