With this job I started off with the kitchen cabinets being a 'honey oak' finish. That's just the natural oak with a clear sealer over them. Frankly, now days that's considered a little but country. I typically work on cabinets like this and change them either a darker look or I paint them an off white with a hand rubbed finish on them. In this case the client wanted them to have a darker look.
Here are some comparison before and after photographs. In this first comparison you can see how much darker we made them. Changing out the door handles made a big difference also. You can also see how the lighting was updated. They had a center fluorescent light and changed to small spots on the ceiling. They also installed a new counter top getting rid of the Formica and using corian. Of course they got a new sink and painted the walls too. This kitchen looks really looks great now with the new updated look and feel.
This last picture is pretty close to how dark and how the tone of the wood really is.
