I actually got a natural cherry (no stain) Shaker door from Schuler/Medallion that have been in for about a month and a half. They are already starting to mellow and darken and I am glad that I did not go with either a stain or a glaze.

Mike

I am getting ready to order my Medallion Gold cherry cabinets and at I first picked wheat stain with burnished glaze, now that I have had the sample of the glazed piece for several months it has darkened a lot, so I decided not to go that direction. I am also saving almost $2,000 by not using a glaze and I figure if I really want that look I can do it myself another time.

w/Lady - I've had my wheat stained Medallion cabinets for about a yr. now. Make sure you check your cabinets carefully. They use a LOT of sapwood which shows up very pronounced with the wheat stain. I sent back several doors and quite a few of the doors they resent also had a lot of sapwood. The rest of the cabinets have aged beautifully, making the sapwood really noticable.

I have the Calistoga door. It has lovely raised and recessed doors that I think a glaze would have really highlighted more. I am seriously thinking of adding a glaze to hide some of the sapwood and highlight the moldings...

I agree with auntiebubba, my wheat stained cherry Medallion cabs that were installed two weeks ago also have excessive sapwood and the cabinet guy is refusing to replace more than a couple doors. Auntiebubba, did you need to contact Medallion directly to have your doors replaced? All that sapwood really detracts from the rest of the hardwood cherry cabinets. Do you need to remove the stain before glazing to hide or darken the sapwood?

Yikes! I have to be honest I didnt really know about sapwood and heartwood, but now I do because I did a google search and learned more. Is its appearance staying really light on your wheat stained cabinets and thats why you would rather have had the glazing? Pictures of your cabinets would be great to see. Are all of you overall happy with Medallions product? Im also curious to know if you went with the designer line or designer gold. These decisions are making me crazy!

I'm very happy with the product I received. I got Schuler "Grand Traditions" through Lowes, which is the equivalent product to the Medallion Gold product. The finish is quite good. But then I am fortunate and have very little sapwood to deal with.

Glazing does a lot to bring out the details of your cabinets. However, if you picked a plainer door, then paying the upcharge for the glaze doesn't make sense (which is why we skipped it). For your beaded doors, I think glaze would really do a great job of showing off the grooves.

I second what alku said - we got Kraftmaid Ginger Glaze on Cherry and love it - we were told it was 10% more.

pcjs- love your finish!

flmke - My cabinets would be fabulous if it weren't for the darn sapwood!!! I got the Medallion Designer, not the Designer Gold - but that shouldn't make a difference. Schuler was cheaper, but I wanted to go with an independant KD and Lowes didn't have the Calistoga door...

faicpa - my KD replaced some of the doors. She told Medallion that they were 'damaged', otherwise she said Medallion would not replace them. I did not push the issue with the rest of the doors as, in all fairness, she did warn me about the problems she had with the natural finishes -'wheat' is pretty darn close to natural. I don't know the answer to your glazing question. I am going to use the 'damaged' doors to experiment on.

w/lady - Designer, but I was told the finish would be the same as Gold. Kompy sells Medallion, maybe she could give you an honest answer. Yes, the sapwood (heartwood, not sure which is which) has stayed light and yes, that is why I would like to have the glaze. The glaze would also highlight the details of the door - which I really like.

Not one person who has been in the kitchen has commented on the sapwood I may be the only one who really notices, but it SCREAMS out at me everytime I enter the room. Otherwise, my cabinet order was perfect, nothing was damaged or missing. The KD forgot to specify a finished end, but other than that everything was great.

The sapwood doesn't show up well in most pictures, but this picture shows it on the pantry and fridge cabinets. (the area above the mw will have etched glass doors).

auntiebubba-your kitchen looks so much like mine, including the sapwood!! A Medallion rep is coming with my KD to see the kitchen next week. We had 58 doors/drawers/finished ends with a lot of sapwood in about a third of them. We want the worst six doors replaced, but the KD has balked about replacing more than two/three. How many doors did you send back to Medallion? Were you happy with the replacements?

Cherry will darken with age; and the lighter the finish, the more noticeable this is. Often as time goes on, the various grains should start to blend in a bit more. Glazing also darkens whatever finish you choose.

We chose Schuler's Pecan stain. It is darker than wheat, and gives an even color to the cherry. A glaze would have highlighted the surfaces of the raised panels doors as well as the crown moldings, etc., but we did not want the cabinets to be any darker, so we decided against it. IMHO if I wanted a glazed finish, especially if I wanted it to be on the light side, I might be inclined to choose a wood other than cherry.

The unglazed finish we did end up with is gorgeous, looks like fine furniture, and we get many compliments on it.

svwillow1- and others-- can you post a picture of your cabinet? finish
others- can you post a picture of the sapwood problem so that I can see up close?

Pictures aren't too good. I've been planning to post some on the FKB, but until I can figure out how to at least turn on my new digital camera :-> that will have to wait. Anyway, here are a few that I did post in Kitchen section of the GW Home Galleries:

http://photos.gardenweb.com/home/galleries/2007/06/stove_wall.html

http://photos.gardenweb.com/home/galleries/2007/06/sink_wall.html

http://photos.gardenweb.com/home/galleries/2007/11/schuler_cherry_pecan.html

whenzuc - I posted pics on your other thread "alder vs. cherry" - the ones of the present kitchen (under construction) are cherry in a stain called Colonial w/ a "Sable" glaze (essentially a dark brown glaze) - the glaze really brought out all the details and we love it.

faicpa - I think you and I must have received flmike's share of the sapwood! I requested the worse 5 doors to be replaced. Of the five replacements, one was free from noticeable sapwood, two had acceptable levels of sapwood and two were worse or the same as the five I was originally replacing. Had I not been 9mos. pregnant at the time I probably would have put up a fight, but I was very tired at this point and didn't need the stress!

Sadly, even if you get replacements, they aren't guaranteed to be sapwood free. Hopefully you will have better luck with your replacements.

does sapwood only show if the wood is not clear or premium?

I ordered my Medallion Designer Gold, Vencie style, wheat stained cherry cabinets this past week! Our kitchen demo began 11/9/07. Even though there will be some down time between electrical work, insulation, install and such including the holidays I am ok with that since the cabs wont be in probably until mid January. I really had to have clarity on the cabs before I ordered and before we took the $ plunge so I laged a bit on this side of planning. My GC works really well with the KD and I am hoping all is going to fit together fine. Oh BTW even though I am completly demoed they left me with all my appliances, so I think I have the best GC ever! I will keep you all posted. This thread has helped me so much on product knowledge and more and I am so happy for that.