We're planning to remodel our kitchen and will be tearing out the white kitchen cabinets that were "on-site" built and are now falling apart. I like the look of white cabinets, but I don't like trying to keep them looking nice and clean. We have oak kitchen floors, stained a light golden honey color. When we first built the house 25 years ago, I thought I had to have white cabinets as a contrast to the wooden floors and that's why we originally went with painted cabinets. Now with the remodeling before us, I've been considering switching to stained, but am concerned about choosing a stain color that will complement the flooring. 'Seems most people are building with white cabinets these days and if they do have stained finishes, their floors are tiled. Am I making a mistake to consider stained cabinets with my oak floors? Any advice, thoughts, etc. are welcome. WIth only hubby and myself now living in the house, white cabinets might not be so hard to keep clean... except there are all of the visiting grandchildren who we dearly love! I'd also considered a compromise of mixing stained with painted cabinets. Ours is a large u-shaped kitchen with 2 islands. The only natural light comes from a large window over the kitchen sink.

sloyder, I wish I had a photo with me to show you, I'll post one tonight. Basically the wood was at one point sprayed with bleach and then a few days later with a peroxide mixture. It was just sprayed to completely coat but left to drip off. The spray and drip marks left permanent marks in the wood that won't sand out.

I would bring sample paint chips to where your slab is (paint chips or sample cabinet doors with your chosen paint on it). The lighting will most likely be different there than your home light, but it should give you a good idea of how the colors blend together. I would also try to get a sample of your slab and bring it home along with your sample paint chips/cabinet doors. I would not automatically paint your cabinets the color of your home doors and trim because unless you’ve matched up your slab to the color of your home trim, you could be making a huge mistake. It’s a lot easier to paint the trim in your kitchen to match up with your cabs and slab than to have to repaint your cabinets should you find that when the slab goes in there’s a terrible clash.

Make sure you use Kilz or similar product to seal the knots. if you don’t, they will bleed right thru. a white wash or opaque finish would also be nice. I am contemplating white washing beams in our 100+ cottage to space.