A Wood Floor that will Look Good Beside Braz.Cherry

15 years ago

We have our family room, dining room and hall done in a 3-inch, glossy brazillian cherry. We're redoing the kitchen now and have really wanted to put wood in there, but because our BC floor shows everything, and particularly the scratches we've incurred, we had given up on putting a wood floor in the kitchen. (the BC floor doesn't scratch a lot, but where it has, the scratches are really, really noticeable).

This weekend I was back in the floor store to check out some options suggested to me in another floor post. And I had an 'aha' moment thanks to the floorgirl! She pointed out to me the different wood floors that had been installed there in the store -about 20. While the BC and some lookalikes definately showed scratches, almost all of the other floors looked almost new! So we have decided that we can have wood in the kitchen afterall, just not BC. I'll take a few extra pieces of our existing floor to the store to help narrow down the search, but I wondered if anyone had recommendations that I could specifically look at. Of course I'll bring samples home.

So my question is, what floor would look really great beside the existing BC? The BC in the family room borders the kitchen, running parallel to a five-foot opening along the wall dividing the two rooms. Should we stick with the 3-inch planks? What wood species might look best with it? We definately want matte in the kitchen. If you have a specific floor that you love for its durability and think that might look good with the BC, I would love to hear about it. The family room butts up to the kitchen in an open doorway about 5 feet across, and also in another door-sized doorway.

Thank you so much!

(cross-posted to the HomeDec Forum)

Featured Answer

PRO

National Hardwood Flooring & Supplies

7 years ago

How about maple that would be a great contrast next to the bc. In our area (Chicago) lots of older homes used maple in the kitchen because it is a harder wood, oak in the rest. Few pictures with maple and bc.

Brazilian Cherry and Maple with Medallion inlay · More Info

Brazilian Cherry and Maple with Medallion inlay · More Info

Brazilian Cherry tread with Maple riser · More Info

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Comments (11)

palimpsest
15 years ago
I would not mix wood-with-wood like that.
susanlynn2012
15 years ago
I would put a Porcelain Tile floor in the kitchen or a BC floor that is not glossy so it would be easier to clean. Anything glossy takes more work to keep clean. I bought a beautiful glossy monitor that needs constant upkeep to take the dust off of it but I still love the look. My matt black phone does not get as dusty or smeary but is not as pretty.
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Many will say that over time, the scratches give the floor a patina. I'm not really into that patina look, but it's a given, scratches on a wood floor go hand in hand. That's why when we laid our floors, the question we had wasn't how much will they scratch, but how many times can they be refinished. We opted for 3/4 inch planks of Brazillian Walnut in our kitchen because they could be sanded several times over the life of the floor. Like the cherry this is a darker wood, but the planks are NOT stained, they are dark wood all the way through so refinishing just means, sanding out the scratches & putting on a poly finish. If you opt for a Brazillian Cherry that is a solid cherry 3/4 inch plank, (and not just cherry stained) you will be able to sand them several times over the life of the floor, not just once or maybe twice as is the option with Engineered Wood. I'm guessing you have, but if you haven't checked out Lumber Liquidators already, you may want to see what they have to offer, that's were we got our floors from and it was pretty reasonable. Also, maybe this is just personal taste, but for reasons of continuety, I would use the same plank size you currently have installed in the other rooms.
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Groomingal beat me to it - that con list is hardly accurate - especially given the variety of woods and finishes available. Certainly the type of wood and how it is finished can make a difference but we had major damage with a fridge leak on tile - not the floor as it was a morter base but the wall and joists that the water ran through and under. Leaks like that do far more than damage the flooring most of the time since they can be hidden. We have a big golden with longer nails because the fleshy part of her nail is longer than normal. Not a mark on our floors - Pre-finished (because of the dog)Braz. Cherry. Our old oak floors - quite a bit softer - did have nail marks from two goldens but plenty of other things ding softer floors and tend to be part of the patina. BUt if you want pristine looking floors you need to go for higher hardness numbers. They certainly seem impervious to water too - an ice cube that melted and stayed on overnite - did not change the surface at all. My sister does have a cheaper brand of engineered wood and that is not so impervious. A glass of water spilled and it looked pretty bad - still even that was fixed with high heat drying fans - it has a slight raise on the edges but not noticeable. Any floor product can be damaged by lots water if it is not dealt with quickly. I admit if our floor plan did not dictate all one type of flooring I would have done tile in the kitchen - but that is because I just love tile and wanted a place to use some Porcelanosa I fell in love with. However, I have been happier than I expected with the Hardwood and it is warmer and softer underfoot.
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Hi ca mom, I'm not sure my situation will help you much, but I'm happy to post pics... I have natural red oak floors, American Cherry cabinets in the kitchen and painted Dove White cabinets in the pantry/bar, Carrara perimeters and American Cherry (Waterlox'd) island top and pantry/bar top. I, too was worried about having too many different wood species. We'd originally debated a bunch of different species for the island top, but in the end decided to stick with the same species as the cabinets, since the oak floors were already right there and we were worried that adding another color and grain pattern into the mix would just be too much. In the end we really like it. The island top is different enough from the cabinets, in it's heft and slightly different sheen of finish, that it doesn't read as a huge monolithic block like weer were worried it might. People always comment on how much they love it when they walk in. Here are some (old) pics. These are pre-trim and pre-backsplash and the pantry isn't grouted yet nor the desk drawers installed. I'm sorry I have been posting the same old pics for over a year now... We're waiting for a few cabinets to be fixed by the cabinetmaker, and I PROMISE that I'll take new pics after that's finally complete.
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Hi We have cream cabs and bra. cherry floor. gotta say - they show everything and if I did it again that is the one major thing I would NOT repeat. but when they are clean they look lovely with the cabs. good Luck. this is the best picture I can find and it doesn't show much of the floor.
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stir_fryi SE Mich
15 years ago
I also would not like different woods, side by side.

That said, I have dark, high gloss BC in my kitchen -- it only looks clean for about one hour after I wash it. Then it shows every drip, smear, dust, smudge, etc....
bestyears
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks all. We really prefer wood to the tile, so I'm determined to find something that will look good beside it. Stir_fryi -that is exactly why I don't want it in the kitchen. Though I have to tell you, since I've started using a steamcleaner, I have no more smudges! Yay!
susanlynn2012
15 years ago
I would install a solid Brazilian Cherry Floor that is a matt finish like Mirage's Cashmere finish in the 3" wide plank if you would like to stay with wood.
bestyears
Original Author
15 years ago
Thank you for that suggestion Lynn -I'm off to check it out!
susanlynn2012
15 years ago
bestyears, here is a link for Mirage Solid Brazilian Cherry HardWood Floors in 3.25" wide Cashmere or Semi-Gloss Finish. I guess it now comes in the more modern 3.25" wide plank size which is close enough to the 3" wide size.

A client's daughter had 2.5" wide solid oak floors in her dining room and tore up her rug and added 3.25" wide solid oak floors in her living room. The floors but up against one another with that wood type of room separator in oak in between them. Both floors have a natural finish and they look great together. I only realized they were a different width since I brought my ruler as I was trying to decide what width I would want for my hardwood flooring. I loved both widths but preferred the 3.25" width.

There is someone who posts and shows her beautiful floors that are the engineered 2 9/16th cashmere finish and she claims they are very easy to keep clean due to the matt finish. I believe her based on my experience with matt versus glossy.

I still love semi-gloss floors but I try to stay away from high gloss flooring unless that is the only finish the flooring came in and I was in love (like if I decided to get a laminate floor, I do love the Bruce Park Avenue line and may ignore my own rule but I still fear a glossy floor would be difficult to keep clean with so many clients visiting me during my busy time).

I had samples of both the cashmere and the semi-gloss in my home of Mirage and the cashmere did stay clean looking despite walking on the samples for a few days. I still love the semi-gloss but if I was putting a floor in the kitchen, I would want a matt floor or at least not a high gloss floor unless I was buying a laminate floor.

Here is a link that might be useful: Mirage Solid Brazilian Cherry HardWood Floors in 3.25
Belinda Kindschi
7 years ago
We are facing this very question: What wood can we put next to our high gloss Brazilian cherry. Best Years, what did you do? Would you recommend the same?
PRO
National Hardwood Flooring & Supplies
7 years ago
sorry just realized this was an older post
Belinda Kindschi
7 years ago
Thank you, it was and older post that I stumbled upon but had the same question. Thank you for your thoughts! I will look into maple for sure.

A Wood Floor that will Look Good Beside Braz.Cherry

National Hardwood Flooring & Supplies

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palimpsest

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A Wood Floor that will Look Good Beside Braz.Cherry

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