Need advice on finishing kitchen cabinet doors

[Al Kondo]

I am in the process of finishing my kitchen cabinet doors. They are flat and had a veneer which was cracking and in general disrepair. I went to a hardwood dealer and found a 1/8" birch plywood to serve as a veneer over each of the cabinet doors. The wood is very attractive and my wife and I like the light colored wood.

We would like to put something that will bring out the wood. I tried putting some semi-gloss polyurethane on some left over pieces of the wood. It looks ok, but not great. I would like some ideas as to some other options, if any, that I might try to maximize the beauty of this wood.

Thanks, Al Kondo

[m Ransley]

Birch often does not take stain well , and stress grain parts can take stain and be ruined as it will look blotchy. Experiment on scrap. Just a clearcoat on birch is always nice. The wood will darken over time a bit. Water base Poly will darken it little, but Oil base Poly will darken-Amber-yellow it quite a bit over the years. Use gloss for the clearest hardest finish to show the grain.