Thank you very much for the informative reply, JFCWood.

For the finish, I plan to use a hard wax oil finish; I am leaning towards Osmo. So would the water popping method still work on the oak wood to keep it from becoming too grainy?

The santos mahogany has a lovely grain, but it will be too red for us. I'm going for a color that looks like Gunstock, but slightly darker. So not that much red and not quite that dark.

That's good to know that you have not seen any problems with the hickory wood. Do you think it could handle water spills in a kitchen?

You're somewhat out of my area of expertise since I so far have little experience with oil finish. I do believe that I've seen recommendation to water pop before applying Rubio Monocoat (which I'm seriously considering using on my own floor) but I don't know if it would help darken the hard grain since the oil finish has to be buffed extensively to remove excess.
Wood and water don't mix but some woods (like Teak or Ipe) are better than others. The finish is the key. Many oil finish makers recommend their finishes in kitchens. I am skeptical but I have to be because if I recommend it to one of my customers and it doesn't work out, I'll hear about it and probably have to fix it for free.
The bottom line is that you'll have to get some wood and oil finish sample bottles and make samples before jumping in the deep end.
Good luck!

Thank you, JFCWood. I received the sap hickory samples today and I was unable to get the wood to take the stain as dark as I wanted it to. Is it typically difficult to get sap hickory to stain a darker color? My husband was not impressed with my results.

We are leaning towards the white oak. I have not tried the Rubio, but my samples with the Osmo look really great. I'm still playing around with the color, but I like the effect and depth the finish gives to the wood. I'm still trying to get the white oak to look red instead of yellow, however. Is this possible? The red oak is still under consideration, but I'm worried that the red oak will be too red and at least based on my samples, the wood grain seems a little less prominent on the white oak as opposed to the red. I prefer the less prominent lines. Am I correct on this?

This post was edited by TXBluebonnet11 on Wed, Oct 9, 13 at 1:18

Yes the Red Oak has more prominent grain. If you look at the end of a piece of Red Oak and compare it to White Oak you'll probably notice that the soft grain (spring wood) actually looks like a bundle of tiny straws. Where the spring wood rings meet the wood surface they form depressions that suck up the stain. White Oak has tighter spring wood. This is a good way to identify whether a piece of wood is Red or White Oak.
Still I think it might be easier to get a stain on the Red Oak that counteracts the red (i.e. something with a more greenish cast) than trying to make White Oak look Red.
I have done most of my Hickory floors in natural color or in a medium to light stain. I wouldn't be surprised if it's hard to get it dark.
The only other wood I can think of that might meet your color and variation demands would be Sapele. It's a medium brown with some gold and red hints. It has beautiful grain and really glows when light shines on it. Lots of depth.

Thank you, JFCWood. I am agonizing over this decision and keep going back and forth. I'm driving my husband crazy. Today, I went back to the walnut samples, and I am now leaning towards the walnut again. The only drawback is cost and the fact that it's a softer wood. Can anyone comment on how their walnut floors have worn over time? Is it a bad choice for a kitchen, for example? If I do the walnut, I am looking at going with straight heartwood walnut (I did find a mill that will do this for me) because my spouse cannot live with the mixture in colors that the heartwood and sapwood mix display.

Thank you for the recommendation. I will take a look at the sapele, but my husband is pushing me hard for a decision tomorrow, which leaves me no time to explore other samples.

What steps did you take in prepping the hickory before staining? Hickory can be tricky.
Whiteoak can be tricky as well with the tannins it contains.

What colors / brand of stains are you attempting to use?

Gregmills, I am using Osmo because I want a hard oil wax finish for the floor. The color combinations I've tried are Jatoba, Tabaco and Intensive Black. I did try water popping the hickory, but it didn't seem to make a lot of difference. This is for the sapwood; I would get all sapwood because I don't want the color variations in the floor.

What do you recommend to get the best color in the white oak? If I get the white oak, what is the best way to treat the tannins?

Here is the color we are trying to achieve on the floors.

[Traditional Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by Arnold Architects & Designers Cunningham Welsh Architects LLC

This one is a little lighter, and I think I prefer this one. But my husband prefers the darker wood in the first photo.

[Traditional Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2107) by Chicago Architects & Designers Mandy Brown

This post was edited by TXBluebonnet11 on Wed, Oct 9, 13 at 22:40

Hi! I was wondering what you finally ended up choosing and if you are happy with your decision? We are going with hickory in our new build and are hoping to have a darker brown stain. Just curious what you chose and if it worked out or not.

Thanks!