Special Walnut vs Dark Walnut
Special Walnut is a warm medium-dark brown; Dark Walnut goes both darker and cooler, with far less of Special Walnut's gold warmth.
Pick Special Walnut for a warmer, more traditional furniture-brown look.
Pick Dark Walnut for the darker, cooler tone common on modern cabinets and floors.
How close are they?
Delta-E (perceptual color distance) between Special Walnut and Dark Walnut is 18.5 (a clearly distinguishable difference once you see them next to each other).
Side by side
| Special Walnut | Dark Walnut | |
|---|---|---|
| Brand and line | Minwax Wood Finish | Minwax Wood Finish |
| Color code | 224 | 2716 |
| Stain type | oil | oil |
| Hex (approx.) | #6B4028 | #402A20 |
| Lightness (L*) | 32 | 19 |
| Undertone | warm medium-dark brown, balances gold and walnut | deep cool-neutral brown |
Special Walnut is the lighter of the two by about 12 points of lightness on a 0 to 100 scale, so Dark Walnut will hide more of the wood's own grain and color on the same board. Hex values are on-screen approximations of each published swatch; confirm on a test board of your own wood before committing.
How each behaves on pine, oak, maple and cabinets
Pine
Special Walnut: Pine's grain runs soft and uneven in density, so Special Walnut (a thin, deep-penetrating oil stain) is prone to blotching here unless the wood gets a pre-stain conditioner first.
Dark Walnut: Pine's grain runs soft and uneven in density, so Dark Walnut (a thin, deep-penetrating oil stain) is prone to blotching here unless the wood gets a pre-stain conditioner first.
Oak
Special Walnut: Oak's large, open pores soak up an oil stain like Special Walnut unevenly in a good way: it settles into the grain and makes the natural texture pop rather than looking flat.
Dark Walnut: Oak's large, open pores soak up an oil stain like Dark Walnut unevenly in a good way: it settles into the grain and makes the natural texture pop rather than looking flat.
Maple
Special Walnut: Maple is dense and tight-grained with almost no texture to hide unevenness, so Special Walnut blotches badly here without a conditioner or a test board first. This is the wood oil stains struggle with most.
Dark Walnut: Maple is dense and tight-grained with almost no texture to hide unevenness, so Dark Walnut blotches badly here without a conditioner or a test board first. This is the wood oil stains struggle with most.
Cabinets
Special Walnut: On cabinet doors, an oil stain like Special Walnut can lap-mark where one panel overlaps the next during application; wipe fast and work one door at a time to keep the color even.
Dark Walnut: On cabinet doors, an oil stain like Dark Walnut can lap-mark where one panel overlaps the next during application; wipe fast and work one door at a time to keep the color even.