Well hope I'm not too late but....we installed Brazillian Walnut in our kitchen and dining room and we've been really happy with it. I don't have the problem of everything showing on this floor any more than on the oak we have in some other areas. The planks have some variation in color so maybe that's why. This is a very solid hard (like teak) wood. We got it at Lumber Liquidators (Bella wood) and installed it ourselves, but they have installers they can recommend too (if you don't have one already). The first is a more recent pic, the floor is 10 years old. One huge plus with this particular floor is that it is not stained, it's this color all the way through so it will always look like this. When the time comes all we have to do is lightly sand it and revarnish. No staining involved. Furniture wise, our house insn't real large, so we just have pieces we love, an old farm table I've refurbished and an old cabinet both painted white. I don't think a floor type necessarily limits you, especially if it's wood.

Marybeth1, Thanks for letting me know. I wonder if I can find an engineered version of Quartersawn White Oak floors with a Nutmeg stain? I really love the look a lot. I wish I did not have a concrete sub-floor. Do you have any close-up pictures? Your hardwood floors are so rich looking and beautiful. Only a few more weeks I hope until I must make a decision and get started on my floors.

Well....dark floors with white cabs makes my heart go pitter-patter. That's the pics I was drawn to every time during the design process. While I didn't go with ebony floors, I did choose a dark brown. The contrast is lovely, and it has that old house look to me.

Another comment about dark hardwood floors. I like the look but I wouldn't want them. My sister put dark engineered wood floors in her condo. She hates them b/c they show everything. They never look clean. We put in lightly whitewashed white oak floors in our house (everywhere but the bathrooms) when we remodeled and I love them. Like others have said, they show nothing, even with our cat and two kids. During our remodel we stayed in a couple of places with medium stained wood floors which showed more than our current floors but not too much. I wouldn't go darker than a medium stain.