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!!

@julials14 - I am hoping you see this! I also tried the link for the Renner product but it says page not found. :( Where did you source this from? I also am in CA and cannot find anyone who carries Renner here.

Following

I messaged Renner, this was their reply.

Good evening,

The replacement product for the 1092 is the following link https://tlfinish.com/product/yo-xxm718-natural-look-water-based-self-sealer/
This is a much more durable product and performs better.
Let us know if you have any questions !
Best regards,
Harvey Zook

I bought this based on your recommenation and am not disappointed. Except the place I bought it at said catilyze at 10% lol hope that percentage worked too.

Following - planning a new kitchen in the next few months and want rift/quarter-sawn white oak.

We literally just finished installing our white oak plain sawn cabinets and i tried alot of stains. i found rubio monocoat was amazing and kept the beautiful color of the white oak without turning it yellow at all. My cabinet people had never heard of rubio monocoat and said it was a great product to use. i love the color!

Can you please share the exact product that you used? Thanks

Yes it’s called Rubio Monocoat

In natural

You have to put some sort of a slight white wash on the oak first and then clear coat it. That is the trick, to camoflauge the orange/yellow tone and also stops it from darking so much.

@sillysquares - in your comment above you said you used a whitewash stain from Rove and Dwell. When I look at your IG, you said you used Old Barn’s Living whitewash stain. Just curious, did you use two different white wash stains?

@tavi9876

https://roveanddwell.com/products/copy-of-farmhouse-exterior-stain?variant=31876928667709

I think Rove and Dwell sell the Old Barn's Living whitewash (see link above)

Hi. i love your cabinet color choice. i have maple cabinets with a hiney finish but want to refinish them to this color. do you thinknits do able with maple to attain that white oak look?

@Sillysquares Such a perfect finish you did! Can you please share the White wash dilution ratio or did you use it full strength and just wipe off after 5 minutes. This is the detail that is the key.Thank you

tavi9876 Old Barn and Rove and Dwell are the same company, they changed names.

I am doing built-ins and have been following this question as well. This is where we landed with a stain from Hirshfields.

@sillysquares I've lost the thread were I was discussing with you. Can you please tell me your pinterest name thank you

@lgio71 where did you find the kitchen cabinet sample that you shared with your cabinet maker? I'm trying to do the same thing and having a hard time finding stain samples. Thanks.

@thomaspartyof6 I know you posted forever ago, but love the cabinet pictures you did! How are they holding up? Can you confirm what kind of wood you used for the cabinets?

To this day - I still love my cabinets too. The painted uppers are paint-grade maple & the lowers are select rift-sawn white oak (I get lots of rave reviews from those that see them first hand). We had a quality craftsmen, and that was key…but the wood & paint & stain has held up really well. With white uppers & wood lowers - I find I rarely have to clean them. Just spot clean when messes happen...dust on occasion but they’ve held up very well. So has my faucet

in case any skeptics have wondered. Powder-coat mgfr black paint finish & not an ounce of hard water stains (makes all the difference).

Any way ..here are some pics. Good luck on your project!

Thank you so much! So happy you are still enjoying them! I just got through reading this huge long thread, appreciate all the time you took to answer everyone's questions! Mine included!

thomaspartyof6 thank you for the beautiful pictures. Did you stain your lowers or just use a water-based top coat. If you stained, would you share the color or mix?

@tavi9876 - If you scroll through all of the older comments (need to hit link to load them) - you’ll find what thomasoartyof6 used exactly on the cabinets (actually posted the sherwin williams formula from the can). The stain has some white paint added to it. All the details have been provided in the comments.

As I was reading through all these suggestions on white oak cabinets and keeping the true color, without turning golden, I am posting what I used and how they turned out. Hopefully this will help someone.

I used Minwax Professional in this formula below and then a coat of Masters Armor in flat.

Super appreciative of this thread. I used the Renner brand after coming across the suggestion in this group. I also tried Rubiocoat, but was not crazy about the whitewashed finished.

Love the kitchen! you did a great job! do you mind sharing what floors you used?

Thank you! It’s genova oak by coretec

Scared to stain my beautiful new kitchen. I love the color it is now! Stain professional tried some of his combinations on on the back of a drawer. Not sure.

Find a cabinet finisher, not a painter - they are not the same thing.

Jessica Lorraine Would love to see pictures1

Brad Cerf, Would love a finished picture. PLEASE!

Tis picture is taken early morning no sun. My original Raw wood is on the hood.

Back of drawer. Right is clear coat. Middle is 50% clear and 50% White wash BM. left end picture is 75% Clear and 25% white wash. Im having one more sample made with 75% White wash and 25% Clear.

@lculpepper68 - ypur kitchen looks beautiful! Would you mind adding some more photos + photos of your table area? What colors paint did you use on feature wall + rest of walls + white cabinets?

dani_m08 - thank you! Here is the hood and pantry door of the kitchen that I just finished building. There is no glass in the pantry door yet but it will be reeded glass. The feature wall that is in my dining area is painted SW Iron Ore. The remaining white cabinets were already painted when I purchased the house.

What I have noticed in this delightful topic of staining your Oak cabinets is number 1. Pictures cannot really show the true color of your Oak stained Cabinets and 2. Everyone has a different idea of their perfect Oak color!

What’s wood name and paint name? So gorgeous!

@lculpepper68 - (can’t tag you for some reason) - your kitchen looks beautiful! I really like your hood and your pantry door - I think reeded glass is a good choice! I was actually going to ask if the accent walls was SW Iron Ore! It’s a great paint color.

@Mia Smyth - (I can’t tag you either - so annoying) - would you mind sharing exactly what you did to achieve your results? I remember that you had a few different samples - and maybe was going to try one more mix? Your result does look a lot like the cabinets in the inspiration kitchen that was posted originally by the OP - looks REALLY good! I also do not want yellow or orange tones - I am getting rid of 90s honey red oak!

What are you using for your countertops/backsplash? I really like the marble in the OP’s inspiration photo - although it may be porcelain. I’ve seen some really beautiful porcelain countertops (including one that looks a lot like the countertops/backsplash in the OP’s photo) - but so many people have had issues with fabrication + chipping (not sure if that has changed - it’s been awhile since I’ve researched them).

It’s funny - this post has been going on for a long time - I’m not sure that the OP ever came back to discuss any of the options - or to share a photo of his finished cabinets.

I would be extremely upset if a contractor tried to “trick” me by substituting red oak for white oak (”trick” is being nice - it’s actually fraud). White oak is more expensive than red oak - especially these days since it’s become SO POPULAR!

Red oak can be pretty - I’ve seen some red oak cabinets offered by Dura Supreme that looked really nice - just not the stain color that I’ve been imagining for the past FOUR YEARS (my kitchen renovation was supposed to be finished three years ago - but was delayed due to contractor issues + health stuff).

Surprisingly, I still want the same exact look - unfortunately, it seems like 80% of people now want it also. Instead of having a more unique looking kitchen - it’s going to look like I jumped on the two toned white paint + white oak cabinet bandwagon 😞

So far not done! 8' Ceiling

Your cabinets look amazing so far!
You are correct…my dining wall is SW Iron Ore. Here is a pic of the pantry door with the reeded glass. I like how it came out. On to the next project!