You have a couple of things at play here, one is that you are re-finishing, not going over virgin wood. Unless you can get down through ALL the finish to bare wood, then you will have some of the existing finish still on the piece. If you do have existing finish, then you will need to get a paint/stain combo to overcome that existing stain. Experimentation works best, buy two or three small containers and put them on a sample piece to see what looks best.

Cherry wood by nature is reddish, you have to overcome that to go to a true brown which again means an opaque stain. Now, if by chance you were able to get to the base layer and remove all the prior stain and are down to bare wood, then (by far) the prettiest cherry wood finish is simply clear orange shellac mixed from flakes, cut to a 50/50 mix. Apply that and put the piece in an area where the sun can be on it for several hours a day, and rotate the piece every four months or so. In about 2 years you will the most beautiful finish you have ever seen, one that cannot be duplicated out of a can.

Duane Collie