I had the same thought that Palimpset expressed...Our 'paint grade' cabinet doors are poplar, and we had them up for awhile before painting them. Their grain is not subtle with fairly strong dark and light variation, and is definitely greenish combined with an ashy light color. I don't know for sure how they'd stain, but I'm guessing it'd be a challenge to get them to go with other stained woods, especially the fir. We were tentatively planning to have QS oak cabinets when we were also planning painted trim. As soon as my dh decided to use our own fir trees for our trim, I just couldn't imagine the mission-stained QS oak with the golden/orangish/reddish tones of the fir. I see the oak as a cooler brown...more true brown...and was afraid it would really clash with the fir. Our architect friend agreed. We strongly considered cherry, before deciding on fir, since we'd done cherry in our last house and wanted to try something new and different. Cherry is so lovely with fir, because they both have some of the same tones, and both darken, but cherry gets a little darker and richer, IMO. I agree with Palimpset again that Craftsman/Mission furniture and cabinets were also done in cherry and it makes a gorgeous look. I have visited custom furniture stores that specialize in that look and have seen marvelous examples of both oak and cherry. The door style and surrounding environment should keep the cherry from looking contemporary. All of this is just a collection of my thoughts on the subject...Not to say I am totally against the use of the oak with the fir. Robin_D got plain sawn oak cabinets stained a dark color to go with the original, decades old dark-stained fir in her Craftsman home. Very beautiful. Another thought if you really would prefer to do more QS Oak throughout the house is to combine the oak and painted. Painted doors and QSO trim, or vice-versa. Or all painted in rooms like kitchen, laundry, and bedrooms, with oak in the public/main rooms. That's often how the houses were done originally.

Probably the EASIEST way to get this look is to work with FACTORY FINISHED hardwood that comes out of the box looking like this. This is a high-end look that is very popular right now. Which means "supply and demand" is part of the price-equation. Personally I would look to European Oak and let it FADE to the "silver" colour you like. European Oak will naturally silver as it ages...especially when it is finished with water born polyurethane. The European Oak starts out a light colour with pale yellow tones with some brown in it (more like beige) and as it is exposed to UV rays, it turns silver (like the planks you are looking at). Again, European Oak is an expensive import that is HIGHLY sought after (because it silvers rather than yellows). No matter how you shake this tree, it is going to come out as "expensive". I suggest a budget of $15/sf just to start the conversation. Or a stunning, high-end laminate in this visual ($5/sf) will give you the same look. This last bit is merely a suggestion.

SJ McCarthythank you for your very long process description and NWFA suggestion. With all the risks that proper preparation requires I think I just have to dodge the bullet and pay someone to do it. It really isn't just applying the stain with a brush kinda thing. I emailed seven companies. Four from NWFA and three from neighbors' recommendations. Just few moments ago I had one of them here to look at the stairs. He is certified has all the proper training and certifications. He seemed knowledgeable and explained all the steps. He will have to re-sand. It will be a 3-4 day job depending on how many stain coats are needed. He uses DuraSeal stains and Bona Traffic HD water based seal and has training to work with those. Each coat needs 24-48h to dry. Then he will have to do another 2-3 coats of the seal. His professional opinion was also that the stairs did not turn yellow because of the covering, but they turned yellow because the previous company used an oil based poly. They might have also applied the seal when stain wasn't dry enough. He is almost certain that the amber coloring from the photos is oil based. He never heard of floors turning yellow because they were covered. That being said, he told me I have a good chance winning a small claims court. That the photos should be sufficient. The stairs were first finished in March, we covered the newly stained steps with protective brown contractor's paper, since there was still construction and painting happening. In July we discovered that there is yellowing present. Since July I've been contacting the company to fix it. They refused because they claim that it is not a warranty issue since it is our fault that we covered them, and that is what caused the yellowing. However, the best changes in court would be with two expert opinions. What I should have done was getting an inspector's report and document the yellowing properly. My mistake was sanding the stairs down before finding a new company. Now I cannot get an inspector to examine it. The reason I had my trusted carpenters to sand down the entire yellowed staircase was because our remodel has finished, and I didn’t want a yellow staircase in the house. I was also worried someone else wouldn't be as careful, and do more damage on brand new painted baseboards and stair skirts. Most importantly I knew sanding it down completely will be a huge mess and didn’t want all the dust on our stuff. I wanted to move into a clean house. Now, there will still be sanding just not as much as the heavy sanding. Even the walls were covered in sand. It was awful...

My guess is pic is partly lighting, and a clear coat that may have aged. Maple doesn't stain very well. Hard as a rock,,,,,,and tends to blotchy. Look at the side of the kitchen cabinetry. : ) Definitely maple.Lighter, less orange and not in lighting shadow