I know what you need to achieve. But to achieve what you want, you need to understand the thing you trying to protect. Wood veneer is is merely a layer of thin wood. It is not solid wood. Veneers are already treated with water-resistant properties.

If you want to further protect it, I would recommend a thin coat (or maybe 2, max) of lacquer.

Forget shellac. These are coloring from the lac bug found on trees. You will never get a consistent color from 2 different bottles. Imagine your cabinet have different tone of color... yucks.

Oil, or namely mineral oil is not a permanent protection. It has to be reapplies every few months 3-4 months. You sayang the cabinet now coz it is new. You rajin go oil it now. I see you still rajin after 1 year or not laaa. Anyway, mineral oil is for use to protect such end-grain cutting board.

Yup. A more natural matte finish. At certain angle it does reflect light and looks glossy, but not up close. try it on some other wood and take a look.

There is a trick to apply lacquer. After every coat, you need to "scrub" with the reverse side of a sand paper (cloth type). Basically a rough cloth.