[miamicanes]

If I were to hang birch Akurum wall cabinets above a birch Galant desk, would it look bad if I used ONLY the (allegedly) birch-ish frames, and didn't cover them with "official" birch side panels and Adel doors?

By some miracle, is undercabinet molding suitable for hiding undercabinet fluorescent lights from direct view available from someone like Home Depot or Lowe's in a "birch-y" finish that's close enough to the cabinets' native "birch" finish and/or the desk/side-panel "birch" finish to use?

Is it safe to assume that if I wanted to have birch Jarpa shelves butt up against the side of a birch-frame wall cabinet, an officially-birch side panel would be necessary to keep it from looking bad (since the two slightly-different finishes would be in direct contact with each other and easy to compare side by side)?

If I (or someone else) were seated at a Galant desk with about 20-24" of open space between the desktop and wall cabinet bottom, would it look seriously bad/weird? Or are the bottoms finished well enough that between the undercabinet lights and narrow view angle, it wouldn't be likely to be a big deal?

OK, now what if I decided to go with a BEECH Galant desk? I know in that case the side panels and doors would be absolutely mandatory... but would the overall effect be pleasant to look at? Or would there be lots of spots where the underlying birch-effect frames showed and made it look bad?

[Dave of the Coonties]

Ikea's birch veneer on Akurum, Billy, and other cabinets is hard to tell from solid wood. The Billy veneer doors are particularly sneaky.

The birch veneer side panels are almost certain to make a handsomer installation than the birch-effect cabinet sides, unless those sides are scarcely visible. I do have a Danish credenza that's cherry on top and on the front, but melamine fake-cherry on the sides. Very sneaky.

I haven't looked at a Jarpen shelf, but I assume the birch veneer looks like Ikea's others. I'd rather have it up against more veneer.

The Perfekt "rounded deco strip" can be used to hide under-cabinet lighting or as a crown molding. It comes in birch veneer, etc.

I think Ikea's beech veneer looks a lot like "beech effect" but that may just be me. An Akurum cabinet with beech door and side panels won't show any birch (or white), unless you open the door.