Have him look at General Finishes "Java" stain in gel or "Espresso" in water-based.

Have him mix two stains.
Ebony and English Chestnut.

Fantastic, thanks so much. He seems bent on using an oil based stain. I have been learning about mixing stains to achieve the right color- will look into it some more.

Thanks again, I am in learning overload now that I have found this site!

I just did my quarersawn red oak with the minwax jacobean stain. I must say that it is not the look I wanted. (Lile your request for choco brown). that said, if you notice the grains in the red oak are prominent and really take the stain differently than the surrounding part of the wood. Make sure you understand that you will have "striped" floors with the rings being darker. I did not understand this and fortunately, the QS makes the rings less noticeable. Also, unless the floor sample area is prepared for a stain, it will look differently than the sanded floor finished stain. JUst a heads up!

I've used "Special Walnut" for several small staining projects in the past. Might be worth a sample on your oak. I like it because it ends up brown instead of orangey.

We have used one layer of java followed by a layer of ebony to get a brown-black color (like bitter-sweet choco*late) on white oak--but we have only done small strips.

I used 2 parts ebony, 1 part red mahogany on my white oak floors. It resulted in a what I consider to be a deep warm brown.

I have used minwax oil based stains on oak and have found that the special or dark walnuts or the Jacobean are just not dark enough. You have to have at least some ebony to get the rich dark brown. On its own Ebony is way too black but we mixed it 50/50 with red mahogany and it was a perefct rich espresso.
Ask your cabinet guy what brand he prefers and get some scrap pieces of oak to test some colours. Go to the store and get a selection (for example one ebony, one red oak or red mahogany and one walnut). Then create a few 1:1 and/or 1:2 mixes and apply each one to small sections of the oak with a cloth. This will gIve you a very good idea of which stain combination you prefer. Note the final colour your cabinet guy does won't be exactly the same because they'll add a few clear coats on top - but in my experience that just makes the colour even better.

I also found that mixing ebony was the only way to tone down the look of the grain. The grain is still present but it's int the same tones as the rest of the wood which brings it out in a really nice way.

I totally agree with Sara_m on the ebony mixed in.
Ebony has a green base to the black stain. And can look
almost army green black but mixing with Mahogany or
English Chestnut or Walnut can some how balance the red
tones and bring out the darker chocolate tones.

Be prepared that oak has grains that get darker with
stains. Some people pop the wood by getting it wet first.
But this may only be something done on floors you might
need to see what your cab guy wants. I prefer not to
pop the grain. Everyone is different.

Get yourself some miniwax cans and a little bit of
wood to play around until you find the color you love.
Show it to your cabinet guy and togehter you will
make your dream kitchens. It will look gorgeous!!
~boxer

Just for reference, this is my kitchen in English Chestnut stained red oak. It's a good base color if you are looking for warm chocolate. Mix it with walnut and it should be perfect.

Thanks everyone for
1. Getting me the 411
2. Validating that this is not as easy as it looks, you can't just buy the can off the shelf.

Going to get some samples and play around with it this weekend.

This is not a very good picture as IRL the color is a bit darker. DH refinished our oak cabinets using a stain color-provincial. I agree that the best thing to do is get samples and play around until you find a combination that you really love!! Have fun and let us know the winning stain.

You might want to look at this earlier thread (below) about the use of gel stains in getting a rich dark color. We used General Finish gel stains on some cherry woodwork in our house and were very satisfied. They're easy to apply and, IMHO, yield a better looking finish than the Minwax products. Don't know if one of their colors straight out of the can will work for you, but it's easy enough to experiment and combine colors if that's what you need to do to get the right shade. You can buy General Finish gel stains on line or in Rockler woodworking stores.

Here is a link that might be useful: Previous thread on Gel Stains vs. Polyshades

Thanks nclakehouse. My cabinet guy made me promise not to bring him any minwax products. I am going to check with him on the gel stains, he only specified that it should be oil based...but, with all this feedback we might just have to renegotiate. The link was filled with good info now that I am considering the gel :)

Varathane has nice little packets of stain for a few cents each so you could try that brand - makes it super cheap to experiment. I think the also have some gel stains too.

Thanks for all of the help!
This has been a project- mostly due to the cabinet makers list of demands. Luckily I have seen his work and it's worth it.

After 20 phone calls to different wood shops and a trip around the woodworking forum I found one shop in San Diego that will custom color match oil based stains.

Dunn Edwards on Miramar will color match a sample of wood or try to eye match it from a photograph. Mark was the lucky stain guy working today. He could not have been nicer and took 40 minutes to work with me to get it just right.

We still have to try it out on the cabinet wood and with the finishes, but just knowing there is someone who can do the mixing for me so the whole lot is the same. Well, that's worth $32 a gallon and a trip out to Miramar.

I have also learned that Benjamin Moore makes a stain in the correct shade, but had everyone tell me not to use it. And, Shermin Williams has a line of stains that they tint, but not custom. They are all pretty much the same stains you would find from zar.

The Zar Moorish Teak goes on one color (grey color like wethered teak furniture) but then a few days later it looks brown...Can't explain that one, be sure to try before buying.

Thanks again, I hope this thread can help someone else!

Although this is an older thread, I thought I'd share a solution I came up with for future DIYers who might be stumped. I spent many hours googling, looking for an answer, and I couldn't find one that worked. I am staining yellow pine stair treads that are a little beat up, oak rails and trim, and maple newel posts. I needed something super dark that didn't show much grain so all these woods would blend.

After several coats of stain (Minwax Espresso) it just wasn't happening. I had recently painted our brick fireplace a very dark brown (Behr in Dark Cavern) so I decided to try a paint wash over top of the stain. It worked like a charm! Using a slightly damp (and I mean slightly) rag I dipped it into some paint. Then I just wiped it on. Simple! It was pretty easy to wipe on without leaving streaks. (You only need a little.) You can do a second coat if you'd like it even darker. Even if it looks slightly streaky when wet, it will be very hard to see when dry. Then, just poly over it all. Make sure it has plenty of time to cure first, though.

Here is a photo showing the difference. The top two are oak. The left had been stained twice, the right only once. The bottom is the pine tread which was also stained twice. You can see the darker areas that I paint washed.

I'll post a final photo when we're all done. :)

And here is the paint color I used

Try this on oak samples--It may work for you: Apply three coats of sanding sealer sanding before and after each coat. Buy Home Depot samples packs $0.50 each in these colors and mix: 5 parts golden oak, 2 part walnut, 2 part burnt umber, and 1 part cordovan or other purple shade. The result may be the transparent rich chocolate you are looking for. The sander sealer will allow for a more even color spread and still highlight the deep grain. To darken the effect use less golden oak in your mixture. Be sure to finish your project with a transparent coat of varnish or other sealer. Good luck.

marknkari09 - I'm trying to replicate what you did on my oak without success. Are you sure the paint color was "Dark Cavern", you mentioned it was dark brown, but that Behr color is a gray (http://www.homedepot.com/catalog/productImages/1000/34/34750958-ccf5-445a-846e-56e99f0c38e0_1000.jpg)