matching kitchen cabinets

ponch37300

I am redoing most of my kitchen and need some help on matching a new cabinet to my existing cabinets.

I would like to add a 24" cabinet to my kitchen. A lower and upper, right next to my existing cabinets. The cabinets are oak. What is the best way to match the stain? Is there any place that can do a color matching like they do for paint? Can I bring a door and try to match to a can?

Thank for any help with this.

Ron6519

If you know who made the cabinets, you might be able to get a can of stain from them. A few cabinet manufacturers use stain from a company called, Mohawk. I usually order a quart of stain for the kitchens I do for future touchups and to stain woodwork in the kitchen.
Ron

Bob Mariani

Correct on the Mohawk, but it is not that simple. We use combination of stains to produce a quality look. Typically combining processes of penetrating dye stain and wiping stain to get a deeper luster. A cabinet shop will be able to exactly match you cabinet door, and finish. We do it all the time. But a factory finish is anywhere from 6 to 30 steps.

Jeeper1970

How old are the existing cabinets? Do you know what type of finish is on them? The finish can affect how closely they match, as well, even if you nail the color perfectly.

Take a door or drawer front to a local paint store, Sherwin Williams or Porter Paints for example (I prefer Porter myself). If you have a couple scrap pieces of oak, bring them so they can test it. Don't be afraid to tell the person matching it if you don't like it, you're the one that will have to look at a poorly matched stain color every day if you accept it. Don't forget adding a finish over the stain will deepen the stain color, too.

The above response is true, especially better quality cabinets will have a multiple step process to achieve the stain color, often times spray toning being one of the last steps before the finish coats, but you should be able to get it pretty darn close. Do some tests on some scrap pieces of oak, try some different methods and see what works before attempting to stain your new cabinets.

ponch37300

Thanks guys. I will try to post some pics tomorrow. What steps are involved with matching? I have done some simple staining of trim and stuff before but usually just wipe stain on and off and then poly. So what multiple steps might I be looking at to get a quality match? Thanks