MOST companies will not grain match. You will need to go full high end custom, with a BIG upcharge from Omega. If 1 door is ruined, the whole batch is ruined. It's a much bigger risk to the cabinet maker.

Have you met with and gotten quotes from local cabinet makers to have custom cabinets built? Walnut is a very expensive wood and a good custom job is not cheap. But, if you have not gotten custom quotes, I suggest getting a few. Our custom cabinets were not that much more than high end junk that dealers were repping.

I agree that the pics you are showing are not good. I'd rather get an entirely different design than go with walnut that looks that bad.

Thanks so much @kendrah and Minardi. I am rethinking whether walnut is too costly and am also considering Rift Sawn Oak as an alternative. There again Omega only does Quarter Sawn Oak which looks a bit to grainy to me.

Rift sawn white oak is more than walnut right now, for a good product. Very little of a log is rift sawn.

the installed kitchen above looks like clear coat only. The single door image likely has a stain altho you are not describing what you show in detail. ...and these are off their website only.... a stain application will provide a muted look to a degree. Usually what a customer does is order a couple samples......sometimes even the actual door in a couple of stain options. this is their cost of business operation. why dont you do this?

Here are my Omega walnut cabinets in a bath - 9 years old with a stain. The non grain match does take a back seat with some stain. I only used Omega in bath and utilty not in my kitchen,

Spending a couple of hundred thousand on grain matched cabinets gets you what? No vacation? Neighbor envy? Expensive firewood?

Plato will grain match. Comments are giving your wildly inaccurate prices.

I have seen a Plato grain matched drawer bases and the grain match was perfect. I have grain matched Plato cabinets on order for my beach house.

Walnut. 5 drawer base cabinets, 2 reg base cabinets, 5 uppers, wood hood, dishwasher door panel, island side and back panels, 2 stage crown, etc, was $30K.

" Spending a couple of hundred thousand on grain matched cabinets gets you what? "

Bahahaha, "couple hundred thousand"? How can you even type that with a straight face?

In 2009 Plato, maybe it was 30K. Or that was 2024 dealer cost. Even their Innovae line is way more than that. I design in their catalog. Ain't no way.

A “couple of hundred thousand” was the rough estimate we were given a few years ago for grain matched walnut and white oak cabinets. Beautiful, but out of line, price wise, for our house at the time.

Oh yes, multiple hundreds of thousands is not that uncommon for something custom, modern, and grain matched. And that is just the kitchen. The whole house done to that level, with built ins, doors, etc, can easily top 1M of custom cabinets and millwork. Take a look at a couple of top end cabinet makers work to see that level of perfection.

Sorry you will not get what you want from any cabinet company this is a custom job that comes with a custom price .Horizontal maybe but not what you want.

Don't give up Nina. Find out the cost in your area for what you are looking for. Then think about what the priority is. There are some people who simply go with white but use an island in their dream wood or a hood. It's a process on how you decide how you want to spend and what you want to create. Your inspirational photo is gorgeous.

Don't rule out laminate cabinets particularly for slab fronts. You have way more control over the final look. Color consistency, doesn't fade...

I'm a custom cabinet maker. I specialize in hardwood cabinetry. The reason why that Omega sample is so jarring is the uniform widths of each board in the panel and no consideration to the grain. Theres heartwood next to sap wood. Wood is meant to create an organic texture, warmth, and feel. I highly recomend against LAMINATE. Pre-manufactured veneered cabinetry can also be quite jarring due to the repeat patterns.

I either vacuum bag a custom 6mm (1/4") hardwood "skin" onto a 12mm(1/2") sheet of ply or just use straight hardwood. Grain selection and board width can all be considered this way. Cost is about the same since theres a material/labor trade off between both types. Im still finishing off my personal kitchen, pictured below. I used painted plywood carcasses (Id normally use a walnut veneered plywood for the internals for a customer), but I went with solid walnut (with sliding dovetails in backside of the doors to prevent cupping) for all the end panels, doors, face frames, and drawer fronts. I take time to select boards for a panel so that the figuring is somewhat similar and try to transition from heart to sap. In addition to aesthetics you dont want to glue up dark heartwood next to light sap wood as the seasonal movement is much different(warps and splits). You cannot achieve this continuous grain look with any laminate or mass produced panel. For the kitchen pictured below I'd charge (including painted island cabinetry 12'x4') about 75-120k in the UK: that includes dovetail drawer boxes, poplar faceframes, sawtooth shelf supports, hardwood nosing on all shelfs, custom wood handles, blum components, etc... but would not include countertops. I'd guess price would actually be about the same in US Dollars as lumber is much cheaper stateside although I moved to UK during Covid and not sure where pricing has landed back home.

Who is the cabinet guy you mention and why would cabinet maker tell you to go to Omega. I am confused and you need custom cabinets so bite the bullet pay mege bucks if this is really a must , sorry no cheap choice and be careful who you get to do this work . I love walnut but real not fake and I love the natural look of the different shades of wood

Hi there! I’m in a similar position with some worries about the pretty striped appearance of the natural omega walnut - curious what you went with!

I went with a custom cabinet maker and am so glad I did, my cabinets aren’t fully installed but whatever is in place is gorgeous. If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, I will gladly share the name of my cabinet maker who was amazing to work with as well.

And it wasn’t as expensive as the quote for Omega. It wasn’t cheap either so just wanted to dispel the myth regarding “mega” bucks.

That’s great to hear! Thanks for the insight - we’re in CO but can search around for some cabinet makers in our area!

If bookmatched walnut is a must, look at ikea cabinets and order the doors from semihandmade. It is the only way to get that look without spending BIG money.