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eveningtrain t1_j9ipets wrote

This post has the answer. The finish that you used is causing the color difference. Mineral oil, like any oil finish, soaks into the grain of the wood. It makes it look wet, deep, and sometimes almost translucent. Think about how a drop of oil looks on a piece of paper, and then imagine that soaking in through all the wood fibers. Mineral oil is colorless and doesn’t amber like linseed oil does, but the depth it brings makes the wood dark.

The finish IKEA used is probably a film finish made of some kind of plastic. This post mentions a UV cured finish. It’s likely on the surface of the wood only; these finishes can be crystal clear, adding no color, which is great when wanting a cooler-hued tone to natural wood or to preserve the bright, light color of light colored woods. They might not soak in or make the wood look wet. This accounts for the color difference.

The good thing about mineral oil is that it doesn’t cure. It’s also not super resistant to water. So with use and regular cleaning, it will eventually wear or wash away, and the countertop will look lighter and even dried out. The way my cutting boards and wooden spoons get when they need oiling! Once the countertop is all dry and thirsty looking again, OP can choose a more suitably matched finished than oil was.

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AccomplishedEnergy24 t1_j9jn0et wrote

This is just about 100% right, but just to say two things:

Even with a colorless oil, or the right color (you could take colorless oil and use tints if you had to, to get it the right color) the sheen will likely be wrong, and you will still notice because it will still catch your eye.

It is basically impossible to permanently change the sheen of a non-film forming finish, because the sheen change is done with flatteners (usually silica dust or something) that sit on top of the cured finish[1], and in a non-film forming finish, it will just wipe away ;)

Also

The film finishes still wet (they have to), just not as deep. This is why some of them are not great at bonding, like epoxies - they have trouble wetting the surface, and thus, you only get a mechanical bond instead of a chemical one.

How much they wet can still be noticeable on thinner veneers, depending on the finish/backing.

Normally i'd say 1/8th veneer like this is would be fine, but red oak is very porous, and so it's harder to say.

[1] The final sheen is always determined by what is on top

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