Why are you replacing the cabinets? Some background would be helpful.

Please post pictures.

Are you working with a kitchen designer?

Pictures would be so helpful. What is the style of your home? Or what 'look' are you going for? Traditional? Farmhouse? Modern? Country? Consider Poplar, Hickory, quartersawn Oak. Maple maybe...but only if you have a medium to darker stain. Light maple is kinda dated. Quarternsawn oak is so different than regular cut out....its so pretty! You can't go wrong with it.

We worked with a Decorilla designer whom we really liked, however she was more about the finishes than the cabinetry. We are working with a kitchen designer through the cabinet company - Schroll - although haven't determined if we are going with those cabinets yet. The designer recommended painted cabinets along the back wall and a hickory stained island. My husband didn't like the hickory - he thought the grain would "fight" too much with the oak flooring. He also isn't a fan of white cabinetry. As for why we want new cabinets, these are nearly 30 yrs old and are very small by today's standards. The cabinets never provided a lot of storage because they aren't very deep. Our windows are trimmed in a stained pine that complements the oak flooring. We have alot of that wood trim and are not considering painting it, as it is everywhere in the house.

We've also looked at Starmark cabinetry. I had someone recommend their "Value" line but I'm undecided. What a want is high quality cabinetry that will be a showpiece for the room since the kitchen is visible. We are keeping the basic footprint but redoing the island to be one level and much larger, moving it out into the great room a little more.

We also are getting new solar shade window coverings in a mushroom shade, as we have a significant amount of light and the rooms - kitchen and great room - get very warm in the afternoon. We want a timeless look that will work with our transitional verging on contemporary home. The kitchen has vaulted ceilings. We are also replacing the microwave above the stove with a range hood and venting to the exterior of the house.

We are considering a lighter stain on quartersawn white oak. Although I like the more bleached look in white oak, it seems out of place with the rest of our home, It seems like the trend now is toward darker stains?

What does overconstrained mean in this context?

Have you considered painting your existing, remaking the island, and just doing more of a cosmetic redo rather than a gut? You will save tens of thousands of dollars.

Overconstrained means that we have something we dislike about every choice. We’ve considered painting the cabinets but these are quite old and the lack of soaceis an ongoing issue. We also need the venting, and the uooer cabinets are all one piece so we will have to cut those anyway to put in a hood vent.

I highly recommend you read this post. I think it will answer a lot of questions! https://mariakillam.com/the-new-look-of-wood-kitchens-timeless-or-trendy/

I’d suggest working with a different kitchen design professional. You need unbiased “design only” advice uncoupled from someone trying to sell you things.

We are a design and build firm, and that is one of those things that we really struggle with. We all have built in biases. Designing with what we have available and have experience with is sometimes easier than exploring other options that may prove a better value or functional choice for the client. This is one reason we shifted to a doing a design deposit. It allows a client to take the design work, and approach different build contractors, and make their own alterations and substitutions. Most do not, but they have that option.

I would agree with your husband on not wanting Alder - we had a beautiful kitchen in Alder (we didn’t know any better and our designer didn’t give us any guidance at the time) and it very quickly got dinged and dented… and we had no kiddos in the house!

It does sound funny to replace oak with oak but we did just that no regrets! our old cabinets were a little different style but the same honey oak color as yours and had 25 years of wear. We just love our new quartersawn oak cabinets in a more nuetral stain. In our previous house we put in an even toned hickory that’s even more durable than oak.

We have wood floors through our house except for the wet areas which we tiled so no idea if your house could get too ”woody”

Amy Glasscock, thank you so much for that article. i’m planning a new kitchen in our last home. I love the grain on cherry but I just haven’t been able to pull the trigger on the cherry but couldn’t quite explain why. Maria Killam stated the exact reason so succinctly. I am so very grateful for that article!

@Holly- Kay Maria's blog is amazing and has taught me so, so much. She's a lifesaver when you want a current space that will also be timeless.

@Denise DeVore wonderful! Glad it was helpful! Check out her blog for similar posts on kitchen design. She won't steer you wrong :-)