I’m building cabinets for a neighbor with Red Oak. I’m doing this as cheap as possible and had intended to just apply clear poly. I have some variation of color, light red, pink, light brown, and some almost white Oak color.As I lay out the unassembled panels (that I must finish before assembly) there appears to be more of an overall light color look with more variation in the rails and stiles than the panels. I’m not referring to extreme variations but enough that I’m concerned it may be too much. While I’m doing this cheap I still don’t want the cabinets to look bad. I don’t work with Oak that much, more accustomed to Cherry.

Will the color even out over time. Can some color variation be expected? What is the least labor intensive way to equalize the color?

Thanks very much, Arnold