Matching stain to 20 year old vanity

[Featman]

Hi,

I have a nice 5 ft bathroom maple vanity. It is 20 years old. The finish on the doors became worn down from years of handling. The company was kind enough to send me new doors. The problem is that the light colored new doors are a stark mismatch to the uniform honey gold of the existing vanity and drawers. 
Any suggestions on how to prep and which stain to try?

I’d greatly appreciate some guidance. 
Thank you,

Richard

[wtnhighlander]

some photos might prompt better advice.

Without knowing what original finish is on the carcase of the vanity, my first suggestion would be to sand one of the old doors clean, and use it as a test-bed for stain / finish combinations to match the color. I suspect that the 'honey-gold' may simply be natural darkening from UV exposure. You may be able to match it fairly close with stain, but be aware that the stained doors won't darken so much in tbe future, so the colors could drift apart over the years. I can only suggest refinishing the entire vanity to manage that.

[Featman]

Here is a photo of the existing darker drawers next to the new doors. 
Thanks

[gee-dub]

Well, obviously the figure in the lighter colored sample is running perpendicular to the original and there's no changing that.  As far as colorants, the maker can probably give you an assist as far as finish product or color codes.  If not, my knee-jerk approach would be to get a sample board of hard maple, sand to a similar level and try Minwax Colonial Maple or Honey Maple to start.

[Chestnut]

I personally feel it'll be easier to fix the finish on the old door than strip sand and prep the new doors then play trial and error on matching color. Getting all the finish out of the door detail so the wood will take color will be hard. On top of that maple botches something awful and the color you do get on won't be even....

The color difference is likely just 20 years of age.

[drzaius]

When I renovated our maple kitchen, the new maple obviously did not match the old. I used a water based dye to give the wood a yellowish tone, then used tinted water based poly to sneak up on the right tone. 10 years later you still can't tell the old from the older.

[Ronn W]

Remember that just coloring the new will not show you how it will match the old.  You can only tell that it you completely finish the sample piece.