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Building a Home Design Dilemma Kitchens

Alder kitchen cabinet alternatives?

3 years ago

Hello, we really love the look of alder kitchen cabinets but aren't in love with how soft they are. Any recommendations for alternatives? We were wanting a light to medium brown stain. We are going for a lodge/mountain house feel without crossing over into the pine realm if that makes sense? More Lodge in Vail vs cabin in the woods. any recommendations would be appreciated. Thanks

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Comments (11)

Sherry Brighton
3 years ago
Douglas fir
olychick
3 years ago
Fir is also pretty soft. What about birch?
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Thank you all for your feed back! Like I said, I'm newer to the industry and all of your comments are extremely helpful and pertain not only to this design, but future ones as well I'm sure. I got some replicas of his cabinet fronts off craigslist and am staining one black, paininting one a dark navy, one a light grey and one a charcoal grey so that he can make an educated decision. To brighten the space up I'm keeping the countertops and backsplash light and got samples in quartz, marble and a few with some warmer tones as well as some pulls so that I can pair it all together for him. Thanks again everybody!
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kathylawyer
3 years ago
Maple comes in a few different types white, or red, which may give you the look you are wanting.
herbflavor
3 years ago
hickory w medium stain will even out the tones and still allow some of the interesting nature to show.
Sherry Brighton
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
I am using red birch in my reno. I was going to suggest that too, but Douglas fir looks so nice in a medium stain. I like the red birch in natural and it doesn't take darker stains well.

Hickory is nice, I just find it too busy for my personal tastes.
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
3 years ago
Your idea books for kitchens are all over the map so maybe narrow those down to begin . The definiton of your style really makes no sense to me. If you love alsder do alder honestly how much banging into cabinets really happens.I run a catering biz from my home 5 cooks often working I have high gloss white cabinets and not one ding in 13 yrs, so get what you love.
salex
3 years ago
Douglas-fir is lovely (that's what my cabs are) but it is at least as soft as alder. Hickory would be a much harder alternative.
darbuka
3 years ago
Mine are birch, with a medium stain.
Fori
3 years ago
Knotty (or do they call it "character"?) cherry with lots of sapwood can be rustic. Not sure how available it is though...
K H
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Rustic cherry is what they call it and it is pretty available.
K H
3 years ago
Quarter sawn oak is also pretty rustic IMO

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