Hi, When I finished my cabinets I used a pore-filler so the stain would not go into the pores and add so much emphasis. The brand was called "Pore-o-pac". It takes a lot of effort to apply, but it keeps the grain tamed. Pore filler minimizes the stain's penetration in general, not just the pores, so you'll need a few more coats of stain to get it dark. Casey

I absolutely love, love, love Tulip Leaves! If I don't use it in the living room, it will be used in our family room which also has a brick fireplace and wood mantle. Windows and trim are stained, not painted, and the brick has lots of warm tones including more than a few that are "brown." A couple of my friends were really surprised that I would think to paint my living room green. And these aren't women who make conservative color choices in their own homes. It made me wonder if I was choosing colors that were too taste specific. We're not planning on selling anytime soon, but the Sand or Terracotta Sand and Adobe are more conservative I guess and would probably have a broader appeal.

Forget the advice from "some guy at the store." Wood conditioners are meant to prevent splotching, but they do a poor job at that. Stains are of two basic types - Pigments : finely ground powders - Dyes : chemicals that are dissolved Think of third grade science where you put dirt in a jar of water and shook it and sugar in a jar of water and shook it. What was the difference the next day? The dirt mostly settled out to the bottom. The sugar remained in solution. Pigments work like the dirt and dye like the sugar. The big contrast comes about because the earlywood (large pores) get a lot of pigment in them and the latewood (hard and smooth), does not absorb so much because it's wiped off. Dyes, on the other hand will absorb more evenly and reduce the contrast (at least color wise). So, what you want is a dye. Problem is, Minwax stains are sometimes dyes, sometimes pigments, and often both. They don't tell you. I suggest looking up Bob Flexner's "Understanding Wood Finishing" at your local library, where he shows photos of oak dyed on one half and pigmented on the other. Then get some scrap of oak and test out your intended products and processes on the scrap before starting on your newel post. It's easier to not make a mistake than it is to recover from one. You can get dyes at most woodworking stores such as Rockler and Woodcraft, or via mail order. You can control the concentration by how much dye you add to solvent (distilled water in most cases). So you might want to mix up a series of concentrations and apply each to see the resulting color. But to see the true color, you will have to apply the finish coats as finishes intensify the stain colors.

nosoccermom - I love the look that why I chose the two together. I knew I always wanted a backsplash like that. I want the backsplash to be the main attraction lol. And the photos above are similar to my cabinet style with similar colors. When I look on the cabinet brand website they have those same cabinets with similar backsplash. By saying "it dont bother me" just means it really doesnt cause I didnt even notice it until it was pointed out - I love the backsplash styles I chose and also love the cabinets. I guess I wont really see the big picture until everything is done. And when I look around at kitchens with raised panels most are traditional backsplashes and I really didnt want a traditional backsplash. I guess I will hold off ordering my backsplash and once my cabinets are installed I'll go from there (which I probably was going to do this anyway lol) - Thank you so much for your help. This post was edited by jennifer11203 on Wed, Jun 12, 13 at 15:59