I love the look of oak. When I bought my refacing supplies 2 years ago, I went with oak. Of course it took me 2 years to get started on the project, and by then my distributor had all kinds of woods, but I'm still happy with oak. I like the graining, and it has a kind of "Craftsman" look that I like. I have the plain flat-panel doors so they're kind of Craftsman-looking and I think that makes them more "classic" instead of "dated." Or maybe I'm just delusional. I do think, however, that those oak doors with the arched panels look a bit dated. But today's dated is tomorrow's retro. Don't you think that in a few years all those maple and cherry cabinets with the dark granite counters will look dated?

I have bashed my previous kitchens' oak cabinets but only because they were the awful pickled kind (not put in by us!). In our first kitchen, I liked everything but the finish on our cabs. The layout was nice, the size was good and even the seafoam green laminate did not bother me. I love the size and amount of the cabs. Dh liked the house instantly because of the cathedral ceilings, skylights, open layout, etc... I liked everything but the kitchen cabs and knew they were in too good of shape to justify taking them out. So, I dealt with them for 7 years and would probably still be dealing with them now 6 years later. In our current house, the pickled oak cabs were small, the surface was wearing poorly, the layout was wrong and there were no pullouts or anything functional about them. When the pickled finish starts to wear on oak, it is a sorry sight to see. Other materials develop patina and character, while pickled oak looks diseased with age. I have seen nice kitchens done with oak and may even consider one someday if we were to move (God forbid, after all the effort put in here, lol). I have also seen ones done poorly and done as the cliche of "builder's oak". I also feel that way about some of the new materials that all builders in our area are using (and I do mean "all"). Those kitchens look alike and all are brown wood with beige tumbled travertine, St Cecilia granite or similar, Tuscan type accents and a yellow/gold wall paint. In a few years, people around here will be bashing the heck out of those. Remember the laminate cabs with the oak strip on the bottom? They went from fabulous to hideous pretty quickly in popular opinion from the 80s to the 90s. See anyone using them lately? Oak just needs some time until it becomes retro enough to be cool. Most things come back in time. Just be patient, and you will be ahead of the curve again ;)

Well, when this thread popped up again I am now wondering what the OP did? It's been almost 2 years! In the meanwhile, I also discovered how much I love the raw wood look. LOVE it! Today I spent the day putting neutral, Timbermate grain filler on some red oak cabinets. It grays them and makes them closer to the white oak doors I've put on other things, that I absolutely love so much. It certainly takes away the black grain mentioned earlier. I love the gray/tan/cream look of white oak! (OH! Flat, Exterior, Acrylic, DARK paint base goes on with an invisible finish and doesn't change the color at ALL YEAH!) Are you ready for this? Yet again, in the 12 years since I've been rebuilding, I find myself admitting I might. Just might. Paint some cherry cabinets I refinished. Might. The thing is, some of the doors are gorgeous and as-of-yet unfinished. It never occurred to me to ask others what to do. I have such (crazy) eclectic taste nothing I do really appeals to many. Mostly those who are into reclaimed/reused stuff like my home. It always pleasantly surprised me when someone compliments my stuff. Because ***I*** love it. I wonder if she did a two-tone? Oak on top and white on the bottom to please her DH? Or if he just put in his two cents and forgot about it!?

I strongly dislike painted wood. When comparing wood to painted wood - wood is always timeless - paint will always go in and out of style. We are building a new house and my brother in law just finished building his new house. He has grey kitchen cabinetry and an espresso island. He will be doing the white subway tiles as well. He has a ceiling full of canned lights that look like a space ship is about to land on you. Congrats - he has a standard modern American kitchen. I don't want a standard American modern kitchen that EVERYONE else has. I want old world. I want the warmth of old world. My brother in law's kitchen looks like a modern, industrial cold kitchen. In our kitchen, we will have simple colonial maple cabinets stained pecan (dark brown). They are beautiful and the grain makes the cabinets have depth and character (not like a flat paint). Our island will be a lighter stained maple to add brightness to the kitchen. There will only be 2 upper cabinets left open for glass or for a mesh (I haven't decided yet). There will be some open shelving. The lighting is all dimmable and and the lit areas are on separate circuits so I can affect the mood. I have pendants over the island and a pendant over the kitchen sink. There will be 2 sconces as well. None of the lighting can be sourced from a big box store - and they are beautiful. It's been frustrating trying to gather all of the materials needed for my kitchen because almost all of the stores carry only the standard American kitchen stuff - and many of the designers/salespeople want to push everyone into buying into the "modern American kitchen style" that everyone else has. I puke on the modern American kitchen!