@thomaspartyof6

Your cabinets are what we are trying to achieve. I keep scrolling on this thread and it’s very confusing. Can you please post your process? Step by step? I would really appreciate it!!!!

@victoriamaire how did y’all decide on natural vs 5%?

@jdesign_gw can you please share the stain that you used on the white oak? Thank you

No stain just clear. its a process we use on the doors we sell.

We are also trying for this look. Does anyone know of a cabinet line that makes this finish, semi-custom, without going through the entire staining process?

I’m in the process of trying to find a similar stain color for my white oak cabinets. Has anyone found a good one that neutralizes some of the golden tones?

Victoria, Beautiful kitchen. Are your cabinets rift-cut white oak or quarter-sawn white oak?

@jdesign_gw - what is the product that you import and use for the 1 step process? Can you share a link? Thanks!

Following

You cannot have expectations that anyone will share proprietary business information with you.

There are several routes to getting this result. All of them involved time and effort to experiment and acquire that experience and judgement that made their process *reproducible* and consistent.

Because there is no shortcut. There is no fail safe simple ”recipe” that someone without extensive woodworking knowledge can use and produce “the same” result. That’s not how this works. This is craftsmanship, and it isn’t a simple push button montage for TV.

You will not be able to replicate a 40K and year of time invested finishing process. Not without showing the same in depth time commitment to understanding how wood behaves in many different circumstances.

lgio71 How did you get the color for your white oak cabinets? We just had the 2 vanities installed but waiting for them to get color on them. We want this color on them? Anyone have any thoughts on how to achieve this look?

thomaspartyof6 I have been following your thread, Firstly thank you for posting your hard work! I am going to take a chance and try replicating it. WIll keep you posted. My one question to you is will it make a difference that my cabinets are already installed and onsite? Here is a picture for reference

This company sells a great product. We are going to be using the vanilla color. https://www.rubiomonocoatusa.com/collections/interior-products/products/oil-plus-part-a-20ml

Is the instagram photo of your vanity with the vanilla color product? Looks nice!

The last Instagram post is not my vanity that has the vanilla color but that is what we want to add. Ours is still in progress…see pic.

Wardah Awan

I woupdn’t think the outcome would be too different painted on site vs offsite.

...perhaps cure-time before using them.

2 yrs later - we wouldn‘t change a thing!

The last picture is not my vanity that has the vanilla color but that is what we want to add. Ours is still in progress…see pic.

this thread has been so helpful, so thanks everyone for sharing their process. I am not only dealing with trying to find the right stain process but also a way to make all the wood more ”even” toned. anyone with a similar experience?

This is how our wall looks like and i would luke to have all the wlld be more similar in tone while keeping the raw wood look

I was told you can’t get it all the same. You have to pick each piece so it can match. We just had 2 bathroom vanities made with white oak and we had this problem.

Hi Kostas, did you have to buy differnt stain colors? how did you solve the problem?

We bought different samples from Rubio (great company) but it didn’t matter if you went lighter or darker with the stain, the darker areas still showed up different. Check out Rubio on Instagram. They have been very helpful. They really tried to work with us but it wasn’t uniform.

HU-71466959, Isn't it the cabinet maker who could help with getting your cabinets "more even toned?" Maybe recutting a door or two? Costly yes, but if it makes you happier then it's worth it. When we did our white oak cabinets, the cabinet maker pointed it out ahead of time that the wood can vary and that they do their best to keep the wood tones consistent. Ours came out really nice, but there are a few doors that I might have "rearranged" a little different if I had that choice.

thomaspartyof6 - I LOVE your cabinets. Can you please tell me what you ended up using for the finish/color?? I have to make a decision very soon. Thank you!!

thomaspartyof6 - how sure are you the mix is 20 parts clear to 1 part white? I took the product number to SW and they said that was the sku number of the sayerlack, not the mix recipe. Does your label show the recipe? You knocked this out of the park! Great work!!! And thank you for sharing your insights with all of us and saving us so much time!

Wonder if thr OP ever came up with a solution- love the cabinet color he was going for but cant seem to tag hom to ask

I've been stalking this website for the past 2 months trying to come up with a solution for my white oak island and cabinets. Initially the carpenter used a "clear coat" which I think was a laquer that turned them quite an orange-y color. After a LOT of research and trying the Rubio monocoat products (too white) and going to Sherwin Williams (they do not sell the same products in Los Angeles as they do in other parts of the country I think due to our regulations) I finally tried Envirolak (still a bit too yellow) and the winner was Renner Italia! Here are the before and after photos. The carpenter had to remove the cabinets treated with his laquer and strip them down to use the Renner, but it made a world of difference. You can see the photo of the orange cabinets below as they compared to my inspiration photo. And the completed island with the Renner finish. Here is a link to the site if it helps anyone: https://tlfinish.com/product/renner-italia-water-base-urethane-topcoat-ylo-1092-00/

@julials14 that looks so good!! (and love your paper towel holder in the island- I asked for one but im not sure I’ll have room sadly) thank you for sharing your pics and exactly what was used!

Love it! How did you get the color so uniform?

@Vickie Velis we just used 2 coats of the Renner and followed the instructions. I think using a wood conditioner first would help if you're having problems with uniformity.

@julials14 just want to double check- your island only has the Renner clear coat on it? No stain or color mixed in?

@Johnson Brothers Contracting that is true. I hand selected most of this wood myself because the carpenter had many pieces I didn't like. I wanted classic rift white oak. There is a bit of variation in color but not too much, which is what I was going for.

@thompsoc75, yes - no stain or color. Just the Renner, which changed the color just a little bit and for the better, in my opinion. We tested it out first and liked it much more than anything else I'd tried (various colors of minwax and rubio monocoat, envirolak, etc. plus the things my carpenter tried). Here is a photo of one of the floating shelves we used as a test piece with the envirolak sample at the bottom and the renner at the top and just the raw wood in the middle. The envirolak seemed to bring out the wood grain too much for my taste and read a bit yellow. I liked the softer look of the renner - not too peach or orange or yellow.

And here is a photo where we flipped the wood sample piece upside down so the envirolak is at the top and the renner is at the bottom because lighting makes a difference.

We just went through this with our white oak caninets! We ended up using American Finishes High Preformance water based flat. It was great, No yellowing, uv protected and non yellowing. 3 coats.

Kathyrene is the product you mention just a clear coat?

@julials14 quick question. I was wondering how you applied the product? Looks like the instructions say to use a spray application with a catalyst. Did you guys do that or did you just brush it on? Thanks!

@julials14 Your cabinets turned out beautiful! That’s exactly what I want. Could you also share what floors your used? They go very nicely with the cabinet color. I’ve been losing sleep over all these decisions.

Kathyrene Yours turned out beautiful too. Did you use quarter sawn?

Hi Cindy,

I hear you! I think I went to over 11 flooring stores during a 4 month period and every time I found one I liked it was either going to take months to arrive or was way too expensive or looked completely different than the sample when I ordered a box of it. So frustrating. I

really like our final choice which is the Pescara color by Opus floors. https://opushardwood.com/ It looks darker in the photo on their site than it does in real life.

I ordered two boxes to be sure there wasn't a wide variety in quality or color because I wanted the planks to be fairly uniform. I don't like the look of some planks being significantly darker than the others. We've had them since the end of May and are very happy except with the stair noses which we had to order for our sunken living room. They don't seem sealed or something. The color rubbed off of one part when I tried to clean a spot (I included a photo below). I need to contact the company. But all of the regular planks have been very durable so far. I wonder if they had run out of stair noses and tried to create these on the spot at the last minute.

julials14, which Renner product did you use for your clear coat? Was it water based? I went to their website and there are lots of different product options. Any further information would be helpful. I like how your cabinets turned out, and after reading through this conversation, it seems to me that the product you chose was the best quick, easy, and beautiful solution to achieving the look I want with my white oak cabinets.

To others who have posted here, it appears that some of you have used plain cut white oak, rather than rift cut. Due to the current cost of rift oak, I'm considering using rift oak ply for the panels on my shaker doors, and plain cut boards for the trim around the flat panel. Has anyone combined plain cut with rift? I don't prefer the look of quartersawn, and am hoping that the cathedral look of the plain cut won't be too obvious if it's just used around the perimeter of my doors and drawers. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Thanks so much!

julials14, Thanks for your reply. Sorry to hear about your issue with the stair nose. I know thats frustrating after spending so much time researching and picking the flooring out. Please let me know what the company says. I’m so glad I found this thread. I’ve been driving my husband crazy between the cabinets and flooring. I’m like you, I like a little variation in the flooring but not drastic changes. I like it all to blend without huge color changes from one plank to the other. Very hard to find just the right amount. Yours turned out beautiful and your cabinets are fantastic. I’m also very nervous about the rift cut white oak cabinets showing too much variation or a dingy greyish color. I’m working with a custom cabinet maker so hopefully he will be patient with me so I can get them right.

@julials14 Your cabinets turned out so pretty. I have been struggling with different stain colors for my white oak cabinets and I think your solution is the best and easiest. I would appreciate if you could share the Renner product detailed information as the website you shared is no longer valid.

I tried to look up American Finishes. I’m wondering if they meant General Finishes?

@thomaspartyof6 thank you for the pics and comments, I know your comment is older but we are struggling with this now. I see your informative post about the Sayerlack product from Sherwin Williams but what I was slightly confused about is is that a one-stop product we need (just order based on the parts number you posted) or is that something you mixed with a little white paint or some kind of special mix that we can't get simply by ordering? Our cabinet person is going to try some things but I'd love to present him with an idea as well to make sure we can get this done without undue delay. Any help would be so appreciated!

I'm using Ciranova hardwax oil smoke with added hardener on my cabinets. Looks just like raw wood, doesn't raise the grain, and has a silky texture.

I’m scared of the coloring issues with the white oak cabinets so I may just decide to go with walnut. I’m planning on doing a two toned kitchen but still trying to decide between the white oak or walnut.

@Cindy I contemplated that as well. As walnut is my absolute favorite and I have many pieces in my home made of that. I don’t think you can go wrong with a walnut kitchen. It will probably be more timeless than white oak. Although I did do my kitchen in half white oak and half white cabinets. If I had a house with more light I’d go with walnut.

Coloring the white oak a nice raw light color is tricky because a wet look brings out the amber undertones - so you need to either a) use a low/no sheen product to reduce the gloss or b) use something that has a slight blue to blue violet tint to cancel the tones out. For tinting, something lightly smokey will work. The white washed stains are ok but they can look a little unnatural and sometimes pinkish.

Standard oil poly looks "wetter" than water based poly so it will always look more amber. If you are ok with the poly texture then use a matte as the topcoat. I say only the topcoat because with matte poly if you add layers of matte it can look cloudy and unnatural. So use a higher gloss on the base coats and do a matte on the top.

 For poly I like to do 1-2 coats of General Finishes gloss then flat matte on the top. Wood look by Ciranova looks great but it's more expensive. I like the feel of oil though so the only option for the very light raw look is to do a hardwax oil. Rubio monocoat is better known but I found their products to look overall darker and more cersused than I'd like. So that's why I went with Ciranova, it's much more natural looking. It's from europe and pretty expensive though, but I could find some samples on Amazon which saves some money.

 One other thing to remember that European/French oak is much different than American white oak. It's easier to get lighter and more neutral tones on it. So when you see pictures of the nordic looking white oak floor it's probably not American white oak. And expert cabinet/flooring makers use methods that are much harder and generally impactical to DIY- UV lacquer, bleaching/fuming, reactive staining. Hope that helps

@everpark not sure if you are reading this, but for the Sherwin Williams Pure White, do you know what sheen it was (e.g., flat, satin, etc.)

It was satin. I don’t think it would really matter as it’s such a small amount.

@julials14 thank you for sharing the link to the Renner product. The link no longer seems to be valid, I'm wondering if you have a picture of the Renner product you used or know which of these you used? https://tlfinish.com/product-category/wood-finishes/topcoat-sealer/. Thank you!

Whats counter name? those photo sample look gorgeous!!