All wood changes color over time and becomes redder or more yellow. To stop that normal process from happening requires extreme chemical manipulation. Bleaching, sealing, correct pigment washing. It’s very expensive, and well beyond the ability of most local cabinet makers.

Minwax stain only. On white oak. Which? I'd have to ask , I can't remember . My cabinet guy and I played with several.

In general · More Info

In general · More Info

Jan, that kitchen is stunning!

@JAN MOYER drooling...wow.

Can I ask unrelated question regarding what's behind the kitchen cabinets? is it just wall and crown painted or ? Love everything about that space.

Cabinets are painted ( above ) custom mix- to match two bars at kitchen end,created two years prior. Walls are deeper. Crown molding on cabs also painted to match, was COMPLETELY fabricated PRiOR to install, can be lifted right off cabinets. it sits inside the cabinet boxes. Eliminated the need for on site trimming or painting. He's a genius..... and master craftsman. Crown on wall, was painted out to wall color match two years ago to eliminate the double up, visually. Very annoying any other way.

LOL.......between bars, kitchen re do , two pantries you can't see? You don't want that appliance bill . Major entertaining is all I can say.: )

Jan, that’s what I was wanting!

Try changing the bulbs first.I agree maple was the wood you should have chosen but now the lighting might be able to rectify some . I do agree to wait until everything is in too.. Any kind of sealer is going to change the color go rub a wet cloth on that bare wood and it will look like the finish. If that white look was what you wanted it would need to have different start to the finish and BTW the cabinet person should have shown you samples.

Lauren

I hate to say this, but there is no taking of chances with any wood or paint finish. Before even a saw blade? You go to that shop, and you say........"lets see what my island will look in finish". I spent hours with my cabinet guy. Well before, and the strike sample came to fruition just as we planned.

You can't BE too specific. You do all the arguing, clarify expectations , prior to the creation of one single thing.

I feel your pain. But there is no other way. On site at his shop was your answer, : (

Or you go the ordered infactoryroute with white oak, a pre selected finish. A bigger guarantee.

Jan is, unfortunately, right. Once the cabinets are sitting in your house, you can’t control the color as well as when you’re first deciding on the wood they’ll use.

Jan: Your stunning kitchen shows all the thought and hard work you out into it.

@ Lauren

In a brain wrack.......? the Minwax on that white oak is either "Classic Gray, or "Ebony" . There is nothing over it. No clear coat anything. If the worst happens and a door/drawer needs a re do? We'll deal with it.

If you want a re do? I'd suggest you go to the shop, use strike offs and see where you go from there. You don't need maple. You didn't want maple. I doubt you want it now .

Yup! Many lessons learned for sure. And the upside is - it is a beautiful island. It’s just a knot in stomach when the finish product isn’t what you envisioned And $$ you spent. you all are helpful And I appreciate the information. On my way home with daylight bulbs now. :)

Try to remember our "first world" : ) Also the very loooooong line of folks who would simply kill for a new kitchen.

@Lauren for what it's worth, I think it's beautiful. I understand your disappointment. But I think once everything is in place you will love it. Good tips for others though.

" It’s just a knot in stomach when the finish product isn’t what you envisioned "

That's why it is of utmost importance to see an exact finished sample piece of the material being used.

Which she now knows and can also fix. $$$ depending. Ya live and ya learn.

Anytime you put ANY coating on wood it will later its color end of story. You have a beautiful and now well protected island made of real wood. Real wood will loo and react like real wood. It just amazes me with all the posts about how people invasion how would "SHOULD LOOK" in their mind. We are so uses to seeing fake products that people see real wood as inferior and having issues.

When wood is first milled, cut, sanded or surfaced it removes any aging from the wood. It will never look like that again as it is still a sort of living product that changes as it ages. Woods tannins and UV exposure will continuously change how it looks.

If you want it to look a certain way and stay that way then use a fake product such as Formica. Your builder could have chosen lumber stock that matched the plywood veneer if you are that picky about color.

That is a nice piece and will age to a more yellow/amber or whatever you want to call it hue. You bought wood now understand that it will react and look like wood.

@ Lauren. Answer to my brain wrack? "Classic grey" .

Natural maple cabinets turn yellow as a quality of the wood - no matter what finish is put on, so I don't think you made a mistake going with white oak. I've sen some really yellow natural maple cabinets and floors.

Some of the white oak cabinets out there are cerused white oak which gives a whitish / gray cast to the oak depending on the method:

My own preference is for a more untreated, natural look, but this is popular now for those who like putting warm wood with cool grays - something which often doesn't look great unless the warm wood is "cooled" by a process.

There are ways to achieve an almost natural look but like "ProSource Memphis" stated above "it's beyond the ability of most local cabinet makers" It not that it takes extraordinary skills but most are not familiar with the products and methods. Light bulbs can have some color correction effect when viewed at night. Maple wood is not the answer either.

my floating shelves are white oak but I sanded it to remove the oil based polyurethane. I then bleached it out and used waterbased polyurethane with added a white paint. just a little

Yeah.......... no island is worth a jump.

a clear finish was put on our maple cabinets. here's a picture then and now, a span of 7 years. the color has deepened. I prefer them now. the same goes for our southern pine floors.

territheresa · More Info

territheresa · More Info

If they still bother you at night, but you like them during the day, then consider cooler bulbs. This is a plank of white oak with different light temperatures shining at it. The board on the left has a diluted gray stain on it (applied over a sanding sealer) and the board on the right was sprayed with 3 thin coats of a water based sealer designed for artwork (not the most durable finish, but when painted on it is good for exposed beams and other not-touched wood).

We went with 4000k bulbs to keep our white oak on the cooler side. Hope this helps!

Ps - you aren't nuts for fretting about this, the people who get painted white cabinets agonize over greyish, blueish, or yellowish whites, too.

M P provided a great idea if you want a lighter color.

General finishes makes a high performance Polly that does not change the color of wood. I call B.S.

That’s a water based product btw, yes oil will change the look, but protect well. I’ve used GF many times and works well, but not sure it would be the best for highly used cabinets. Maybe if you use 3 coats.

good

following...

Tannin pull is not stopped just because the top coat is water based. If you want the wood to look artificially light forever, it takes a heck of a lot more manipulation than slapping on a water based floor finish. Even “whitewashing” will amber up over time, unless the wood is bleached first, then sealed with the correct product. Your “cabinet guy” with a 1 year warranty will be off into another venture by the time your whitewashed oak kitchen turns yellow.

@JAN MOYER would you be able to tell me the cut of the white oak in your island? i am preparing to order white oak with the grey wash cabinets for my kitchen and like the cut of your island cabinets. Thank You :)

Live wire oak, what is the correct product with which to seal it?
After all this, I’m thinking of going with black cabinets. Or white. Even though what i really want is light white oak.

@megslam06 You might look into European White Oak. I learned about it from another post here at Houzz. It is harvested from a specific forest somewhere in Europe, and it naturally ages to a silver color. I looked around for mills that deal in this wood in the USA, and there are a few, but it is a premium wood.

Also look into Plato Woodworking's cerused oak colors. They have one in particular that is the lighter color you might like. This is a very unique and high-end treatment among manufacturers today. Plato's finish is true cerusing, not faux like other manufacturers like Bentwood are doing.

Another option you might consider is just straight-up placing your cabinetry order with a higher-end manufacturer that has perfected the finish of white oak in something you like. Much of the increase in cost of going with a specialty manufacturer like Plato, Bentwood, William Ohs, or Jay Rambo is not just the finesse of the construction but also the finishes and door styles that they offer.

Thank you so much for the information- I really appreciate it! I will look into some of those options.

@megslam06 You can click on the photo below to expand and see a sample of two white oak doors from Bentwood Kitchens. The one on the left has been through a coloration process to make it more white. The one on the right is natural with just a clear coat. When I was originally shopping around for white oak, I was taken by the color of the altered door on the left, but after more consideration, I realized that all the coloring obscures the depth and beauty of the natural wood. In person, the door on the right is more stunning. If you can live with some ambering and color change over time, then you can appreciate other things about natural wood if that is what you pick, like the grain and depth. Another thing that seems to be misleading to many people about white oak is the fact that "white" is in the name of this species. In actual fact, red oak and white oak can sometimes be indistinguishable. You have to be very careful if selecting raw wood from a mill that they are providing you with one or the other, and sometimes this involves testing of the wood. White oak really isn't "white" in application. It ambers in time, especially with exposure to UV rays. If you get a clear coat with excellent UV resistance, that can slow the process but not stop it. Here's a great pictorial of color change over time of various woods including white oak: Scherr's Color Shift of Wood Over 7 Years.

MP I like the lighter color you achieved... how did you “bleach them out”?

Silver lined- I agree I like the one on the right as well. Unfortunately there is no Brentwood kitchens showroom near me.
I had a cabinet maker use just a clear coat and with no stain and it darkened the wood more than that.... wondering if it’s bc the pic above is European white oak and the one I tested was just white oak.

@megslam06 Harmoni Kitchens is the same company as Bentwood kitchens (no "r" in the name Bentwood), and that door pictured above comes in both lines and is regular rift-cut white oak, not European. They have distributors nationwide in the USA but not showrooms necessarily everywhere. Many other quality cabinetry manufacturers stock white oak as an offered wood, usually in quartersawn or rift sawn.

Most clear coats will darken wood. There is a product for flooring called Bona Naturale that is almost a zero-impact finish visually that you might try. It's not generally recommended to use flooring products on cabinetry, but it can be done under very special circumstances. You can read more about a similar application here: https://www.houzz.com/discussions/5927222/loba-2k-supra-a-t-coating-questions#n=7

It sounds to me like you are leaning toward more of a white look for your cabinetry without the characteristic coloration of natural wood. Perhaps a painted finish would work better for you after all.

Mnwx liming paste and mnwx paste will get you raw look your wanting , or a dead flat lacquer sprayed on in a Mohawk product ! Just did rift cut white oak kitchen and it's perfect!

Wood changes over time and becomes more rich and beautiful. It is a shame people cannot appreciate this and keep trying to make us live in a gray drab world.

I want to add my experience to what @Wallacewoodcraft just wrote, and that is that I've recently done a wood finish with just wax, and it was very interesting. It was on white oak butcher block, and I used Renaissance Wax, which is a clear wax without any of the typical tung or linseed oil you'd normally see in furniture waxes that can turn orange. This was a clear wax that smelled truly horrible for a few weeks after doing 3 coats of application, but the effect was very natural on the wood, and the smell eventually completely dissipated. As far as looks are concerned, it almost looks like raw wood, but to touch it, you can pull off a residue. I did apply it properly by wiping it on, then wiping off the excess and letting it dry before the next coating. This application was for an underlayment used for machinery, so it wasn't in the kitchen or in a place that will be touched except perhaps for an occasional dusting. I don't think I'd want to do a wax finish in a kitchen area. In addition to the rub-off of the wax when touched, you'd get lifting over time if water got under the wax layer. It's definitely not something you'd do for a sink base. I have run across a number of cabinetry companies in my research for a recent kitchen remodel that will do a wax finish in a kitchen on everything but a sink base, and do a matte flat lacquer for the sink base. The best for longevity, of course, is always the 2-part, post-catalyzed conversion varnish that is now standard for larger cabinetry production companies.

Lots of good information here. Lauren, can we see the finished product. It looks like a beautiful space. I love the white oak. I understand a lot of people are not putting finishes on their wood these days. I have hickory cabinets which were much lighter when we first built and yes they have become darker over time and yellowed. We switched out our oak floors for dark hickory floors, no changing in colors there.

Water based matte finish doesn’t change the colour of the wood. I use it all the time

@Lauren did you end up keeping your island or changing it? Also wondering if youd share your white perimeter cabinet color?

@Wallacewoodcraft can you share pictures of the riff white oak kitchen you did. I too want a very pale white oak look and am struggling to find it with my cabinet maker

Just FYI, it's "rift-sawn", not riff. It's the type of milling that's done to get a particular grain appearance

Rift Sawn vs Quarter Sawn

You aren't going to get that pale rift sawn white oak from your local custom guy. You're better off with a slab front door and drawer, and a factory finish/veneer.

Veneer is not a dirty word. Your guy, not likely.

just FYI the way that those of us in the trade refer to this type of oak is “rifted white oak”. Rift -sawn is not incorrect but only quater-sawn is refered to using the ”sawn” part of the description. To confuse things even more only oak is refered to as ”rifted” . For example straight grain walnut is called quarted walnut . Re veneer: logs selected for veneer are of a higher grade than those turned into sold stock. As far as achiving a lighter color using oak, there are are different techniques depending on the desired results. Some involve bleaching, tinting and most importantly the correct top coat. The correct clear coat alone can be all you need.

That's the LOOK! Impossible it get the natural look without the yellow orange color. That is the beauty of the wood. Oak is yellow/orange. It looks great! That's how I can tell if someone has Veneer rather than solid wood. If you want real wood that is the beauty of it/ Look at Stickley furniture the most beautiful oak furniture in the world. It all has a yellow tone. Its beautiful. I also think the bland and blah bleached oak cabinets look cold compared to the natural wood stain.

Our painters told us it wasnt possible, but it is! i foind videos on tik tok of peiple creating the same look. Try general finsih high lerformance water base sealent in dead flat. Different sealent pick il differnt coats. Also you could try bona mega one waterbase in nordic.

i have also seen it achieved with whitewash and mixtures of white wash as well as bleaching of cabinets.