Kitchen Cabinet Finishes

Choosing the correct finish is key to achieving the perfect look for your projects. This gallery showcases a range of stains, giving contractors and cabinet makers like you the inspiration and options they need to build their reputation and meet their client’s expectations.

Gallery of Stain Colours For Kitchen Cabinet Finishes

Choosing the correct kitchen cabinet finishes is critical to your success as a contractor or cabinet maker striving to be the trusted expert in your market. Missteps in selecting or communicating finish options can lead to dissatisfied clients and harm your reputation. Ensuring your customers love the final result starts with having the needed information upfront.

Our team knows how much your supplier impacts your ability to deliver quality work. That’s why we provide detailed information about our finishes to help you make confident choices and keep your projects on track.

In this gallery, you’ll explore a variety of stain colours applied to Hickory, Maple, and Rift Cut White Oak. While these images offer a helpful preview, we recommend you order a physical sample to ensure accuracy. Ordering samples lets you see how a finish will look so you can avoid risking your reputation based on a picture.

Two Types of Stained Kitchen Cabinet Finishes

Two types of kitchen cabinet finishes are commonly used on wood cabinets – wiping stains and spray stains. Each option has its benefits and drawbacks while showcasing the natural beauty of wood. Let’s start with the wiping stains!

Wiping Stain Colours

Wiping stains are wiped onto the surface of the wood. You can choose from 11 wiping stains at Cutting Edge.

Caramel Wiping Stain

The Caramel wiping stain is a light gold-brown wiping stain that emphasizes dark grain and character in wood.

Chateau Brown Wiping Stain

Chateau Brown wiping stain is medium-dark brown with reddish-gold undertones.

Chocolate Pear Wiping Stain

Chocolate Pear wiping stain is a medium-dark brown wiping stain with reddish-purple undertones.

Gold Brown Wiping Stain

The Gold Brown wiping stain is a light-medium brown with distinct gold undertones.

Graphite Wiping Stain

Graphite wiping stain is a grey stain. The stain colour can vary from blue-grey to brown-grey depending on the wood.

Heirloom Wiping Stain

The Heirloom wiping stain is a very light brown, almost natural. The stain draws out the reddish undertones of wood, which is especially noticeable on wood types like Hickory and White Oak.

Mountain Air Wiping Stain

Mountain Air wiping stain is a whitish-grey, almost like a whitewash finish. This stain also draws out the red undertones of wood and can make the wood look somewhat pink.

Palliser Brown Wiping Stain

Palliser Brown is a dark-brown wiping stain with purplish undertones.

Sharks Tale Wiping Stain

The Sharks Tale wiping stain is similar to the Graphite wiping stain; however, the blue undertones are stronger, making the overall colour slightly darker.

Simply Grey Wiping Stain

Simply Grey is a light-grey wiping stain. Like Mountain Air, this stain colour also draws out the reddish undertones of the wood and turns them slightly pink.

Tafisha Wiping Stain

Tafisha is a dark, almost black, wiping stain with blue undertones.

Spray Stain Colours

The second of the two kitchen cabinet finishes recommended for solid wood doors, spray stains are sprayed onto wood doors. Rather than soaking into the wood, the spray stain ‘rests’ on top of the wood; this allows the stain to reflect and emphasize natural wood characteristics, like grain patterns and figuring.

However, spray-stained doors are more likely to have a shadow where the panel meets the inside profile. Due to the nature of using air pressure to apply the stain, the stain may not completely cover the panel. This shadow is especially problematic on sharper (closer to 90-degree) angles. In addition, a line of unfinished wood where the inside profile meets the panel may show up over time. Because the spray stain rests on the wood, unfinished wood will show up if the panel shrinks due to humidity changes. This is more of a risk on solid wood than veneer panels.

You can choose from seven spray stain colours at Cutting Edge.

Bison Spray Stain

The Bison spray stain is a medium-brown with gold undertones.

Burnt Charcoal Spray Stain

Burnt Charcoal is a grey-brown spray stain.

Carbon Grey Spray Stain

Carbon Grey is a grey-brown spray stain with definite blue undertones.

Maple Arcane Spray Stain

Maple Arcane is a dark brown spray stain with bluish-black highlights.

MLE-2852 Spray Stain

MLE-2852 spray stain is a bluish-grey with orange-brown highlights.

Venetian Gold Spray Stain

Venetian Gold spray stain is a gold-brown that ranges from light to medium-dark.

Winter Spray Stain

Winter is a light grey spray stain with reddish-brown undertones.

Kitchen Cabinet Finishes Vary From Piece to Piece - Order a Sample

The appearance of a stained finish varies depending on the wood species, the material used (solid wood versus plywood), the staining technique, and the colour and grain pattern of the wood.

The pictures in the gallery may not be an accurate representation of how the stained finish will appear in real life. Before placing your order, you should order a sample piece to make sure the colour is what you are looking for. First, request your contractor account – then, you can order your samples online.