thank you guys..actually i realized that the granite we liked is not Bianco Antico but a very similar granite called Delicatus. I love it! But no matter how many searches I do online, I dont see it paired with antique brown cabinets. I have seen it with almost every other stained cabinet there is but not the stain we are choosing. DH does not want to go darker or lighter on the cabinet stain and thinks Delicatus will go just fine. Our designer is trying to push a more golden granite on us and thinks that I should stick to all warm tones...although she is the expert I somehow feel that Delicatus just might work. It has so many colors in it that I think it will compliment the brown cabinets pretty nicely. But then is the question of the flooring..Dark brown cabinets, Delicatus granite, and nutmeg stained oak floors scraped lightly. Do you think there are too many different colors going on there?

We have naturally finished 3/4 ply as well. The glass fronted cabs have white painted interiors/shelves to match the exterior. The place where we got the cabs did actually recommend melamine in terms of better water resistance and cheaper price point, but I just don't like the feel of it either! You should be able to pay to upgrade if you prefer - I felt a little silly paying extra for this but am happy I did. It wasn't a very large difference.

I personally don't have either in my home but I work for a cabinet/ interior finishing company and have experience in this area. Because we are a small rural company with a reputation build primarily on word of mouth we refuse to do certain things in our shop that we know won't hold up. The last thing we want is to run into a client in 3 years at the grocery store and have them be upset that their cabinetry or counters don't hold up, even if we warned them of the problems with the product. One of these things that we refuse to do is install thermafoil doors. When the painted finish started becoming popular we were only using solid wood doors. Most durable, best quality and ultimately thats what we want to give our clients. However as we have begun to do more and more of them we decided to switch to MDF one piece doors for a painted finish. The MDF doors do not have the cracking problem with the painted finish and will stay looking "perfect" a bit longer than your wood doors. Yes they are not as resistant to water damage but the only other option is inevitable cracking at the joints. Something also to be aware of is that your painted finish will chip over time, some areas more quickly than others. You will see many posts on here of people asking what should be done about the chips in their painted cabinetry. Unfortunately because the paint does not penetrate the surface of the wood like a stain, dings and scratches show up much more quickly. I understand loving a painted finish, I do to, if you decide to go with it I suggest using a MDF one piece door. Make sure it is a one piece door, as a 5 piece MDF door will still expand and contract like a 5 piece maple door.

If you are keeping the cabinets (yellow tones) then the white maple (for me) is out. The blueish tinge will clash with the cabinets (just like the tiles are doing right now). I know you want to replace 'like with like' (white carpet and tiles replaced with white wood) but it won't work very well with the yellow maple cabinets. When 'updating' I like to see some new colours in place of old white. The pale maple should do the trick without clashing with anything yellow in the home. Just remember: maple has a history of DARKENING. Yep. If it starts out PALE yellow it will eventually turn to the mid-level yellow you see in your kitchen. Which means if you start with a WHITE maple you will turn it to a muddy-yellow/burnt white colour. Maple is PHOTOSENSITIVE = the colour gets DARKER when exposed to UV light (sunlight or lamp light...doesn't matter). Before you choose the colour you want you really want to find out if the manufacturer spent money on a UV blocking agent (expensive) to ensure the maple does NOT turn yellow. If in doubt, buy a box of EACH colour. Pull out TWO planks from each box and leave it exposed to natural sunlight for a few months. Leave the rest of the planks in the boxes (closed and kept in a dark place). Once you have had the planks exposed for 2-3 months (longer is better but that might not work for you), go ahead and compare the exposed planks to the non-exposed planks. You should see the exposed will be a snick darker. That's when you know the planks have NOT been treated.