If your natural maple is of very good quality, with beautiful colors and grains, it seems a shame to paint over it. Natural maple could look very nice with the oak floor.

It sounds as though you have two concerns, 1. The durability of your finish. 2. Aesthetics. A lacquer finish on a properly prepared surface will ware very well under the conditions found in a kitchen. So whether you choose white or a natural finish over maple, you can have the durability that you want when the right product is applied, with proper preparation. As far as the question of aesthetics, I leave that to the designers to figure out.

I would definitely do white. We did natural maple cabinets in our own home about 10 yrs ago, and although it looks great for a couple years, it really starts to darken to an orange/yellow color over time. I didn't care for the color it turned when it ages. We recently remodeled and changed to white cabinets with a dark cherry island. We love it!

I'm personally bored with white kitchens. However I am currently doing two kitchens for clients and they both wanted white.

It's just a classic look that never goes out of style. There are plenty of things you can do to make it more interesting.

kustombuilt, so under what circumstances would you recommend someone stain their natural maple cabinets ? Or, do you mean you would paint over natural maple cabinets, no matter what, even if the cabinets are brand new and the natural maple wood is beautiful ?

Honestly, the maple kitchens I have been building within the last few years we have been doing glazed finishes on. I usually do not recommend just staining maple, since the grain is so closed it usually gets blotchy. Staining and then Glazing sort of hides the blotching and gives you a more aged look. Clear coating was popular about 10 years ago around here, I just don't really like how it yellows.

What about the potential for the white paint to show wear, damage? For price reasons, we are using wellborn (premier line).

I've had a white kitchen for two years now. I gave everything a refresher coat of white paint this year and I'll probably do it again in two years from now. Providing you are able to degrease it on a regular basis, and you are as careful with your white cabs as you would be with any other cabinets, there shouldn't be any problem. I've had only one issue when my husband dripped egg yolk and didn't wipe it up. Egg yolk is like glue! Sand it down and paint over it.

The finish I use is not actually paint. It is laquer made by m.l. campbell that is tinted. I first put 1 coat of clawlock primer then follow up with one or two coats of tinted catalyzed laquer. This is, in my opinion the most durable painted finish out there. I'm not real familiar with well born products, but if you are doing it yourself and brushing it on,the most important step is getting the cabinets sanded well with a good coat of primer. After that is done,a couple coats of a cabinet grade paint should hold up fine if you take care of them. Would you have access to an airless sprayer or did you plan to brush it on?

For paint use advanced from Benjamin it's a great product for cabinets and its user friendly .

@ kustombuilt I also use M.L Campbell it's a great product I use there conversion varnish Krystal that stuff is tough hard as nails which do use ? Actually we have used it on bar tops

I am a huge fan of white kitchens and have one myself. However, light maple and natural cherry kitchens are close seconds in my aesthetic preferences, and it is simply a fact that stained or natural wood finish kitchens are more durable than painted ones. Can painted kitchens be quite durable? Yes. Will they still need some touch ups over time? Yes. So if you will be annoyed by the need for touch ups and durability is an important criteria, I'd go with the light maple, which will be beautiful.

Rockin, I use the Krystal for bar tops and things like that also. The stuff I use on a regular basis for clear finishes is the hi-bild precat from Sherwin. It holds up pretty well.

I have used sherwins lacquers it is pretty good .

Ya, it's more practical for everyday spraying. The M.L. Campbell is hard to beat for durability though!