Expert: Kirk Ryan - 3/16/2008

Question
Hi Kirk,

Our kitchen, which is about 4 years old, has a lot of cherry cabinets.  When we put them in, we did not stain these.  Over time they have darkened and have also developed a yellow/reddish luster.  Recently we installed some new cherry cabinets.  In order to match the color, the cabinet maker used a 2 step process of first applying a varnish to the wood and then a stain over the varnish.  The result is that the finish is sort of flat looking and without luster.  The cabinet maker told me that over time the cabinet will still develop the richer luster of the other cabinets because the sun and light will still be able to change the wood just like the unfinished cherry since the wood of the new cabinets was not stained directly - i.e., the stain was applied to the varnish.   My question is, will it?

Answer
Natural wood changes with sun light and air, stains typically do not. If it is a very light stain, over a long period of time you may see a small change. But with natural woods the change is more drastic, within the first year you will notice differences.

I have seen stained units change in color, and get "lighter" with age and sunlight, it just takes a little longer.