Maple is notoriously hard to stain. It's usually blotchy. Before you commit have an entire door created and make certain you will love what you get. Best is a pre finished factory cabinet You have multiple posts and please limit it TO ONE regarding the entire kitchen.

If the cabinetmaker knows that you want stain grade cabinets then it is their job to produce cabinets that can be stained evenly. If you are having a third party stain them, then communicate in writing that the cabinets should be stain grade and ask that he get a good match on rails, stiles, and panels.

When it comes to kitchen cabinets, most woods are hard to stain, or maybe I should say that every wood will have its own challenges. Maple is blotchy as are many woods but any competent stainer should be fine. I am not a great strainer and I can stain Maple fine. However, Maple is going to look like Maple. It is likely going to have some color variation especially as you get darker, if that isn’t what you want, consider another wood.

Do a painted kitchen. I can predict what will happen here. The usual " What should be able to be done by...." ? Will eventually prove irrelevant.

Before you commit? See a full door strike sample no matter he uses stain grade everything. Or have Bry make them.

Sometimes we oversell the blotchy woods… just remember that Cherry is a blotchy wood and few claim Cherry is hard to stain.

Washcoats are incredibly effective at fixing blotch and, are themselves, incredibly easy to do. Anyone can washcoat wood.

Here is an example with a washcoat on the upper part and not on the lower.

You can clearly see the blotches below that have been removed above.

Once you have washcoated the wood there is nothing different about staining Maple. There are significant limits to what Maple will do, as the wood is never going to drink color. You also have to be aware, that Maple is going to have variation. That variation is prized by many who want wood and despised by many who want wood colored paint.

Here is a great example of properly stained Maple that still has a lot of color variation.

You get a sample from the cabinet maker and if that is not possible then get a different cabinet maker . Yes the two in my experience will take the stain differently and i alaways wonder why choose a specific wood if you want to change it to look like something else.I love natural maple in fact I like most woods left natural . Yes maple can be difficult to stain evenly so get a sample made with the 2 materials and the stain you want .

@Laurie Condie when you say the maple will be stained, what appearance are you going for? Will it be darker, or a different color, or something else?

I agree with Patricia Colwell that maple looks best with a clear stain. As mentioned in other comments, maple has a tendency to be blotchy when stained anything but clear. There have been so many posts on this forum from people disappointed in the results from a stained maple.

I want to clarify something about “hard to stain,” because it is important that posters here understand what that actually means.

All wood staining is a process. Some woods, such as Walnut, are very forgiving and almost any process is going to yield great results. Other woods, like Maple, require a much more detailed or specific process. However, once you have that process figured out, you should get consistent results with it.

So, I wouldn’t want Maple cabinets stained by someone who is new at it and is still developing their process. But… if you have someone who regularly and successfully stains Maple, then it shouldn’t be hard for them, it is just following a process.

The results will vary between cabinetmakers because their process will vary. Some will use a vinyl sealer, others may use a shellac sealer, while others may use a formulated product. Some will use a glaze coating, others will not. You should certainly see a sample from your cabinetmaker, but if you are happy with their results, then I wouldn’t worry about how hard Maple is to stain.

As others have alluded to, Maple is a closed pore wood, it isn’t going to drink color like Oak. Here is Rubio Monocoat chocolate on White Oak:

Here is the exact same stain on Hard Maple:

Rubio is a hard wax oil, so it can get darker, but Rubio does a great job of contrasting the difference.

ETA: if you don’t want Maple, you just want a cheap version of White Oak, there are much better options.

A cabinet maker should always have samples of their work for you to view. If they do not have the particular color that you want in a premade sample, then they should produce a finish sample so that you can be assured that they can produce what you want. There may be a production fee associated with that, if you have not already given them a check and signed a contract.

This is the sample we received and we have another appointment in half hour to go over it. They are both on maple plywood. The smaller is the original stock sample we saw and the larger is the sample he just did. The other picture is a Taj Mahal Sample with a black button to similate knobs/pull color.

Oh and that is the new floor we just put in = Unicomstarker Board Paper Porcelain Tile.

You really need a full door sample. The small samples are great for people trying to decide between stain colors, but when you are ready to order the cabinets you should request a full door sample for approval. Often you will have to pay for a door… do so.

You need a full door sample since the center is different than the stiles.

As stated.........get a FULL door/all five pieces sample created and approved prior to building a scrap of the kitchen in maple.

I did a series of butt together dressers totaling nine feet for a client in a deep stain over maple. Done by a local cabinet source in business for decades. All slab front. one consistent material...........I hated it, and would never do it again. It just is hard as a ROCK . Other woods are as well. Maple is the least forgiving. Which is why it is best left natural/clear coated.

After our meeting with the cabinet maker we feel much better. He showed us how maple plywood can have a split look when stained. Half one shade and half another. We were happy he showed us this can happen. Some people like it or don't care about it. We have now asked for a blended look sample, which he will do and call us when ready. He has informed us it will be slightly darker. He had a full sample of the gable that will go beside the fridge (wish I had snapped a photo) and it was a better color of stain (more medium brown tone that still showed the grain nicely). This particular piece would not need blending as it is, but will in fact be the goal for the other pieces that he will be blending. He also mentioned that he likes to wait until he gets the doors in so he can do up one and show us before he continues. He has explained that traditionally the out part of the shaker that is solid maple wood usually stains lighter tone than the inset maple plywood. By blending the stain it would give a more even coloring between the two.

Looking forward to seeing the blended sample and when the doors arrive a sample door as well.

During his busy season he orders the doors from another company and builds the cabinetry himself.

So IMO you need to see an actual combo of the wood he is using on your cabinets not some random plywood he had kicking around the big issue is how he does the 2 types of maple to be the same anybody can slap on the stain on 2 spare pieces of maple plywood that is not what you want to see in a sample and BTW a cabinet maker actually makes the doors too he does not farm them out . If anything the boxes might get farmed out the big item for getting a cabinet maker is the doors .

The plywood we saw is what we will be getting as he has already started on cabinets and gables. Alot of smaller shop cabinet makers will rely on larger suppliers for their doors during busy season. We are supporters of small shops in our area. He can make his own doors when he is not as busy. This was all conveyed to us ahead of time and we are familiar with where he is getting his doors from. This is a step up from a box store solution. He has confirmed that we will be seeing the doors when they come in as well as a stained sample for approval. We have also seen all the completed cabinets at this point. He has stained the crown but is not happy with it and will be repurchasing and restaining, again we will see it and give approval.

I admit, given your last response, I am a bit confused about the purpose of the post. You have a cabinetmaker who is repurchasing the crown molding because they are dissatisfied with the stain, so it seems odd to not trust him about panels matching the rails and stiles…

It seems that you are quite happy with your cabinetmaker thus far, has something happened to make you question that?

Over time I've seen the panel plywood material for lighter finished maple doors turn yellow and become quite different from the solid stiles/rails. I'd only go forward with solid wood floating panel made from the same stock as the surround.

Are the cabinets costing you $100 or $30k?

DO NOT PROCEED WITHOUT TWO FINAL DOOR SAMPLES BEING MADE for your approval. You sign both and keep one for your reference and the factory gets the other so that they know what is expected.

DO NOT ASSUME ANYTHING ON INTERIOR DESIGN OR CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS.

I'm going to emphasize the color change can take time. A freshly made sample is not going to show that. Pass.

I would be surprised if maple plywood and solid wood darkened at different rates. Unlike Oak, there are relatively few species of Maple in North America (really six) and all of them are fairly close.

The other problem being, the cabinetmaker is unlikely to be using the same material batch as any sample old enough to detect color change.

So far he has be very forthcoming with what he is doing and showing us what he has stained so far for samples. The sample I posted above was lighter than what we were expecting. So when we went back he was showing us what he has stained so far (some pieces you won't see for bottom of cabinets, gable beside fridge which is a tall piece etc) which are all maple plywood. He then showed us samples of previous maple plywood pieces he has stained in another color. These pieces showed that half of the plywood is one color and the other half another color due to the way the original plywood was two tone to begin with. So we asked more questions and he mentioned that usually the shaker doors are maple wood frame with maple ply inset and that the maple wood usually stains lighter than the ply. So he will use a technique to smooth out the color over the plywood section. He showed us two samples where he has done this. The original sample we gave back to him and he will do half with this technique so we can see the difference on the same piece. He showed us the Maple Plywood he is using for our project. The gable piece he has already stained for beside the fridge is really nice. We are hopeful that this blending technique will give us the result we are hoping for.

What could possibly go wrong?!

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......... a lot ? Because in a small kitchen with little cabinetry, there's also very little space for blending of the boxes themselves. I'd be afraid to live that dangerously. But that's me with someone else's money. OR MY OWN.

UPDATE Its Happening!

Looks fantastic! We are trying to achieve the same stain color on maple. Do you know what stain product your cabinet maker used?