My first guess is maple, too.

I believe they are birch.

This may help - Google birch vs maple then click on images.

Thank you everyone who helped. I think Olychick is right. I had maple (veneer) in my last house and when I looked at this I thought it looked like maple, but something was off. Couldn't decide if it was the difference between veneer and solid wood or a different species. Google and time frame of the build has me leaning toward birch.

Good to know before staining, as birch needs a gel stain for even staining.

Again, thank you all for the help.

Jennifer-

Whatever wood it is, one often gets uneven results with refinishing because the old finish has penetrated into some parts of the wood more than others, and it takes a lot of work to successfully remove all traces of this. With a gel stain, it should matter less or not at all because you can get good results with only light sanding as you're simply providing a good surface for the gel stain to adhere to.

kudzu9, that is helpful information. Most of the furniture I have restored has been teak, so no stain. The few things I have stained in the past were 25-30 years ago and I don't know if Gel Stain was even a thing back then - all that I knew about was regular penetrating stain.

Time for a new adventure - love learning new skills!

Be aware if you want all the grain to show, that gel stain, will actually look a bit more paint like. What I have seen and used, was more like a solid color stain, rather than the semi transparent oil types.

Looks like red birch. I have built-ins all over the house made of it. Stripped, sanded, and new clear coat makes the wood look quite well all things considered. No stain.

Jennifer-

I think gel stains were introduced in the 60s and early 70s, but they’ve gotten more popular in the last couple of decades. Sometimes they work out really well and other times people have mixed results. You should read up on them some more to get a couple of viewpoints. Here is one article that you may find helpful: https://www.diynetwork.com/made-and-remade/learn-it/use-gel-stain-to-spruce-up-cabinets-lamp-bases-and-more

Good luck. Please report back when you’re done.

I had actually picked a color and was going to paint these cabinets, but when we replaced the counter I noticed that this is all solid wood and thought I may want to attempt to save them.

Still have not landed on a final decision between stain vs paint.

When you open the door from the bathroom you look across a hall and into my foyer. The foyer has purple/green/red slate flooring.

My original plan was to pull the colors from the floor into the bathroom. Paint the walls BM Quiet Moments and the cabinets BM Stony brook.

Don't have a clue what color I would want to stain or how it will work out.

Counter top is Ice Queen

Any opinions?

All the furniture in my home is teak.

Red birch.

That is gorgeous original birch. It should be preserved and honored as part of the original home. It’s a classic.

I like it the way it looks now, I wouldn't put a lot of color on it. JMHO.

I'm not sure the warmth of natural birch is going to play well with your very cool countertop. Could you post a picture of them together, as they are now?

About 99% sure that they're birch. Birch has some similar grains, etc. as maple but has more variations in the grain. My suggestion on refinishing is to take a door from the least used cabinet and try the stain on the inside of the door. That way if it doesn't look like you want you would only see it when you opened that cabinet.

Geez don't use Gel Stain. Strip the doors/cabinets and apply a regular wood stain. Birch lasts forever and I'm sure you can make it look similar to teak if you like.

If you are going to strip and stain you can get stains that have a color other than shades of brown. There is also greys, reds, blues. They are transparent also so the grain shows. If you are concerned about the stain being evenly absorbed there are also wood conditioners that can be used to help that, it's used a lot on pines or other wood that may take stains unevenly. Look to see if you behave a wood workers store that carry those products and have knowledgeable people.

I remember your posts about you being concerned about the purpleish color tiles. Did you decide to "love them"?

Izzy Mn, I actually have loved the purple in the slate from the start. I had a difficult time finding any flooring that had the purple tones, virtually all the grays were geige or green gray or blue gray. Finally found LVT with purple undertones, but it was a challenge.

This is a picture of the vanity with the new top. Can't put in the flooring until the tub is installed. The other side of the bathroom is down to studs.