I've never used it on anything inside, but I have used a solid white stain on my cedar picket fence. It does cover the wood, but not like paint. It soaked in well, but did not form the type of hard surface like you get with paint, it stayed way more like what you get when you stain, only you can't see the grain through it. I'd have to give the fence a good look, while I know it covered the grain pattern, I'm not sure if it covered up the grain texture (a problem with painting wood with a promanent grain). If you want a hard, smooth finish, you would need to put a finish coat over it just like any other stain. Since it is stain, it is slowly fading, but there is no pealing or cracking like a painted surface would have when exposed to the elements. I have not tired to scrub or clean the fence. It also does nothing to protect from dings and such, like harder finish (paint, polyurathene, etc) would. I think it would work on cabinets, but you would need to apply a finish just like if you used any other stain, and then I doubt glaze would work. Not sure if you could try applying the glaze before the finish - it might soak in too much - sounds like a neat experiment though. Cathy

From Redroze's Finished Kitchens Blog (FKB) entry: Flooring: red oak hardwood. The stain is a custom mix of mainly Duraseal Ebony and some Minwax Red Mahogany (bizarre mix, I know!) Here is a link that might be useful: Redroze's Kitchen in the FKB

I ended up choosing Minwax Colonial Maple and I'm wondering if I should have gone with Golden Oak. I can't change it anymore, but Golden Oak seems more muted brownish(which I think is what I wanted?), whereas Colonial Maple seems orangish. Does anyone have a lighter wood(such as hickory or white oak) stained with Colonial Maple? I can't seem to find a photo of it to get an idea of what it will look like. I did a tiny sample on a hickory board, but it's not enough to really see what it will look like.

My custom cabinet maker gave me 4 finished pieces of wood. If I had not been satisfied with any of those colors, he would have made more, until he came up with exactly what I wanted. It seems that should be the process for any truly custom job.