The husband and I are trying to hash out a lot of decisions on our upcoming new gut job kitchen this weekend. We definitely agree on Quartersawn White Oak, and very impressed with the quality and style of Candlelight Cabinetry, and most likely the Chatham Shaker door, with a small bevel instead of straight edge. So I'd say those decisions are settled.

I never thought picking a stain would be so hard though! Without the expense of a custom stain, we are hoping one of the standard choices comes close to our existing Amish built dining room furniture look; they will be in adjoining rooms so don't need exact match, just the "feel". Trying to avoid a red, yellow, or orange tone, which looks weird with our pale grey slate look floor. And husband hates the modern grey finishes, which I agree, seem to muddy up the grain, which we want to be the star of the show.

Nothing in the catalog seemed right, so I brought home samples this weekend to see them 'in situ'. My confusion is, the two samples shown here are called Burnished stain, the darker one is Burnished with the Licorice Accent. I am fairly sure they are both shown on white quartersawn, so that doesn't explain the difference. Below the sample photo, is more views of the Licorice accent sample compared to our furniture.

Why would an accent change the overall tone so much, I was told by a designer that a glaze only settled into the crevices, not changed the tone of the entire door. Or am I just confusing two things, a glaze and an accent? Does either do anything to accentuate and pop the grain? Also thought a glaze was a waste of time with a shaker door, not many crevices to show the accent.

Can anyone enlighten me what is going on with these samples?