Hi! I am new-and trying so hard to choose a great hardwood floor for my kitchen and dining room (about 300 square feet). We have a foyer which has a cherry stained maple wood-this floor leads into the kitchen and I'd like to match it. I have looked at oak and ash but really do prefer the look of the maple! My question is-is it crazy to have maple wood with three children under the age of 5? I've read that it shows dents and scratches easily. Should I stick with an oak or an ash instead? Thanks for your tips!

Oak nor Ash will never match maple. So you will either need to select a floor based on you desire for durability or the desire to have it match. Which is more important to you? All wood floors will dent and scratch. The heavily grained woods just show it less than finely grained woods. Ash is comparable to maple in the Janka hardness test with oak a little less hard. Have you looked at some of the exotic imports? There maybe a more durable wood that will match your existing floors better. Check this out:
http://www.hardwoodinstaller.com/hardwo ... arquet.htm
http://www.hardwoodinstaller.com/hardwo ... lid-34.htm

Thank you for your response! I really like the look of the Brazillian Cherry and Tigerwood (and the color appears to be right on) as well as the Natural Merbau, but no one seems to carry these around here for me to get a sample. It's hard to tell just from looking at the pictures. The foyer floor is on the dark side-are these woods pretty dark? The cherry stained maple in the Bruce line is the color I need....I don't know. Anyone know if the merbau, braz. cherry or tigerwood are close to this?