I have a LOT of orange in my house, and in fact, my house IS orange. I've had a look at your Canyon Orange and I think the basic problem is that I would not ever think to combine it with grey. It is similar to my DR ceiling, actually, a room that has wallpaper with a cream background (and the orange in it, along with purple and green). And plain cream on the walls other than that. So if that is your orange colour, I would go with a bright cream, not grey (*and not beige!!!*). But... why is that your chosen orange colour? I would pick an accent colour to help pull together other, less flexible elements in the room, not to create another element that needs to be integrated. The accent colour would be an outcome, not a input. Do you have any prints in the room? I find wallpaper, rugs, or upholstery to be a good place to unite all the different colours. We usually start with a wallpaper, actually, and then the room is always automatically pulled together as long as we stay within sight of the palette of the wallpaper. Maybe you have a piece of artwork, or could add one, that puts your chocolate brown with a good orange and the other tones you are working with? Whatever you use, it could give you the neutral you are after, and help you pinpoint the right orange for the chocolate brown (although I think the shade you've chosen is good for the brown). I know wallpaper is out of style (other than at my house :-)), but from what you've described, a print somewhere in the room might be a welcome change from all the unicolor items. Other orange combinations that we have... the house is P&L Mineral Red and is trimmed with a mid green and Black Magic (dark purple). The stairwell is a creamsicle shade from SW with white trim. And I have some furniture painted a wonderful burnished reddish orange combined with purple in one case, and navy in another. As for brown... I like it with a soft lilac, and I love orange and purple together. You might be able to find a lilac that would work with both your orange and your brown. Sounds insane, I know, but if you keep it very subtle it could work - a clear tone, not greyed. Or a sage green? Anything but grey :-) Karin L

Not that this will help you now, but I always recommend seeing a sample door before proceeding so that you get the full effect and avoid problems such as this. Maple, pine & a few other woods accept stain like you've shown. It happens when the grain changes direction or around knots. Sometimes you'll get a run of milled wood that won't show as much as yours. Someone mentioned above already, using a wood conditioner before staining will help the colour blend better around those problem areas. Another way of blending this characteristic is by 'dusting' the door/panel with a lacquer/dye combination. This should be done after staining, before the final clear-coat. This process is performed by lightly spraying the mixture over the part and carefully adjusting the colour by hand and slowly darkening the lighter areas to achieve a more uniform shading. This is not a process for an inexperienced finisher. Short of having the cabinet company refinish them, there's not much you can do now. Painting or applying a pigmented lacquer to them is certainly another choice.

Some options

@Judy Graham It is vaulted and I think would look cool with an accent wall (doing this for myself, not resale, but still want it to look nice). The rest of the house will be pretty neutral so I really want to do a fun pop in here and I just love the color and other inspiration photos I have found. Carpet will be replaced soon with a lighter neutral. Technically not finalizing paints til it's in but trying to be efficient. I am really not questioning the teal though. I know it is not everyone's cup of tea but I just bought this so have many years to go in this house and one wall of dramatic paint can be repainted if future owners don't like it. I attached a photo in a different comment.