If bound and determined, remove a drawer face, sand it, and go to an Ace hardware and test stains, ( I'd use Zar ) until you get a tone you like. Failing that? I'd paint the island an accent color, deepest tone in your granite, perhaps.

"Hickory is one of the hardest of all hardwoods. It has closed pores and a tight grain. Stain will not penetrate easily into hickory and absorbs at different rates, resulting in blotchy stain. Hickory has a tendency to polish when it is sanded causing even more problems with stain penetration. To properly stain hickory and get consistent color, the pores must be opened by rouging up the surface with heavy grit sandpaper.........................

https://www.ehow.com/how_8084009_way-stain-hickory.html

I've never seen hickory so pale. To restain first you have to strip off the poly. If you aren't careful you could easily end up with tones twice as dark as your inspo. pic. Tread lightly.

It doesn't look yellow to me, but that could just be my monitor.

Paint the island--I would try a grayish green.

I see no yellow so maybe try changing your bulbs to LED 4000K then see if you see yellow .I think the advice offered about painting might be abtter choice since hickory is hard to stain well. IMO it would be nice to see the whole kitchne before advising what color .The blinds sitting on the island are way too yeallow for the space for sure .

Patricia so i guess i shoukd have mentioned that the sides and back are pine trim that we put on and its unfinished. the face of the island is the hickory and some photos dont really show the terrible, out of place yellow. I tried to take a new picture to show better and then i have a photo showing more of the space. id really prefer to keep a wood look because in person, the space is so gray and washed out and im afraid to be lacking some kind of warmth.

I see pink tones in your gray floor -- but that could be just the way my monitor is rendering the color. That is why to my eye the island doesn't go with the floor. If the floor indeed IRL has a slight pinkish tone, you probably would be better off either painting or staining a darker color, maybe a neutral mid-tone brown.

FWIW -- I just stained some hickory sample boards for a door DH is building, and they stained up just fine. Proper prep is everything.

you do not need to do a specialty finish..cerused or whatever you are picking off pictures. You have hickory..full of character and especially just the island. be willing to go a little darker w simple staining/finishing from someone experienced and let the nature of what you have come through.

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@porkchop_z5b_MI yeah my floor is a whole other story😭😭 i absolutely hate it. We put this floor throughout the rest of our downstairs and before i knew DH would agree to replace the kitchen and its looks great everywhere else(more natural and brown/gray) and for some reason , i dont know if the batch is slightly different where its been two years or its just the natural light in my kitchen but it reads soooo different in here. Its not pink in person, its more light cream and purple😓 But anyway, do you know how to possibly get the stain or maybe paint look in my inspiration pics above? i have no idea what kind of teqniques are out there or what color that would he considered. id prefer to keep a wood look to try and keep some warmth and rustic look in my kitchen 🥴

Well, pink and purple are similar in that they both have red (red + white vs red + blue) -- so bingo! there's your problem.

I am not a pro at staining, I'm just getting into it through necessity, since DH is a good woodworker but horrible finisher -- I fired him LOL! So I am not the person to ask re: special techniques. My opinion, though, is to go darker to minimize the tonal mis-match.

find a refinisher [or 2] and they will work through options with you. Have them come into the setting and they have samples..can make custom stain mixtures etc. . You have some ideas ... and its hickory... so they will give you feedback . You do not have to figure this out in isolation.

You aren't going to fix the floor with the island stained. Paint it! I must say......this will turn to a mess!!!!

"so i guess i should have mentioned that the sides and back are pine trim that we put on and its unfinished. the face of the island is the hickory"

One is hardwood, one is soft !!!!! ..."Fugghhhedddabout it" You will create an absolute nightmare.

Paint the darn thing. Try your deep gray whatever it is on your walls, in a satin finish. Otherwise? The only things in there that will work together......will be your hands and your feet.

You didn't need contrast grout on the backsplash ..makes it busy with the granite. Maybe change that : )

Put a great runner at the sink, less blah more pattern and color. Tidy up the counter top perimeter

Oh...wait a minute:

"so i guess i should have mentioned that the sides and back are pine trim that we put on and its unfinished. the face of the island is the hickory"

Ok, I'm going to have to agree with Jan here, then -- paint it. two different woods are going to stain up differently unless you go so dark the difference won't be noticeable, in which case you might as well just paint it. Or, you have some whiz of a staining pro who can get two different woods to look exactly the same, but you're rolling the dice here.

@herbflavor im definitely willing to simply go darker and let the hickory shine. my only question is what stain color because i dont want anything to clash with my floor and possibly countertop. there is a lot of gray tones in my floor which is why i chose those inspiration pics because i feelclike those are a brownish gray 🤷🏻‍♀️

Herbfflavor is going to return and tell you what i just did.

Give up whike you are ahead!. There is no stain ”genius for this. The woods are vastly different. In every characteristic

I would still have someone in WITH EXPERIENCE. the hickory could take a med to darkish stain...the other wood could be ebonized [note black on stools] . you'd be surprised if you get a good person. this is not a nightmare....nothing has happened yet. but exercise care and GET HELP. of course you can always paint..but not yet.

how are the trim pieces fixed on there? can they be removed...usually at this stage that would be possible...but how are they on?

trim out sections different from field areas on islands:

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You’ve already screwed it up by adding incorrect species crapola doodads to it, so you are going to need to paint it, to salvage it, if you want to do anything to it. No pro would touch that with a 10’ pole for under 4K. Join Kitchen Cabinet Painting Experts on FB.

Nobody is going to spend three to five days in your home........sanding, conditioning, staining and waiting for approval, start over etc. and especially not with a combo of hickory and pine on the same piece.

I understand how much you want the look. For the SAME $$$ you can get a new island, new cabs w factory/stained, and DROP IT DOWN to all counter height - as long as you can find same granite.

Or???

Paint the island and give it a WOOD stained top.

@herbflavor they trim is nailed on. i dont know what to do. i hate the look of a painted color. i really need warmth somehow in this kitchen. i could cry….lol. the floor did not turn out as expected(the natural light wahses it out and makes it super gray and a mood killer in here. We do not have the money to just get a new island and countertop. I hate the granite and apparently have no other option but to get rid of the wood. my kitchen is not very big and im not sure the direction, but i get a lot of ”cool” light all day so every paint color ive put up on the walls look gray and contributes to the contrastless washedbout look(but im resistant to wanting a darker color.) i love the laminate floor and light wall look but it just looks like trash in my space. I was really hoping for a medium grey brown warm rustic island look , even if it was DIY level and not tah-tah looking🤦🏻‍♀️. ive seen some stuff online about using a base paint and glaze stain but im now apprehnsive about doing anything at this point.

nailed on....I'm not there....but someone needs to see if they can be removed....probably. I really would not let trim pieces , esp pine dictate what happens. Get a trim carpenter who can coordinate w a finisher for you. go to Craigs List. Things are slowing down..a lot of these guys might not be as busy. The goal for me would be stain and finish the hickory island ...the pine could be painted but I think the pieces can come off. Your carpenter can source trim in hickory or do a suitable trim out.... but you just have to proceed. Keep the floor/ keep the counter..ask for stain samples of something deeper/ w a bit of red or mahogany- like for the stain. this is not that difficult. the finishing up of the island wont solve your feelings about floor and counter . I dont know if its so bad really. You can get much nicer floor runners/mats by the way. Lets see what you can do. People work with lots worse than this.

hickory: allspice stain/ Durasupreme. collect some pics and someone can replicate fairly closely or at least get a direction you want. .

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Kraft Maid hickory in molasses:

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these are simple stains that anyone can produce for you or tilt toward a shade one way or another.[one is reddish/ one is truer brown] I would stay away from "specialized finishes" .

@herbflavor my husband has agreed to take off the trim and have someone come replace it with real hickory. Thank goodness. I like the idea of a stain with redish mahogany tones in it. i think that could compliment the grayish floor nicley. Any opinions on runners ? i dont have a very good style sense lol. 🥴 I appreciate your help.

Also on a side note, am i supised to put curtains on a kitchen sliding glass door?

I installed a new patio door..very energy efficient and sun diffusing / reducing glass. I thought I would want the typical pole with finials and rings with swoosh sheer curtains but I still havent put that up. We have a view..the glare is minimal and I still may put up something but it depends if you NEED to or NOT. You can wait a bit..see what style everything finally becomes in the space...you have greenery and no privacy issues . The metal poles which I like are kind of expensive.

Here are some runners/ rich browns and some upbeat patterns to help things along.

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If you or your husband cannot source and apply the hickory for the end panels, it is going to be questionable if you can strip off the existing finish enough to refinish it at all. That is a very time intensive project, which no craftsman will take on without a price that reflects the large number of man hours that it will take. Most finishers would do time and materials for the hours for that portion, as it's an unknown, without you allowing some up front experimenting on it.

Stripping off the existing finish and sanding out the stain is just the first step. Staining hickory to be even and not blotch is easier than maple, but not as easy as oak. So, moderately difficult for someone experienced. You can gain the experience to do this by tackling a lot of furniture refinishing first. Because cabinets are just furniture in your kitchen. But that experience won't come overnight. You will have to work your way through many learning experience mistakes first. By this time next year, you will be ready to tackle it.

Or, paint it. That is still a tremendous amount of work to do, and have it be durable and lasting. That is usally a 3 week project, at a minimum, if you are not devoting full time energies to it.

@Dewayne I am a stay at home mom and have all the time to do the work. Actually, all of our cabinets are hickory and two years ago i stripped, sanded and painted all the perimeter cabs. They were definitely stain worthy as i stained one(which looked good) but decided i wanted them white. They have held up just like the day i painted them and it only took me six weeks, so this island will be a breeze.

I would paint the island to match the rest of the cabinets. The kitchen is modest size--not a bad thing--but too many different elements in a smallish space usually doesn't end up being a good look. You have the floor color, the countertop color, the perimeter cabinet color. The island would add yet another color. Too much going on, IMO.

Match the island to the rest of the cabinets and then splash some color in there with floor runners.

We put this floor throughout the rest of our downstairs and before i knew DH would agree to replace the kitchen and its looks great everywhere else(more natural and brown/gray) and for some reason , i dont know if the batch is slightly different where its been two years or its just the natural light in my kitchen but it reads soooo different in here.

Before doing anything, wrap that island with some white butcher paper to eliminate the yellow wood influence. I have a feeling that the floor will look a lot different with the island out of the equation.