Maple is fairly hard to stain. Most folks use a clear pre-stain treatment that closes the deeper pores of the wood so that it doesn't absorb the colored stain in that blotchy way. You could also try a gel stain. Or try using waterbased aniline dies instead of stain.

What color are you aiming to achieve?

We had maple trim installed when we did a window replacement a while back and did a lot of experimentation with stains and finishes of various types. The verdict: forget about staining. Both pigmented and dye stains looked bad. Our final solution was a coat of amber shellac and four coats of wipe-on oil/varnish (General Arm-R-Seal Urethane Topcoat). The Arm-R-Seal does not build up into a heavy coat like brush-on urethane but still provides protection from water and wear. We sanded the bare wood to 220 grit and then used 400 grit after the shellac and first two coats of urethane. After a couple of years the wood has turned a wonderful medium tone that was what we were trying to get with a stain.

Really!! I was going to go very dark, almost dark grey for my son. I guess I will just paint them then. Would love to see any pictues of any color...

Peytonroad - DH and I just refinished our existing maple cabinets. He did the sanding and I did the staining. There is some variation in the color, but I embrace it as part of the beauty of natural wood. Plus, they look better than they did before! (I think they look better in person than they do in my photos.)

From what I understand, the outcome depends on the hardness or softness of the maple. The softer the maple, the blotchier the outcome will be. Maybe I lucked out with a harder maple.

Google "staining maple" and youÂll get a bunch of hits. This link might be helpful. They even show an example of a gray cabinet! Staining and Blending Difficult Woods -- Alder, Birch, Maple, Poplar, and...

Painting may be the way to go, though. Sure would be a lot easier!

HTH!

I just got my cabinets installed and they are maple stained black and they are beautiful. The cabinet maker said he would not do it again because of the work it took mind you.....I also stained my patio doors black and it took alot of sanding, but again, look great.

There are two options that I use for maple. The first and easiest is a water based stain. It is really a dye and does a pretty good job. The second is more of a pro approach and it involves toning, which is adding ngr stains to the top coat building the color slowly. If you want to peek at my web site, the bottom pictures on the home page is a maple bedroom set that has three different colors of the toning process done on it. Don't take this as an advertisement, I am swamped with work at the moment.
tripple W . k-d-cabinets.com
It can be done. If you want products and recipies for the finish, you can email me through the site and I'll hook you up. The only trouble with going dark on maple is that you will pretty much hide all most of the grain.

Kenneth

Thank you to all the above. I love the golden brown of the pictures above gardenb!