Mayflowers - I dont know about the stain or the finish. So here is an update. I discovered from our designer that these are not custom made cabinets. They were made by Mid Continent Cabinets. Apparently this factory is not able to, or doesnt want to, pick out less knotty pieces of alder to remake the doors. We could ask them to remake x doors and drawers and we might get x drawers and doors that are worse, or better, or the same. This seems like very odd quality control to me, and a huge waste of everyone's time. Our designer spoke with someone at Mid Continent who said that alder is a poor man's cherry, and that we should be able to replace all the doors with cherry. She left us a sample and indeed it looks like it might work, But Mid Continent quoted us $2600 to remake all drawers and doors in cherry. Our designer said she would pay half "because she and I are both guilty of miscommunication during the initial cabinet design", even though I gave her the exact bill of materials that we had chosen a year ago with another company. As well as shown her pictures of the cabinets. Whatever. So my question to you guys - Ive heard that cherry darkens with time. Would you take the chance getting cherry drawers and doors on an alder frame? The colors match very well right now. Personally, I kind of want our designer to reimburse us some $$$ and use it to get custom doors and drawers from a builder who actually cares about quality and can hand pick the alder. And then she can wash her hands of this mess and we can take responsibility of the final product rather then being at the mercy of unhelpful companies like Mid Continent.

Hello Sabine, this is the wood I am building right now, Alder has a good natural look but is orange color, I do like your pick for staining alder, as walnut would have been my pick to. My cabinets are Alder with Walnut. Kitchen cabinets are distressed Alder and Walnut is natural. Poly Satin finish. Here is Alder in natural state with the same poly satin finish only. Your light walnut stain would be perfect!! Ken

That looks like finish that has been damaged, possibly by moisture sitting there at some point, or through abrasion from things being repeatedly slid across that surface, like canned goods. It's not structural and it's not "wood rot." You could: 1. Take a sander to it and refinish it. 2. Cover it with some innocuous contact paper. 3. Ignore it and forget about it. Personally, I'd go for number 3....

Direct buy is the total scamarino elephant in the room so, there’s that. Zero anything free with them, for anything. You pay for every single service or material that others might possibly do as complimentary. And they have to go through too many layers to deal with Omega, without any real actual kitchen designers involved. Just salespeople. That’s why tons of mistakes get made by them, and they get charged one of the highest dealer rates in the whole country, with zero freebie bonuses from the reps. The reps really hate dealing with them. They are always a problem and cost them money. Direct Buy is very far from a bargain in the short or long run. Find a different dealer for Omega Full Access. You'll pay less and get better service both. With far fewer errors.