Is there a doorway that separates the kitchen and the dining room? If there is a doorway (even without a door), you probably have more options. We struggled with the decision about combining different wood flooring - we wanted wood in the kitchen and dining room (basically, one large room), but didn't want to go with the same wood that was in the adjoining living room (2 doorways separate the rooms - no doors). We wound up using 3 1/2 inch red oak (Mercier - stained), which butt up to the 2 1/2 red oak (unstained). Wasn't sure how it would all work, but it looks fine. We also have Omega mandarin cherry cabs, btw. I looked for a photo that shows the lr floor and the kitchen/dr floor, but don't seem to have any that show both. Here's a link to a shot of the floors and cabinets, fyi:

Here is a link that might be useful: Flooring with cabinets

danntanna,

Your redo is wonderful! Such clean lines! Your reply is so helpful! I am considering a 3.5 against a 2.5 width also, and your color choice looks fantastic with the mandarin cabinetry. May I ask what stain the red oak is? Also - your cabinet pulls are exactly what I hope to get for ours. Did you use all the same length for dif cabinet widths or adjust the lengths, and may I ask what company you purchased them from?

Btw, the only part of the honey colored white oak that abutts the kitchen floor is the corner doorway (open), but there is still the danger of shiny new prefinished floor dulling out our site finished to match older wood floor. The finish carpenter showed me options for softening the transition, though. We were considering a natural maple, but I really do like your stain on the red oak.

Thanks for the pix!

Jubilee

Jubilee,
Thanks for the kind words. The floors are from Mercier, the finish/stain is called Whiskey (they were prefinished). I'll include the link to the manufacturers website below. One thing that helped deciding on floor color and width was bringing home tons of samples. I went to every flooring store in our area and tried out dozens of different styles and finishes. I had to special order the Mercier sample because I could not find a sample anywhere - it's still sitting in my garage (along with a mandarin door sample). Check the samples out in different lighting conditions to see which one you like the most. When I first started looking, I thought I would go with a more exotic wood, but the oak looked the best.

Regarding the cabinet pulls, they are all the same length - on all the doors and drawers. It's been a while since they were installed, and I cannot recall who makes them. My cabinet guy had some display boards available and I loved one of the styles he had on the floor. I'll check to see if I have it written down anywhere.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mercier floor link

Thanks a million! I have not taken the time to order samples by mail, though I have brought the ones available home. Just had "a few ounces" of the whiskey, though, so it is great to see a whole floor next to "our" cabinets! I know with the mandarin cabinets I triple checked in our own lighting - as it looks so orangey under store fluorescents - they reddened up under sunlight exposure and I just love them! Have the shaker style as well.

Thanks for your timely reply, as my contractor crew reappeared and are champing at the bit!

If you do come across your pull style or company, let me know, but don't spend a lot of time on it.

Julie

Do you like the red oak or the yellowish oak better? Which one looks better to you with the cherry cabinets? That's the one you should go with, in my opinion. EXCEPT that the floor should not be the same value as the cabinets. It should be either lighter or darker.

Wood going from one room to another, even if there is a doorway there, should definitely be the same wood, for flow.

Hi miss marble,

Herein lies the rub: white oak matches, but I rather like other woods more against my cabinets. I am torn between red oak,which many people on the boards seem to like a great deal, but would clash with the white oak somewhat, or a shade that picks up the more yellowish tones of the white oak - such as natural maple or yellow birch. Sometimes I think I like the white oak best, but don't know that it is the best choice for my blue pearl countertop.

Anybody mismatch their k floor between two other flooring surfaces and live to regret it? (It's only a few feet where the white oak would interface on one side, and the red oak stairway going down to family room on the other.)

My finish carpenter tells me that multi-million-dollar homes connect different finishes of wood all over the place with only thresholds in between.

Thanks marble - anybody else wish to weigh in?

oops, I was wrong about the pulls. Doors have 6 inch pulls, drawers have 9 inch pulls.

Thanks, danntanna. I sort of figured the door pulls would be smaller. Nice to know the length of the drawer ones. Can you use them as towel holders? (or would you?)

Jubilee, I guess I'll revise my remarks a bit by saying that I'm only going by what my designer taught me about the flow thing... Our house is not huge, it's a medium 2600 sf 2-story, so in essence the downstairs really is not that big. I wanted to mix like that, and she said in a small area (or at least not a LARGE area!) not to have so many different floorings. To avoid patchiness. To give flow, so it, well, flows. And seems larger and more cohesive. I have to say lately looking at model homes, her advice has been borne out as I've seen the same wood flowing throughout houses, with small amounts of carpet and stone here and there. Your carpenter is probably right, but he's probably also talking about very large houses, so that is a different story (than my house). I don't know if yours is a big house or normal house. Also, my own experience has been that the very best and most talented carpenters and cabinetmakers I've had, have not been especially genius at interior design, so I've learned to turn to my designer for design advice, and pretty much take their design advice with a grain of salt. Maybe yours is different than mine have been...

Yes I have lived to regret two different floorings in abutting rooms. We had existing yellowish oak in kitchen/family room/hall/powder room (most of downstairs), and added pinkish-yellowish oak to an adjoining study. Actually it was the same wood, just ten years younger. I thought it would blend. It didn't. Since the ten year old floor was pretty grunged, we had someone distress the whole thing, including the brand new... and this included re-staining them to a really warm and mellow toasty color. Now they all match, and I absolutely love it, and have to say my designer was right about flow.

I wonder if a solution like that might work for you, then you could have exactly the color you want, and flow as well. It cost me just over $2K to have the whole thing done, and I live in expensive Southern California. Now that I have seen it done, I think I could do it myself if I wanted to work hard.

Yikes, Miss marble, am so glad you posted your additional thoughts. Now I AM nailbiting, because I was on the verge of picking up phone and calling in an order "thinking it will just all blend". There is a most beautiful flooring - a select birch - an intermingle of subtle oak-looking grains with a very light reddish tint and golds and creams, that blend well together (at least in the sample!) without dramatic contrasts and that set off the cabinets well. The danger is that, even with threshold visual interrupt, it will "outshine" that mellow toasty color you describe.

I revisited my tile possibilities and got talked out of it by my my carpenters because of the span of the room (18x20) even with a sturdy subfloor beneath.

But much better to have this input before I order! Thank you.

You're welcome, hope I didn't complicate things, but you're right, it is best to look at it from all views. There's always an answer, and there's one here as well.