Walnut kitchen cabinets aren’t one color. The wood runs from light brown to dark chocolate, with darker streaks through it. So as a general rule, decide one thing early: whether walnut goes on the whole kitchen, or on one piece such as the island, where it plays against lighter finishes. Then ask for finished samples in the finish you’d order, more than one door, and look at them in your own light.
The photo that started your search shows one board, in someone else’s light. Walnut chosen that way can leave a kitchen darker, heavier or more varied than the picture you started from. The wood and the amount of it are easier to settle before the cabinets are ordered. So is the finish.
Walnut Kitchen Cabinets Start With a Wide Color Range
Walnut isn’t a single color. A photo shows you one board, finished one way. Boards from the same species can land in different places on that range. So the wood in your hand can look like a different choice than the wood on a screen.
On the wood itself, one hardwood industry group’s walnut page describes the sapwood as creamy white and the heartwood as light brown to dark chocolate brown, occasionally with a purplish cast and darker streaks. That group also says walnut is usually supplied steamed, to darken the sapwood.
So doors in one run may not match each other exactly. That can read as depth and movement, or as a mismatch, depending on the room and on you. Ask your designer how doors are matched across a run. And ask to see more than one door before you sign off on the wood. One door tells you the color is possible. Several start to show you what the kitchen will look like.
What Does Walnut Grain Look Like?
That page describes walnut as generally straight-grained, sometimes with wavy or curly grain that produces an attractive and decorative figure. So grain is part of the choice, alongside color. Some doors can read quiet and even. Others can carry figure you’ll notice from across the room.
Straight grain can read calm, which can suit a long wall of doors. Wavy or curly figure can read livelier, and a tall door gives it room to show. A corner chip hides all of that. Ask to see a full finished door instead. If some doors carry more figure than the rest, it’s worth deciding where you’d want them. An island end can take movement that a long run of wall cabinets might not.
It’s fair to ask where a sample came from. Was it cut from the same boards your doors would come from? Will the doors you’re buying look like the piece in your hand? Ask your designer how close that match is likely to be.
Does Walnut Take a Finish Well?
That page says walnut holds paint and stain very well for an exceptional finish, and that it’s readily polished. Read that as a view of the wood, not a promise about any cabinet line or any finish you might order. What lands on your doors depends on the line and on the finish chosen for it.
A finish changes how dark the wood reads. The same door can sit a shade lighter or a shade deeper, depending on what goes over it. So ask for the sample in the finish you’d order, and ask what that finish is. Write down what it’s called, so the sample in your hand and the line on the order are the same thing. A sample in a different finish answers a different question.
Where you look at a sample changes what you see. Hold it against your floor. Set it by the window, then under the lights you’ll be cooking under. A dark wood can read rich in one spot and flat in another. Carry it around the room before you decide.
Where Should Walnut Go in the Kitchen?
Walnut can run through a whole kitchen, or it can sit on one piece. That page calls it a favored wood for use in contrast with lighter-colored species. So the question isn’t whether walnut works. As a general rule, it’s how much dark color the room can carry, and what that dark sits next to.
On placement, that group’s trends article makes a related point. Finishing all the hardwood in a kitchen exactly the same way risks monotony, it says, and that’s avoided by staining some of it, the island for example, and painting the rest of the cabinets. A cabinet maker’s sales manager quoted there says the maker is often asked for a dark-stained cherry or black walnut island with a perimeter of white-painted maple cabinets.
One of our own kitchens combines both finishes. The cabinetry in Bespoke Luxury in Bannockburn is a tailored mix of painted finishes and rich walnut stains, and an interior finish there matches the walnut island cabinetry.
Picture a light perimeter with one dark island. The walnut becomes the focal point, and the rest of the room stays bright. Then picture that same walnut on every wall. The room reads darker, and the grain carries the whole space. Neither version is wrong. A room with plenty of daylight can carry dark wood comfortably. The same wood in a room with one small window can sit heavier. Your light, your floors and your ceiling all pull at the answer, which is why samples belong in the room itself.
If you can’t decide, start with the piece you want people to look at first. Dark wood can draw the eye, and a focal point can be a choice rather than an accident. Then work outward to what sits beside it and what the floor is doing underneath.
Are Walnut Cabinets Expensive?
It depends on the cabinet line, the grade of the wood and how the cabinets are built. A flat answer would mislead you. So ask your designer to quote the kitchen with walnut, and to quote it again with the other woods you’re weighing. Then you’re comparing numbers from your own plan.
Compare like with like. Same cabinet line. Same door style. Same finish. Change only the wood. And ask the designer what each quote assumes, because two quotes can cover different things without saying so. Ask what’s in each one. Ask what could move it later. A quote you understand is a quote you can compare.
Design planning and custom cabinetry selection are both part of our kitchen design and cabinetry selection services. So the wood question doesn’t have to sit on its own.
Two Related Decisions
If you’re weighing walnut against a lighter natural wood, the exercise doesn’t change: finished samples, seen in your own light, on more than one door. Our post on white oak cabinets takes up that other species. Run the same test on both, side by side, and the choice gets easier to make.
And if the walnut you have in mind is a counter rather than a cabinet, that’s a separate decision. Our post on butcher block countertops covers it, and it calls walnut the statement choice there. Take the counter and the cabinets one at a time.
Frequently Asked Questions About Walnut Cabinets
Are all walnut cabinets the same color?
No. One hardwood industry group’s walnut page says the heartwood runs from light brown to dark chocolate brown, sometimes with a purplish cast and darker streaks, while the sapwood is creamy white and is usually supplied steamed to darken it. Color can shift from board to board, so ask to see several finished doors together, in the finish you’d order.
Can walnut cabinets be stained or painted?
That page says walnut holds paint and stain very well for an exceptional finish. That’s its view of the wood. It isn’t a promise about a particular finish or cabinet line. What shows up on your doors depends on the line you order and how its finish is applied, so ask about both, and ask to see the result on a finished door rather than a chip.
Does every cabinet have to be walnut?
No. That group’s trends article says finishing all the hardwood in a kitchen exactly the same way risks monotony, and that staining some of it, the island for example, while painting the rest of the cabinets avoids that. How much walnut your own room can carry is a question for your designer, with finished samples in hand. One piece can be enough.
Are walnut kitchen cabinets in style?
Style changes, and it’s personal. That trends article quotes a sales manager at a cabinet maker who says the maker is often asked for a dark-stained cherry or black walnut island with white-painted maple cabinets around it. That’s one maker’s experience, not a rule about kitchens. Choose the look you want to live with, and ask to see it in samples first.
Will Kitchen Design Partners help me choose walnut cabinets?
Yes. Design planning and custom cabinetry selection are part of what we offer. The first step is to contact us to schedule an appointment. We’ll discuss your needs, tour our showroom and start developing a customized design plan. In the showroom you can explore different kitchen layouts, styles and materials.
Settle the Walnut Before the Cabinets Are Drawn
Kitchen Design Partners specializes in kitchen and bath design, remodeling, custom and semi-custom cabinetry, countertops and tile, and guides each choice in the right order.
How much walnut the room can carry is easier to settle while the drawings are still open. The finish and the sample you judge it by belong in that same discussion. On paper, a change is a conversation. After the order goes in, there’s less room to change your mind.
Bring the photos that started the search and schedule a design consultation to look at walnut kitchen cabinets next to your own floors and your own light. Our Northbrook showroom lets you explore layouts and materials while you compare.
