Walnut vs Cherry for cabinets?

[Bob Johnson2]

Has anyone built kitchen cabinets or such from walnut? I can get it for the same price as cherry so I'm torn between the 2. I've only made small items with walnut, boxes and such, and it seems to work easier then cherry but gets a bit of tear out. I like the appearances of both so from that angle it's a toss up, well, maybe I'm a bit partial to walnut. I really haven't used eiter enough to know how they'd work for large projects. Any opinions?

[Bill Webber]

Well, cherry is harder, tighter grained and doesn't require filler. Walnut is softer and open grained. Walnut is easier to work. Cherry burns easily. Cherry is more common for kitchen cabinets. Big help, eh?

Bill W.

[Russ Massery]

I went the other way( lighter) I used maple. Walnut cabinets would look great but very dark. I would vote for cherry.

[Dale Thompson]

I went the other way( lighter) I used maple. Walnut cabinets would look great but very dark. I would vote for cherry.

Russ,
I agree. I LOVE working with Cherry! It smells great and will be less sensitive to dents and stuff than Walnut. On the other hand, Walnut is SOOOOO warm but not my favorite wood except for special anniversary clocks, jewelry boxes, etc..

Also, in 5-10 years, the Cherry will probably be as dark as the Walnut.
I've got a Cherry mantle clock that is about 10 years old. When I made it, the color was almost pink. Now, on a cloudy day, I can't even SEE the clock!?

Dale T.

[Bob Johnson2]

Hadn't thought about it being softer, that might be the clincher. It may well be too dark too. I used maple for the bathroom but by the time I got it to LOML's liking it is quite dark. SO I might as well use something darker to start with, hence walnut or cherry...

[Tom Drake]

I think the walnut would be very dark in the kitchen although it is a nice wood. I prefer either cherry or maple for kitchen cabinets.

[Gail O'Rourke]

I think that when anyone does something unusual, then it is great, I love the idea of Walnut for cabinets. You can use birch casework for the cases that you don't see to save money with Walnut face frames, doors and drawers. Also, with the right lighting planned into your remodel, you can set them off nicely.

let us know what you decide, and of course, take pictures.

[Karl Laustrup]

Bob, IMHO, I'd go with the cherry if your wife wants dark woods. Cherry darkens over time [somewhat quicker if the room gets a lot of sun], so I would keep that in mind when finishing cherry. I like finishing cherry natural and watching it darken and take on that special look that only comes with time.

If I may interject something that went into my thought process while picking out cabinets for our new home. While I love the look of cherry, I had to take into account the fact that our kitchen will get minimum amounts of natural light.

Because of this I chose natural [no stain] hickory. I've seen many kitchens with dark wood [stained or natural] that just make it seem like you're in a dungeon or something. Hickory is mostly a light wood, but can have dark sections.

Hey, that's my $1.398 worth. Off the soap box now.

[tod evans]

bob, i tend to recomend walnut for somber rooms such as a library or study. although pretty it`s very dificult to brighten up a room that`s dominated by dark cabinetry.......02 tod

[Steve Clardy]

Our new ones will be walnut, when i get roundtoit.
I'll have to ad a lot of can light though, as walnut cabs make the kitchen area dark.

[Barry Beech]

I would say that your decision should be determined by how much natural light you have in your kitchen.

My mother is an interior decorator and has put walnut in several kitchens in some higher end houses that have a lot of light.

I haven't seen them but she says they are some of the prettiest that she has done.

[Tom Jones III]

We have some builder grade cabinets in our kitchen that LOML refinished to a walnut color and it looks great. Our kitchen gets tons of light, natural and man-made.

Walnut is a real joy to work with. I've never thought about it being softer than cherry? That doesn't seem right to me, but I have not worked with much cherry. Walnut is a little harder to get in both high quality and high quantity.

[Bob Oehler]

Hey Bob:
I'm with Karl. HICKORY is a great kitchen wood.
I have Hickory in my kitchen and love it. It has darkened a little bit in 8 years but not much. It is salt and pepper so there is dark areas in a few areas it is almost black. No stain but to give you an idea if you took minwax golden oak and stained hickory it would be close.

Cherry is nice and looks good. It will darken with age as Karl said.

My love is black walnut but I think in a kitchen it would be too dark

That's my 2.33 9/10 (the price of a gal. of Regular at Go-Mart in Gallipolis Ohio 01/25/06)

Take care
Bob Oehler

[Jim Becker]

Black walnut gets lighter over time...the air dried material that I use, in fact, gets to be a beautiful golden brown after about a year with UV and oxidation. But cherry is my first love...so I'm not much help either! This is largely a personal preference decision.

[Steve Cox]

Cherry starts out light and gets darker. Walnut starts out dark and gets lighter. I don't have a lot of experience with walnut interiors but I have looked a several pieces of walnut furniture that have received lots of natural light and I found them to be almost grayish looking and not all that attractive. These pieces were finished with oil and had not had it reapplied so I would expect walnut to do better with care but that's what I observed.