Hi, There are a couple of obstacles with a countertop that don't apply with furniture or house woodwork generally. You want it to be more waterproof, and you want waterlox. And on top of that it's maple. Dye doesn't care if it's dyeing paint, skin, shellac, wood or I think, even waterlox. I would make a sample up as follows: dilute waterlox 50/50 with thinner, and apply a coat to some maple; I think sanding to 220 will suffice (you'll need an extra piece or could you use the underside?) When the waterlox is fully dry (give it a week) mix your dye in alcohol at full strength (how you get your color: look at the sample sheet for transtint and solar-lux and choose. Provincial is like golden oak + black) and wipe on with a saturated soft cotton cloth. It will stain the wood evenly. If there's too much color, you can wipe off (within a few seconds) with a clean cloth moist with alcohol, which will lighten it some, but never get it all out. Provincial is a somewhat light color, so the maple really needs to be sealed with something to prevent splotching. If I were working on regular furniture or woodwork, I'd seal it with thinned shellac, but you need water-resistance, which is shellac's downfall, and you can't waterlox over shellac, either, so this is the best I could come up with. Once the dye is to your liking, you can put on three undiluted coats of waterlox. Just be sure to do a sample, and if it fails let me know. Casey

I think it is good that you put the time into stripping it down as was already mentioned, it will be a better surface to paint. It has nice simple lines and great that you have matching pieces. Why not ask your Dad what color he would like to see on the furniture and get some classy hardware for it. I have my Mom & Dad's first bedroom set that they ever bought back in the 40's in my guest bedroom. It is not top of the line wood, but has a wonderful ash colored stain on it with grained veneers. I am so proud to have that set and my Mom uses it when she comes to stay with me. The power of the furniture is not necessarily that it is top of the line but that it is something that has stood the test of time in your family and you can help it move on in life. Congratulations on doing a great job so far. :-)

owls4me: We absolutely LOVE the cumaru. It's my DH's favorite part of the new house - and I had to convince him to go with this wood :) Our flooring installer got the flooring for us. It is supposed to be from a sustainable forest (I hope so, but unless I went to look at the forest in brazil, I wouldn't trust it!). So I don't know the 'brand' of cumaru. We just put coats of semi-gloss poly on it feeling like the coloring was dark enough and didn't want to cover all of the gorgeous variation that we fell in love with. The cumaru is holding up very well (we've only been in the house since April, so no long term info). It has withstood tons of banging and falling objects (thank you very much to my toddlers and my clumsy self!) without a single nick or dent - this stuff is HARD! Let me give my GC a call to see if I can find out more info. If you are near the chicagoland area, the installers were incredible and would recommend them in a heart beat! atct86: hope you are finding inspiration - you really can't go wrong with natural materials!

My cooktop and hood are not centered on the wall. They do line up with the window on the other side (which is basically cented on that wall, but the walls are not even) and the center of the island and light fixture over the island. My wall is 33" DO cabinet -- 48" bake center (48" base and 45" upper)--42" hood -- 24" micro drawer base with 21" upper above. About 24" of the 33" oven cabinet is setoff against a 24" deep wall of cabiunets perpendicular to it. There is an open doorway there, so no corner cabinets. I think it all looks balanced because of the relationship between the walls, window, etc. In a different room, it might not work as well.