I went out to the flooring stores today and came back more confused. First, I realized that I should only get a sample of the specific flooring I want (including thickness and company), not just the wood species. The same species looks a lot different from different manufacturers and even from different production methods (engineered vs solid, etc). When I got home I realized that I was probably going to fail at matching the natural cherry to something, because the cherry will darken with age! So even if I found something today that I liked, things will be different in a year. So I have decided to go back to the amendoim after all. It does have a reddish tone, without being dark and red like the Brazilian cherry. And I do not want all cherry anyway - I am going to use cherry cabinets (stained a dark color, but still cherry). So I expect it will all work out in the end. I have read posts where people have cherry furniture on amendoim flooring, and they love the combination. I always assumed they meant the "cherry" furniture that is really ash or birch stained the dark red color. But now I realize even a natural cherry will end up getting to the darker color over the years. Ah, how easy it is to drive myself crazy with all of the litte decisions (reminding myself that this is not life-or-death). Good luck, willienak.

You probably don't want to hear from me, because I agree with your dh for 2 reasons...I do think it'd be tough to get a dark floor color that wouldn't compete with and create a very dark overall feel with the dark burgundy cabs...But also, we have Brazilian Cherry floors, which I didn't think were that dark on the samples, but are too dark for me in practical, everyday life. Any of the slightest scratches look white...and these come from anyplace furniture sits on it, anything is moved across them with any tiny bit of sand on it, and from normal movements of pets and family. Also, the dust and pet hair seems to be magnified. They just never look clean...and look dirtier than a lighter floor might. Just a heads up so that you might not be disappointed later, like I am. You might consider something like oak with a darker stain put on so that the grain and some color variation is allowed to show through. This could be a happy medium for you and your dh on the lightness and darkness issue, would allow the dark, solid burgundy cabinets to stand out, and solve the dirt and scratch-hiding issues, too.

Just lost internet and my message - Grrr I really struggled with this as well. I didn't want to replace the floor, so sanded and coated- no stain. It is oak but not solid oak(I think it would bring called an oak laminate- probably has 8-18 years of life left) Everything looked like we were trying to match but failed. The floor has a lot of variation in it. If I started from scratch- I would have more contrast similar to badgergal.

Fori, I think FritzCat would object to being replaced by an orange tabby so we will really have to stay with modern/contemporary rather than vintage. ;) Jerzeegirl, yes, a lighter colored wood will likely show wear and tear more than something darker (as long as one doesn't go all the way to black) and with more pattern. But the light floor seems to work best with the cherry. Actually - our last floor (beech) was almost as light as the maple and the scratches didn't get bad until some time between 10 and 15 years. Then we refinished and that didn't hold up as long as the original factory finish. My husband is even more anti-bevel than I am. I did pick up a sample of the Mirage with micro-bevels today so we can talk about it. I've noticed even on the sample boards that I can feel a slight level difference between the square edged boards. The salesman today claimed that the bevel was also an advantage because sand that got tracked in would tend to settle into the bevels until it was vacuumed up instead of sitting on the surface where it could grind against the finish. We aren't on slab. The tract MCM houses like Eichler and Streng were normally (always?) on slab, but our house has a raised foundation. The back patio and pool area is higher than the ground under the house so that there is no going from the living room or family room to the patio so when people see that, they sometimes think the house is on slab.