Majjie's Blog

I exchanged e-mails recently with a lady who was looking for modern, walnut effect doors for her kitchen. She was actually looking for a high gloss finish and was interested in vinyl or laminate doors ... but one of her comments was that the description "walnut" was given to a huge range of finishes including light and dark woodgrain effects. Have a look at these two "walnuts" from Re-Nu Doors, for instance:

So why are walnut finishes so variable?  Well the answer is that walnut timbers are equally variable, so any walnut effect door could be imitating any of a number of different timbers ... not all of them true walnuts.

When I wrote Part 1 of my Timber Worktops Guide I said that I might do a part 4 about what is and what isn't walnut. So here it is (although I haven't called it Part 4!).

Most of the beautiful, dark, real walnut that you see in kitchens as doors or worktops is American Black Walnut from the tree species Juglans nigra. Here is a worktop from Norfolk Oak (I mentioned how passionate their Jamie Everett seemed about his timber in my previous blogs):

And here is a kitchen with American Black Walnut doors (by Marpatt):

Juglans nigra isn't the only walnut tree species, though. There is a European walnut Juglans regia (which wasn't originally a European native but was imported from Asia), a Chinese or Manchurian walnut Juglans mandshurica and many other Juglans species. Some of these walnuts give good quality timber but most of it is paler and softer than Black American walnut.

The situation is complicated by the fact that there are also many woods that are called "walnut" which are no such thing and which come from trees of different species ... and different genera ... they're not Juglans species at all. These are usually called "African walnut" although searching the internet I also came across sites supplying what they called "European walnut" but which was also timber sourced from African trees.

"African walnut" comes from three different tree species: Lovoa trichilioides, Coula edulis and Mansonia altissima.

Lovoa trichilioides is the main source of African walnut. It's one of two principal timbers grown in Congo and there is a large amount of illegal logging of this timber. It's also grown in Ivory Coast, Nigeria and in Ghana but export from there is currently banned. It's considered a vulnerable timber on the IUCN Red List.

Coula edulis is also known as Coula walnut and it has an edible nut which has a slight resemblance to a walnut ... hence the name.

Mansonia altissima is sometimes known as African Black walnut, because of the resemblance of it's timber to the real American walnut ... and it's this timber which I've seen described as "European walnut" ... but it is an African native tree also considered vulnerable on the Red List, common in Ghana, Cameroon, Congo and Nigeria. It is also known as Bete.

The profusion of different names, for the trees and their timber, in their native countries, probably also adds to the confusion. I've seen it said that "Tigerwood" is an alternative name for African walnut but I believe this is a timber coming mainly from South American trees ... as is Ipe or Imbuya or "Brazilian walnut", which all come from trees of Tabebuia spp.

So, although confusion reigns ... I hope that helps to explain why there are so many different walnut effect finishes ... and also why it might be important to be clear where your walnut comes from - if you're using the real thing. True Black American walnut is very expensive and that's why so many lesser alternatives are available. I wouldn't turn my nose up at European walnut for worktops (as long as the paler colour fitted in with what I wanted) but I'd want to be sure it was true walnut and not an unrelated, African sourced substitute.

If in any doubt ... and you care about the dwindling rain forests ... then search for legally sourced timber, or ideally for FSC certified timber (see Part 3 of my Timber Worktop Guide) ... whatever your supplier calls it. If you're looking for kitchen units with doors in a dark shade ... but you can't stretch to American Black Walnut ... then consider using stained oak. (Have a look at this kitchen in my gallery).

And what about those walnut effect, modern, high gloss doors? Well they're mainly available as laminates. If you like the darker shades, then look out for "Tobacco Walnut". JJO's Colonial range has a nice one called "Image Tobacco" (although I don't like the orange wall) ...

Crown Imperial also do one ... but the doors have aluminium edges, giving a slightly different feel:

I also like Alno's horizontal grained, gloss walnut, in the Alnochic range:

It's a completely different shade and has a much bolder grain pattern ... and I'm not sure exactly what sort of walnut it's emulating ... but I like it!