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I know that this topic has been done to death on here (sorry). And I am not really one to strictly adhere to house decorating "trends", but this stuff is a little bit fascinating to me, in the sense of people's tastes vs. "keeping up with the Jones'".
Here's the situation: we are building a house this summer. We've been watching a LOT of HGTV - especially Property Brothers and Fixer Upper. Fixer Upper is not quite as bad, but in literally EVERY episode of Property Brothers I have seen - they use painted white or very light-gray cabinets. I can't think of an episode in the last 2 years or so that they have installed stained cabinets.
BUT - I have recently talked to 2 home design consultants from 2 separate mass-production stick-built home builders in the Pacific Northwest, and both of them said that the vast majority (one guy said 90%) of all their homeowners want stained cabinets, not painted cabinets.
So, I guess that it really depends on people's desires, but I find it interesting that these 2 separate sets of "experts" are so contrasting in this. I don't know if it's a regional thing (i.e. different tastes in different parts of the country), or if HGTV is clueless as to "real" people's interests, or if maybe the home guys I talked to to make a bigger commission from selling stained-wood cabinets, or maybe for some other reason?
TV is made up. That's the important thing to keep in mind.
There's also a HUGE cost difference between paint grade and stain grade cabinets. Painted cabinets can be slapped together with a drastically lower grade of wood (and mdf in many cases), any sloppy work covered up with caulk/filler and painted over to completely hide it. Stain grade requires a higher grade of wood, high skill in assembly and doesn't fit in the budgets given for those made-up worlds of TV.
What do You like? Ignore everyone else, they are irrelevant to this decision. I vastly prefer stained cabinets, but my budget doesn't allow for it so painted it is.
I've never seen HGTV but I imagine the hosts are sponsored by cabinet companies that are pushing a certain line so that's what the TV hosts use. Go with what you like.
I believe this is quite regional. Here in Texas I see expensive new homes ($650K and up) installing oak cabinets. That would never be done in the Carolinas.
I would always be worried about paint chipping if I had painted cabinets. Although the painted tones of white cabinets on TV and magazines look nice.
I've wondered why people don't get cabinets stained in colors. I've seen in person a home that had white stained kitchen cabinets, the wood trims, baseboards in other rooms were also stained white, or maybe it was a paint wash. But you could see the woodgrain. She said she liked painted woodwork but her husband hated it so this was their compromise.
Personal preference, cost, sponsorship, regional, blah, blah, blah- it's all of them!
But, I can say this-
The overwhelming majority of showcased cabinetry at KBIS this year was "modern" and "painted". Those few that were of the stained variety were "modern" and exotic woods.
Around here, almost every builder - even at lower price points - uses custom cabinets which are delivered unfinished and then painted or stained on site. The painted cabinets actually cost more. The cabinets themselves in paint grade are cheaper, but the labor to paint vs. stain is more.
We chose stained but it looks like nearly everybody else is going with painted.
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