They were not, and still are not, qualified to do the job. You're better off ordering new doors and drawers from Scherrs, or Conestoga, or someone else. They are not going to improve it, or make it better. There is basic skill lacking. Basic skill. Much less the advanced skill that what you want requires. They just do not have it.

Verbo, that's what I was worried someone would say. It wouldn't just be the doors and drawers, though, as then all the wood would have to be replaced. We don't want to pay the additional cost for someone else's over-confidence.

It‘s 60K+ job from a better custom cabinet maker. What did your cabinet guy charge you?

Wood finishing is its own trade. Time for these guys to acknowledge defeat.

Would a wood refinisher be able to tone the wood so that it's all relatively similar in color?

It is difficult to comment on your options because we don't know the veneer used. It can certainly be fixed without new doors. A good finisher can likely fix what is there, whether or not you can find a good finisher is different matter.

In a worst case scenario the cabinets can be re-veneered, rift sawn white oak veneer isn't that expensive.

bry911, I mentioned in my OP that the material is reconstituted rift-cut white veneer. It's not rift sawn. The product is from Peterman Lumber and were ordered in 4'x8' sheets with horizontal grain on both sides. Does that help? https://petermanlumber.com/lumber/veneers/reconstituted/

Thanks, bry911, for replying. Yeah, the Peterman website doesn't give lots of info so I will call them tomorrow to confirm thickness. A mitred corner of one of the pantry legs was sanded before installation of the kitchen and the substrate was already showing when the cabinets arrived, so I won't be surprised to learn it's only 1mm thick. I grilled the finishing guy the last time he was here and he assured me he would hand remove the finish using at least a 180 grit to make sure he doesn't go through the veneer.

When you mentioned coating do you mean the stain or the top-coat? I'd already confirmed they use oil based products because they don't want to raise the grain on the veneer. The finishing guy does his own custom mixing.

You are prompting me to wonder if he plans to mix three different colors to make sure the colors match. Or at least bled better.

I was watching some YouTube videos and one person mentioned leaving the wood to dry for at least 24 hours after spraying to determine how the color will look. What's your experience?

I won't be surprised to learn it's only 1mm thick.

That would actually be great as standard thickness is .5 mm

bry911, called Peterman Lumber and the veneer is .6mm.

Not much room for (more) error.

@Sylva Leduc - One of the problems you often run into in situations like yours, is that cabinetmakers are generally not woodworkers. They are production shops and production is a completely different set of skills than woodworking.

You can sand a long time on veneer that is .6mm thick without ever going through it if you are using the proper tools. If they are going to use an orbital sander, which given the amount of sanding they should, they need to use a good finish sander. Oddly enough, the grit of the sandpaper is not as important as people believe, it is the stroke of the sander that is actually important. For thin veneers I want a sander with a 2mm stroke.

A good finish sander is actually relatively cheap. A Festool ETS 125 is $215.00 and much better than the yellow and black stuff that too many use. Here is a great video where you can see the difference.

So if they take their time using the right tools they can get the finish off and get you to a good stainable surface. However, they are going to have to take their time and time is precious for a production shop. It is also anyone's guess whether or not this ability is in their wheelhouse and whether or not they are going to attempt to educate themselves on it before they attempt it.

Having said that, it looks like they did a decent job on your cabinets. A couple of doors need minor adjustments, but it is a great looking kitchen and they are working on getting this right. Getting cabinets to match when they are fabricated at different times is not a basic skill, it is probably the most difficult job for a cabinetmaker.

bry911, I watched that same video last night. I was amazed that his third experiment was successful and gave me hope.

At the end of last year when I questioned the finishing guy, he said he is going to hand-sand to remove the top-coat. And I doubt he/they will try to educate themselves. So I am going to put something in writing and send it to the owner to sign-off that if the finisher sands through the veneer, is not able to do an adequate job of color blending, or causes any other irreparable damage that all the doors be replaced with matching wood. Perhaps that will make him pay attention.

They did do a good job for the most part. The biggest errors have resulted from the owner trying to take shortcuts and rush the installers. When the fridge panels had to be repaired (but were replaced instead), the installer told the owner that he needed to replace the large pop-up door above the fridge at the same time. But the owner didn't want to do that. That door is such a different color than the other two batches of wood. If it had been replaced then it wouldn't stand out visually. And then the finishing guy wouldn't have applied the whitewash trying to mask the differences. But, 20/20 hindsight and all that.

Here are a couple of other pics to show the whole design. The doors above the cooktop have the Blum Aventos Lift Up System with Servo-Drive. And the niche in the island has floating quartz that is supported with hidden, inset support brackets. I did a lot of research to find out if that was a possibility and then found a custom stone installation company that had done something similar before. They were more than willing to take on that aspect of the project.

While not trying to belabor the issue, here is what I see in natural light. Took these pics today at 10:45am. Much easier to see that the cabinet door above the fridge is the major culprit. Going to send these pics to the owner of the custom cabinet company to help him recognize that if they can resolve this problem first then they will have much luck in the final outcome.

Many thanks to those who responded, especially @bry911