Why a stain at all? IMO a nice wood best left natural or what was the point of choosing that wood.

We just finished our alder kitchen!

The finish name for this was "magnolia". It was a great match for some existing alder cabinets that had been stained 50% with Valspar Birch.

It is an orange finish, no doubt about it. We like that, but not everyone does.

Thank you! Our floors will be an almost natural white oak, so we want our cabinets to be darker.

I agree with patricia. If you are spending good money for wood, keep it natural. Choose a wood that is naturally the color you want and go with that.

It’s too late for that. 😜 The cabinets are already almost done. We want to go slightly darker than natural without bringing in any yellow or red tones.

If you need some contrast with your floor, the Sunset stain on Alder above looks the best - not too red and not too dark. But you always need to see stains in your home, with your floor and your lighting. Internet photos are not the final say.

What did you end up with? I’m carrying around this sample with me. Minwax classic grey on clear alder.

Early American. It hasn’t been stained yet. If it’s too light, we may add a Chocolate Glaze.

I spoke too soon. The cabinets were stained today and are much darker than anticipated. This is just one set.

Do you not like it? I love it… I think you’re seeing the starkness of the light walls, but to me it looks rich. I’ll be following along to see your floors. What color is the paint?

I’m hoping it grows on me. Our floors will be weathered white oak. The walls will be Benjamin Moore Simply White. We wanted a much lighter color. I’m worried this will be too dark compared to all of the lighter elements. The kitchen also turned out dark, and the island and hutch stained differently even though they’re supposed to be the same type of wood.

I agree that the hutches and the island look totally different stains? 😳