I’ve built some cabinets for my home office.  These are built-in and have two heights – normal desk top height on either side of the center window, lower height in front of the window to match its window sill.

The cabinets and drawers are done but I need counter tops.   My thought was to get some walnut slabs so I could preserve the live edge for the fronts.  Depending on the slab I would glue up pieces to get the desired depth.  I like the dark chocolate color and walnut would be more than durable enough.

I found a local sawmill that has nice walnut, but for a prohibitive price.  They also have pecan, though at a more reasonable price.

The question is, does pecan take stain well?  Can I manage to achieve the darker color while preserving the beauty and avoiding blotching and other issues?

Any advice or tips would be much appreciated.