Yes, there are some cabinetry manufacturers that are just order takers. My manufacturer would have called me right away and warned me if they could not obtain and acceptable match, they would never put their name on something like that.

You don’t do frameless, do you? Because the cabinet sides are not meant to be exposed. They must be covered with applied door panels. If the designer had opened the spec book, they could have read that. It is not like designing in framed cabinets. The manufacturer does not know which sides will be covered by doors and which will not when they receive the order. They produce the designed order.

Designers who are used to designing in framed cabinets often make this mistake. Frameless is such a small market share that it’s difficult to find a designer who understands both and can design well in both. The designer who created that doesn’t understand frameless designing.

Customer service of any company is more than willing to walk anyone through the different options available and to go over the consequences of those options. But if the designer doesn’t ask, they are not psychic.

We do frameless all the time, it's the most popular system here. For something like this my manufacture would have ordered veneered one side for the exposed cabinet sides and veneered both sides for the door and drawer fronts, all from the same mill. Everything would have been book matched, cut and finished in house. They have very tight internal tolerances for grain and staining. Something like what the OP received would have never been shipped.

You’re dealing with a different level of custom if it involves that. Double the price the OP paid. Omega Full Access is actually a medium priced semi custom line. It is not full custom.

The point being, that the designer must actually know how to design in the chosen line. This one did not.

The remedy might be as Kristen suggests and have a faux bois artist decorative paint the sides. But that will not hold up over time with a photoreactive wood that will lighten.

At this point, I would demand a site visit with the Omega cabinet rep. She will know the line much better than the designer. And she may be able to offer a solution.

But the shop owner had best be prepared to remove those countertops and redesign it properly. Then buy you new countertops. It’s their fault. And it’s a major fail.

I don't think the frameless finished ends are the issue, but rather the fact that the doors were outsourced and the coordination of the two was not considered. This kitchen is all frameless, but the Walnut is a veneer and the ends of the cabinets are just finished. The white acrylic were third-party doors, so the end panels on these were integrated. I think the designer figured, incorrectly, that the Walnut veneer would match the outsourced doors. She should have known better.

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What's to the right of the large end panel? Can just that cabinet be moved to the right to allow for a panel to be applied?

“She should have known better.”

Especially when it is in black and white in the spec book. Designers who don’t open their spec book, or call customer service, or another more experienced designer, annoy the peacheezus out of me. If you don’t know, don’t fake it. Ask.

I think the actual doors also showed up darker than the sample the OP approved. Her doors definitely look darker than "natural walnut". She may want to have an Omega rep confirm that she received the correct doors.

If you can move the refrigerator .75" to the right, that would be enough for a panel. Start with your designer. If the doors are much darker than the sample she showed you, SHE should have an issue with Omega and should be working on your behalf to correct it.

It’s like the military. You can not skip the chain of command. You have to go through the shopnowner first. If they refuse to cooperate and set up the appointment, that is when you call the company directly.

The issue with walnut being darker is the age of the samples. Not that an unstained wood has a different color variation. That is to be expected in natural wood. The pesky stuff grows on different trees after all.

Just like cherry darkens, walnut lightens over time. It is photoreactive. Kinda like Transitions lenses, but in reverse, and permanent. The color of the wood at Day 1 is not the color of the wood at Day 365. Or Day 2497. Cherry has a pretty finite amount that it darkens. Walnut continues to lighten pretty much over its whole life.

Your cabinets will lighten up to the showroom sample in less than a year most likely, unless the showroom sample is 5 years old. It should have a date stamp on it to be able to judge. All photoreactive door samples should. And all Omega samples do.

Statement from Omega Cabinetry website. I would ask them to live up to it.

"...We've continued to grow through craftsmen and women — true artisans in their trade, creating beautiful rooms of furniture-quality cabinetry. We start with raw lumber, in boardfoot format in our rough mill, and end our journey in beautiful homes across the United States and Canada."

The bad design and poor communication of the designer is unrelated to the cabinet company that the project was designed in. That designer could have messed up in a zillion different lines, and it would still not be at the feet of the cabinet company.

The manufacturer will be more than willing to assist the designer in finding a solution. But the designer is going to pay that tuition.

The tall doors will be multiple panels. They will follow the tall pantry division of doors. The island will depend on size. No maker creates doors bigger than 24” as a single door. So if the island is 36” you would need 2 18” doors. Or if it is a 48” island, 2 24” doors. Etc. All of this should be paid by the dealer as a N.C. item to you.

Needs the overhead floor plan, with the total room measurements. Unlabeled elevations without context only get you so far. If you could label what each elevation is, that would help too. Because the one with a DW ending the run is really wrong in a couple of contexts. How wrong, you can’t know without the floor plan.

OK, hopefully this gives that information. I think this is all she provided us.

Also, I was wondering when you mention something having for example 2 24" doors, does it actually look like two doors stacked, or is it seamless looking? I cant seem to find an example on the internet. Also, with this tarin line would everything still be horizontal or would the large panels need to run vertical?

On another note, besides the doors being SO dark, I was also surprised to find NO variations in the wood color at all for being natural walnut. Every example I pull seems to have some sort of natural variants like the pic below, or even the side panels that are currently installed in my kitchen. The doors delivered just seem unnaturally dark and very consistent in color for natural walnut. Even when it lightens Im not sure Id see the beautiful natural variation.

OK experts, I have received an update and would value your feedback so much since you are more experienced.

Email from designer..

Omega has offered to only replace the panels to match the doors provided with this project.

They are adamant that the doors provided will lighten up over time and conceded that if they replaced the doors that they would be no different than what they sent this time around as the higher the quality of door the darker the wood is...However they have offered to cover the cost of new doors via a separate vendor if I can find one to do new doors, When they gave me this option I called my door company to see what he can do. He is going to provide two samples for your review but wanted you to understand the following:

Veneer doors are the only options to bookmatch doors...but he will try and source a lessor grade veneer to gain you the sap wood characters.

He will also offer a real wood walnut sample door, but says there is no way he can bookmatch them because the doors will need to be set up individually.

So, the good news is we have options!

Does anyone have a vendor to suggest?

Would you suggest the veneer doors or real wood?

How would we get the panels to match if we went with a new vendor since the counter top was already installed?

I don't find the cabinets objectionable at all. I find them a nice grade of select rather than common walnut, that will only get prettier over the years. A lesser grade will have more blond sapwood, and less dark heartwood. They are correct in that the darker woods are the premium choice. Here is the color difference in natural walnut after 3 years. The replacement door is very similar to the coloration that you have, but is a lesser grade, with more sapwood.

Veneer is the only option for bookmatching. But that is thousands of dollars more than you paid. It's a huge upgrade. It is NOT what you ordered, or should have expected. And it is not possible with their production process. Once they get the huge quote for that, they are likely to not upgrade you to that. I wouldn't trust a local guy to be able to do that well either. Not unless they had a giant shop, and were very expensive.

A door as a cover panel looks exactly like the door that you operate on the front of the cabinet. If you want, they can do all drawer slabs, so that it looks like a drawer from the side as well as the front. I think that is the best solution for the island, and for the refrigerator panel.

following

Doors??? There really isn't anything wrong with the doors. They're fine. Keep them and enjoy them. It is the striped cabinet sides out of the lesser grade wood that are the issue. That's the trickier issue, and what we've been discussing all along, about cover panels for the sides. To make them match the doors.

I promise to look at the diagrams tomorrow afternoon. But I just got home, haven't eaten, and have early jobsite stuff first thing.

I'm really confused that you want those doors replaced too. They have great graining, and will fade to the color of the sample in no time.

In complete agreement that the doors are fine, it's the veneer on the panels that is way too much, match the doors. I did a little checking on walnut veneers and from what I can deduce is that two distinctly different walnut veneers were used on your kitchen. The panels were done with a Rustic Plank no Knot Sap grade type of veneer and the doors were done with a Flat Cut type of veneer. Here is a link that shows the many Walnut veneer types.

www.oakwoodveneer.com/wood-veneer/walnut.html

Just another consideration, I really think if you are going to replace the fridge panels you should strongly consider a vertical grain orientation versus horizontal.

Hi. I am an Omega dealer and am confused by this thread! The Tarin doorstyle is outsourced. However, it is finished at the Omega factory. It is an MDF door. I'm not sure why your designer is telling you it can't match because it is outsourced. That makes no sense. The tall end panel is a veneered plywood as are the cabinet sides. The veneers should be the same walnut veneer. I doubt they use different veneers for different applications. Something is off. Replacing the panels is reasonable.

I agree that the doors look too dark for natural walnut.

As an aside, I always over emphasize the variability of walnut! However, the veneers are more consistent than the natural wood. The spec book states that walnut veneers have minimal sap content compared to 20% in the solid doors. I wish my natural walnut slab door was here to look at the color, but someone has it. Did you see a sample of the walnut slab before you ordered?

Your designer's rep needs to come see this kitchen. Don't let the designer tell you no. That is the rep's job.

The Vail door is a solid wood door. However, it has battens on the back to hold the wood planks comprising the door together. They are clunky and probably not what you are looking for.

While I drove home, I was continuing to think about that tall end panel next to the refrigerator. It’s way off. That should have vertical graining and the veneer should match the veneer used on the doors. It looks nothing like it should. Your dealer offering to find you new doors from a different vendor makes no sense at all. Omega finishes the Tarin doors in its very own factory!

Yes, the veneer on the fridge panel and finished cabinet gables are a different veneer cut than the doors. Someone made a mistake either in the initial order or when the factory ordered the raw doors.

It’s not possible to order different veneers for different pieces. The whole order is labeled with one finish. The doors come to Omega unfinished. All veneers should match whether they are applied to the doors, the cabinet sides, or the plywood tall end panel. I have sold 100s of Omega kitchens. I’ve never had an issue where I would have suspected different cuts of veneers. I guess there’s a first time for everything!

I can’t tell what that green line is in the center of the floor plan, but there don’t seem to be that many exposed sides. Is it possible one of the original photos was an unfinished side? The designer should have Omega replace the fridge panel and add door ends to any exposed ends. They have the capability to do this. I have never, ever found Omega to be unreasonable when I’ve asked for replacements. They are very easy to work with. When I read these threads bashing Omega, it almost always a designer issue. Omega doesn’t say no when it comes to rectifying their mistakes. Do they make mistakes? Yes they do!

Also, the fact that Omega is offering to either replace the panels or subsidize the cost of replacing the doors seems to indicate that the error was made by them. If the dealer had made the mistake then Omega would be off the hook and the dealer would have to eat the cost.

Tarin has horizontal grain. Torin has vertical grain. The horizontal grain pattern of the panel makes sense within the context of the horizontal door grain pattern. It’s just too wild, with too much sap wood. compared to the higher grade doors with more heartwood.

I do not think the doors you received are natural walnut. It does lighten over time, but doesn”t go from dark to light like that. When I was looking for my sample yesterday, I came across a “Pika” sample. Your doors look like that. Ask your dealer to order a new sample door to compare. Omega could have made a mistake. If they did, they will rectify it.

See! Pika! Email me your address at: lisa@kitchens-by-design.net and I will send you a sample door.

Just out of interest, how is the door style, cabinet line, wood species and finish described in your contract with the dealer. Do the dealer samples that match these specifications align with what you received? Are the matching dealer samples the same as the ones you were looking at?

Wow! that's about as vague as can be, was it written on the back of a cocktail napkin? Just kidding. Ok it states "Tarring Door...Natural Walnut". You posted above a door from the dealer that is stickered on the bottom edge as being "Tarin Natural Walnut. Get that sample, the dealer and the Omega rep and hold it up to your cabinets and ask them if they consider the supplied cabinetry to be an acceptable match to the specified one.

Yes, the natural walnut doors will lighten substantially. As I showed you above.

Take one of the doors and place it in full outdoor sunshine for a couple of sunny days. Then compare. You will see a dramatic lightening just in that time, comparable to several months of time in a new kitchen.

Also look at Rockybird’s walnut kitchen after only 3 years. She gets a lot more light, but that is what walnut does. It lightens.

Hmm thats not a bad idea. Its going to be triple digits this weekend!! My kitchen has no windows and is pretty dark so it would take a while otherwise.

That kitchen is beautiful!! What a cool house!

Just wanted to say I had an excellent experience with Omega for a totally different issue. I was fair with my ask and they were very responsive.

My original paperwork from the design/build firm included all the details and, before spending that much money, I reviewed every line many times over against the visual plan. Having the detail helped again when I had to submit a claim several years later.

Looking at the overall design, there is not enough overall flex room to apply cover panels to all of the exposed sides without the designer ordering custom sized cabinets for replacements for most. The exception would be the island and the fridge panel. The space to the right of the fridge can be made 3/4“ smaller in order to attach cover panels.

I am writing to clarify some of my previous comments which were not entirely accurate and Houzz does not allow me to edit/correct my posts. I put an order through today with a walnut-veneered slab door. This thread got me thinking and in order to give my customer accurate information, I called to speak with Omega customer service.

The original poster's door is outsourced. It arrives at the Omega factory already veneered but unfinished. Other parts of this kitchen ( veneered plywood cabinet sides and panels) come from a different supplier. To add to the issue, there are solid walnut pieces such as crown. Therefore, in any one walnut kitchen, you have the potential of three different finish aesthetics. Everything is stained at the Omega factory, but the veneers on the doors (minimal sap wood) differ from the veneers on the plywood (up to 20% sap wood), which will differ still from solid wood. This can result in slight color differences.

I have sold several walnut slab kitchens without issues. The kitchen in this original post obviously has some! Knowing Omega like I do, I know anything that needs replacement will be taken care of.

This is what you get when you do not go totally custom. We match our grains here.

@User - great picture to see the fading! Are your cabinets omega? What was your original stain color? We are considering walnut for some of our omega cabinets but after seeing your picture, we might go with a darker stain than we originally thought we would. Any input would be greatly appreciated!