Here are all of them from left to right; golden oak, cherry, golden pecan, ipswitch pine, natural stain oak, clear coat natural oak.

I can say that the lighter ones definitely look better with the counter top sample.

deedles, what isn't clear to me is are all of these samples (i.e., your choices) different species of wood, or are they all white oak with different stains?

In your first picture, everything looks REALLY good together, but I actually prefer the color of the wood that is shadowed by the counter sample above it. Just that slightly darker shade.

In the photo of all the samples: I would never go with golden oak. Been there, done that. The cherry looks a little pink. The four on the right are somewhat similar, but I like them all.

I like a richer oak stain like the golden. Are you having it rift cut? I think you can do golden if rift cut--it has a fresher look than the 80s oak.

What is the countertop sample--quartz? Could you turn it on its side so we could get a better look? I'm not 100% sure about it. Everything else looks like it's made for each other, but the brick color looks a little dull to me. Just bringing it up in case anyone else feels that way. Could just be me--I notice I often hate what others drool over on GW.

Deedles, does white oak turn yellow like the 80s oak? Maybe you'd want a browner stain if that's the case.

This post was edited by may_flowers on Wed, Sep 18, 13 at 19:38

I think because of the lighting and glare on second photo it's too hard to tell what will work well with your other choices.
All by itself I really like the middle swatch, I believe it's pecan?
In your composite photo above the cab color plays well with all your other choices. I really like your tiles.
Totally OT, but can someone tell me what TKO means.
Thanks, Marji

I like the golden oak, too, especially with the sink! Trust your instincts, though...since you're the one seeing these IRL. Also, check them out in daylight and under artificial light.

All your choices are beautiful together...so I believe you'll choose the right wood, too :)

Just be sure that you want a lotta of oak - your floor looks like your cabinet samples of oak.

Oh, sorry for the confusion. Yes, they are all of white oak. No, it can't be rift cut, it's white oak that my DH sawed 2 decades ago and it was plank cut. This is set up in my current kitchen, this isn't the kitchen that we're remodeling... the floor will be a speckled green/natural cork which looks good with all the cabinets colors, so I left it out of the pics.

And I'm open to counter suggestions but so little has worked well with this dang sink!

These are all samples on our wood from the same board, which is surprising as I see such a difference in the grain on several of them.

Here are a couple more pics:

natural stain with flash

This post was edited by deedles on Wed, Sep 18, 13 at 22:02

And with the golden oak:

Now that it's mentioned, the counter top isn't working with the sink as well as I thought it was.

two quick grabs from Cambria pasted on top of the current counter color on the right in the back. The darker one looks like a better direction?

I was fortunate to have the same cabinet maker do three kitchen remodels with me. He was a furniture maker and mine was his first kitchen. I showed him a picture of a Quaker Maid cabinets and he duplicated them for me.
In my last house, my second remodel was white oak. I shopped for cabinets until I saw the right stain I liked on the white oak and ordered quarts of it from the cabinet company. It was a very expensive venture, but I got exactly the color I envisioned.
I don't recall that my white oak cabinets changed colors at all (unlike my current cherry). He should be able to tell you how they will age. Don't let the names of the stains scare you. It seems he is using Minwax stains by the names of the colors. From my experience with Minwax stains, their names are apt to represent what they will look like on pine which is quite porous.
On my monitor, the golden oak looks lovely, but so does the natural:)

Is your first quartz sample Cambria Somerset? I just had that installed in my new kitchen two weeks ago, with very lightly stained oak. DH and I fell in love with the counter sample, and chose the stain and floor color to go with it. We wanted to go as light as possible, to provide contrast between cabs and counters. The Cambria sample didn't look nearly as good with our old golden oak cabinets as it does with the light color we chose.

In your case, the sink is obviously the starting point, and countertop next. I think you need to look at sink/counter choices in as many lights as possible, though that's tricky without the actual lighting. If it's right, you'll know it!

Annkh,
Your cabinets are gorgeous! Your kitchen is gorgeous!
What color/brand stain did you use?

Deedles, I could see Annkh's color working beautifully in your choices.

annkh: Yes, please do tell about your stain. Do you have a picture or link to your kitchen images? I can't see any in this thread, if you posted them. Annalynn's comment makes me think you did post images that I just cannot see for some reason.

Are your cabinets red or white oak?

I think it's that Somerset color... grabbed the image off their website.

There may be time between the lighting install and the cabinet install for me to see the stain in the real lighting of the new kitchen. There'd sure be time for counter tops. I may need to get some different counter top samples....

I really like the sink and BS, so I think they should be focus. I would add minimal stain on wood, so as not to highlight the grain. So, my vote for 2 lightest.

Deedles, here's a link to my reveal thread.

Our stain isn't a specific color - my cabinet guy has stain custom mixed by SW. I brought in a drawer from my bedroom set that was close to the color I wanted (looked great with the counter sample), and they matched it. I liked the first sample board I got; if I had wanted it lighter or darker, they would have kept mixing samples until I got just what I wanted.

Honestly, I never asked if the cabs were red oak or white - I just asked for oak, and Dan the Cabinet Man took it from there. I'm sure if I had specified one or the other I would have gotten it. Chances are, since I didn't specify, that it's red.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ann's reveal

Oh my goodness, Ann... I just looked at your thread AND commented, too. Couldn't see it on my other computer last night. It's wonderful and I really like your storage.

It's definitely time to take your samples to the actual kitchen location. I really like all your choices in the first photo, including that stain and that counter, but this is the point where how they interact with the light in the actual kitchen will matter. I think any of the three stains on the right will be good, but best to check them on site. I'm always reminded of a green granite that looked so good at the granite yard, but the sample in our kitchen looked like botched army drab.

I'm going to have to take back my "I don't much care for subways" because I really like the ones you've chosen!

suzannes!: yup, you are right. Solatube going in next few weeks, which will give me enough time to check out the stains under the real lighting AND get my new counter top samples to (hopefully) be able to pick something from.

Thanks on the subways... they are so little and cute!

Deedles, remember, one of the benefits of going with a cabinet maker is that you can get the exact color you want. I think Annkh's idea of having the stain match a drawer that she liked is great!
By the way, you have taught me to love green!

I'm not loving the counter choice. Back in the beginning, didn't your inspiration photo have a white counter? Look how nice the pop of white behind your tile looks with your selections.

Cambria shows Yorkshire with green and red. Maybe that would pull the caramel color from the tile mural. I have similar quartz on natural cherry cabinets. It doesn't disappear against light or natural wood.

I think I'll take Suzannes! advice and wait til the kitchen lighting is in place and I have all my stuff there to choose the counter top. IRL is so different that looking at pictures, as I'm finding out.

Besides Suzannes! great advice about light, I'd thought I toss in the usual reminder to get the cabinet-counter-BS color combo right, because it is the largest expanse in your kitchen (even with your planned feature wall). I think your stove and sink work OK with any of the cabinet stains, so you really need to focus on looking at just the BS/counter/stain combos in isolation, in the actual kitchen light, and then bring in the other elements.

gooster: excellent advice that I'll be taking, thank you. The insulation is up and the drywall is next... hopefully the lighting will be up in the next couple weeks and then I can really narrow down the BS/cabinet/counter to the best choice.