Hello,
I'm new to the forum, so hopefully I'm posting this correctly and in the right place. We are purchasing a brand new home this winter. The builder has installed select red oak and stained it very dark to match the kitchen cabinetry. Before moving in we want to do two things:
1. Add additional matching red oak in the living room /hallway/staircase
2. Have the existing red oak sanded and stained much lighter. We have kids and a dog and I believe the dark stain will show more dirt and scratches plus it simply isn't our personal taste.

My question for this post is what colors /finishes would people recommend that would be lighter, but wouldn't look out of place with the dark cabinets? One of the bids we received recommended finishing it completely natural with a water-based stain such as Bona Traffic. This sounds reasonable, but I'm hoping to get some other opinions. Please see the link to my album below to view the current floors and kitchen cabinets. Thank you!

http://picasaweb.google.com/nmcapage/FloorsNewHome?authkey=Gv1sRgCNzolf6Ch6q2Tw&feat=directlink

Wow. Black stained floors. Lighting in pictures can vary but it appears that your contractor used something to the effect of Country Colors Black or possibly a solvent based black like Zar . The only black stained floors I have produced were all done with water based black stain and then coated with water borne finish like Basic Coatings street shoe or Bonakemi Traffic. And I totally agree that black flooring shows scratches as if there were a spotlight on them.

I worked in a house similar to yours (based on your pics) and the homeowner chose American walnut flooring which looked very nice even against the kitchen cabinetry.

To approximate that kind of tone on red oak, you might want to start with samples of provincial stain. Provincial is a industry standard color and is considered to be a medium brown which I consider to be right in the middle of the light/dark spectrum

Another industry standard color is Golden Oak which is barely darker than natural oak. It is a very light brown with some yellow in it and approximates the color of naturally aged oak.So you can generally organize stains by :

Natural-Golden Oak-Provincial- Dark Walnut/Ebony

Most of the other colors available are actually blends of these colors with added red pigment >For instance, Early American used to be Provincial stain with red pigment and Special Walnut used to be Dark Walnut with red pigment added to it.

I personally think that anything between natural and provincial would look nice on your flooring.

Nikki, give this virtual room designer a shot and tell me if it works for you. It's pretty easy to use. You can even change the color of the paint on the walls. Oh heck, I just noticed you can change the color of the cabinets as well. Just found it this morning and have been playing around with it.

http://www.wfca.org/Virtual-Room-Designer.aspx

Nice find.Thanks for the link

Great link!~ Very helpful! Thanks so much.

For scuff resistance and a dog the floor guy made the right call.

Natural with bona traffic cant be beat.

You might also try recommending 2 sealer coats followed by 3 coats of traffic(or4).

Should give you some bomb proof non yellowing red oak!