Have you considered Barker's quarter sawn oak? In my mind the grain of quarter sawn is kind of the midpoint between the grain of your oak and maple samples.

out of the 3 i would do the maple, but with a light colored stain., i would not do the oak b/c i don't like all that grain. but i do like QS oak as suggested above, much prettier. natural maple, over time, turns yellow. my DD's have that in their BR and it definitely turned colors and not in a good way. maple does not take dark stain well, that 's why i suggested a light stain.

From these I would choose the left one. But I second looking at quarter sawn oak. If I was doing an oak kitchen I would do that. With black hardware and soapstone.

Since you say you prefer oak, my vote would the oak shaker frame. But, what is your counter like? what is the style of the rest of your house? Your trim? Your floors? Will there be an island? The whole thing is important perhaps for others to chime in. Good luck.

If you like oak, then do the left one. It is modernly simple, but with wood you like, which might be more forward thinking than current trend of maple/lighter wood.

I just got rid of orange oak cabinets so my vote would be the maple. But definitely not the middle one. I like the simple shaker of the two on the outside, but prefer maple over oak.

I like the maple best.

For only an additional $5 per door over the upcharge for red oak or maple, I'd do quartersawn white oak in a heartbeat. But I love QS oak (it's what I put in my kitchen).

If you're considering a medium to dark stain and you plan to DIY the
finish, stick with oak. Maple doesn't take a stain consistently (pros
can do it, challenging for DIYers).

Whatever you choose, I suggest you go with a simple door profile (I haven't seen raised panel doors in a new or newly remodeled home in my area in years). Is your home traditional or leans towards traditional style? If so, then the simple Shaker style may be too plain. I like the San Antonio and the Westminster door styles because they have just a little extra detail. If you go with red oak, a simple door style is a better fit for its pronounced grain.

PS I like oak, too. It's gotten a bad rap because of the poor quality, golden-oak-aged-to-orange cabs of the '80s and '90s. A neighbor down the street has red oak in an inset panel door with a non-orange-y finish. Her home was built in the mid '90s but the cabs do not look dated (unlike what I had in my pre-remodel kitchen).

Oak, regular or quartersawn. I liked how oak looks with a dark stain, regardless of how it is cut. I chose a qs oak island and butlers pantry but would have done regular oak if I had to choose something else. Why no cherry option?

Sorry, I am not a fan of oak cabinetry. I like the simplicity of the maple.

I would choose the Red Oak/Shaker Frame. Maple is just so light, with no richness that you get from the Red Oak...and I really despise how natural maple ages.

Just those three-I'd choose #1. I also prefer the San Antonio door style that Lisa_a referenced in QS oak.

oak - I like it. of those 3 - the middle one.

Thanks everyone. I will look into the QS oak and different door styles. I love QS too, but I guess I just always figured it was too expensive for our budget. At this point I'm not sure I'm going with Barker - I have a meeting with a local cabinet maker next week and I also received an estimate from HD for their Kraftmaid line.

This is new construction so I don't have counters, trim or flooring picked yet. Flooring will most likely be a engineered or solid red oak and counters will be a solid surface. I discussed a little about it here.

We seal and insulate the house tomorrow with drywall shortly afterwards, so I guess I need to make some decisions soon. Thanks again and if I had to pick today, I would pick the red oak shaker. But a family member has me thinking of painted uppers with light wood grain lowers..so I guess I'm nothing but confused at this point.

I love wood with lots of grain so I would go with the oak. I would also go with the raised panel. Not only that I would go with an exposed frame, 1/2" overlay.

Maple yellows with age and oak can take stain well from light to dark.

Shaker is becoming such a cookie cutter look in my opinion because "everyone is doing it. I don't dislike it, it looks very nice in some homes, but I am tired of shaker,granite,stainless,full overlay/frameless everywhere. It wouldn't surprise me if raised panel natural wood became the next "thing". LOL

Good advice from Funky. To get you started on your ideabooks....

red oak, inset panel, Shaker

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If you can afford QS...oh so beautiful. My favorite.

What did you decide to go with? We're so excited to see pictures of the finished project!

What other furniture do you have. That could help tip the selection. I had maple cabinets in our last house with cherry trim and a natural cherry table in the dining room. The buffet was a combination cherry maple and I really liked the look. I loved the natural maple, but found that it looked best with a darker color on the walls.

If you like lighter colored walls, I also like the oak shaker style in a medium stain. Very warm. I think the oak is a very durable wood and may be easier to maintain than the maple if it scratches. I don't find oak orange looking at all, at least none that I've seen.