new cupboards -- stained, glazed or painted wiht a glaze?

[ohMom]

we are preppping to remodel our kitchen

we have found a fantastic Amish cabinet maker and I have chosen the 'shaker' style for a simple cupboard door. now the big question -- what finish???!!!???

i originally thought i'd pick a white glazed finish, i love white cabinets but didn't want a stark look. last saturday i woke up with the thought "how can i possibly purchase new beautiful wood cabinets and then paint them??"

anyone recently order new cabinets care to share their decision making process??? TIA!

 

[BunsenH]

I had a similar dilemma regarding wainscotting. A consultant suggested a painted finish, but I favored stained oak. I went with the stain. You can paint over stain but can't go back the other way.

Hand made cabintes should show off their craftmanship and quality wood.

 

[Rafiki Rafiki Rafiki]

What type of wood are you planning to use? Hardwood cabinets can be horribly expensive, which usually leaves you with some sort of pine, which doesn't necessarily stain well.

Cabinet makers use a lot of MDF (medium density fiberboard) to make cabinets these days. The material is heavy like hardwood and takes paint perfectly. I dropped a cabinet door on my foot made from MDF last week, incidently, and I think I cracked a bone on the top of my foot. That's how heavy it is!

Here is a kitchen with a creamy colored cabinet with glaze. I think it was pretty good.

http://finishedkitchens.blogspot.com/2005/07/ohiokellys-kitchen.html

If you look at www.finishedkitchens.blogspot.com you'll get a ton of great ideas.

 

[clh2]

"how can i possibly purchase new beautiful wood cabinets and then paint them??"

IMHO, this question almost answers itself.

We just bought an Amish bedroom set, solid oak, with a very, very light stain. The wood grain is beautiful! I love it. But I am very partial to oak wood.

I would definitely stain the wood on the cabinets.

 

[ohMom]

rafiki -- thanks for the links we are leaning towards maple, i'm not big on the highly noticable grain look and though i have some oak furniture i'm looking to blend in some other wood tones. we are fortunate to have found a small Amish cabine maker whose quote was actually the same as Home Depot for Kraftmaid cabinets, but the Amish quote included installation and a hardware allowance. We still have to add-on some bells and whistles within the cabinets so all in all it should still be a bit cheap than semi-custom. imagine that

clh2 -- i think you're right, thank you for pointing out what i'm having trouble just being ok with.

bunsen - good point that they can always be painted down the road

we are off to Home Depot tonight to look at flooring and i'm going to grab some stain charts.

 

[LAinSEA]

We are also going with a "Shaker" or mission style cabinet door - very plain. We're now trying to decide between cherry or alder. If we go with the cherry, it would be with no stain and just an oiled finish. If we go with the alder, it will have a very light stain to match the bookcases we had made for us a few years ago.

I just can't see painting or even "pickling" a new wood cabinet door. If you want the look of paint, you don't need to go with solid hardwood cabinets to get the desired look.

-Laurie