We are remodeling our kitchen. Our Oak floor has never been sanded,(recoated yes) and has turned orange. Due to removing center island and a few walls we have some areas that need to be addressed. We were planning on sanding the whole floor and feathering in areas where the walls were previously. Contractor says since the floors have aged orange, even if sanded, the color will eventually come back. The unfinished floor under the former center island he said will not blend with the rest of the floor when refinished...since the orange section of the flooring will not age the same as the unfinished part of the floor that will now be showing and it will look like a big square patch. He said the same holds true for feathering the areas where the walls once were, not to mention all the labor. He also said for the work to sand, feather and refinish, we would be better served to just rip-up and put down new oak.

Does this sound right? it is about 750 sq feet and I don't want to risk ruining a very expensive kitchen remodel to save a few bucks.

Thanks for any help or advise.

It is hard to answer your question without seeing the floor. The age of the existing wood, condition, and environmental exposure all affect the color, or patina, of your floor.
When you say contractor, is it a building contractor or flooring contractor?
I recommend calling a couple of wood flooring contractors and asking for their opinions.
As for

That is a common occurrence with an oil based polyurethane finish.
When new wood is woven (laced, "feathered"?) in with the existing, it can color differently, and it is up to the flooring professional to make it match.

yes, it is a flooring contractor that is telling me this. He said there are several unknowns. First, while he can feather in new wood to fix areas that need to be patched it might look good in the beginning but age differently from the existing floor that has been down for 20 years. These feathered areas and the bare wood that was never treated with oil based poly that were underneath cabinets that now have been moved may eventually not take the poly the same and eventually look like a patched floor in time. He said the wood that has been down has been exposed to years of the environment, poly, and wood oils have dried that to predict that they will age at the same rate as new feathered wood and previously untreated wood is not likely to occur and we might not like the results down the road. Even by sanding the entire floor to bare wood.

He is telling you the only way he can guarantee the floor will perfectly match is to pull it all up and put a new one down.
There are a lot of variables in wood.
A summer cut will have different color than a winter cut.
Regional growth differences will affect the grain and stain absorption of the wood.
The age of the tree will affect the stain absorption.

Environmental conditions are paramount during the growth of the tree and the life of the existing floor.
I have removed original flooring from one room of a home to repair another room and because of the specific conditions in each room over the life of the home, the wood did not match.

If you want perfect floors in a perfect kitchen, replace them.
If you will be having dogs chasing children while the children are dragging chairs, stools, cars, trains, blocks, buggies and each other, well...

I think the real question you are asking is, "Exactly how noticeable of a difference will there be between the woods?"

So ask him that question.

Yes, I think you are right. The floors are grade #2 oak....so if it were a board here and there I think it would be fine...the variance would just be part of the floors natural varied colors. In the middle of the old kitchen was a center island. Under that island is the original unfinished oak. Taking away that island now leaves us a big unfinished section in the middle of the kitchen surrounded by aged, orange looking oak. He is saying that center island area may initially blend in once the entire floor is sanded but may age different from the other parts of the floor since it was never exposed or polyurethaned. I guess the cost of new oak would be about 8/ft and the cost to sand and refinish would be about 3-4/ft so the difference really is 4-5/ft. Thanks for your help. I know I am going to go for the new floor because i will have too much invested in this project to end up having a bad outcome.