I have natural cherry cabinets and medium stained oak flooring. IRL there is more difference in tone than shown in the picture. I too have boys, a large dog and a cat. We never had a problem with our 35 lb dog but our 85 lb dog has left claw indentions (not scratches on the finish) all over the house, there is no wood that is hard enough to not mark when that big of a dog digs his claws in. Even with the marks I would not have any other flooring than wood throughout the majority of the house, it cleans up nicely and can eventually be refinished.

Looking at this picture I should really take a new one but the camera isn't working well. The cabinets are darker now and the floor does not have as much red as appears in the photo. Both the cat and dog blend in with the floor so it hides fur well, can't say the same thing for our rugs.

{{!gwi}}

Beautiful pics, thanks! Keep them coming please - I need inspiration!

athomeinva - you touched on my biggest concern...which is just about every dog owners, I'm sure... My biggest dog is a 95 lb Great Pyrenees.


couldn't resist a gratuitous pic of the 'beast'...

The flooring salesperson recommended that I look at the floors from Tennessee Wood. They specialized in distressed and reclaimed floors. She said that, because there isn't a high gloss finish, it would be easy to hide the scratched caused by the dogs with a little Old English scratch cover or something along those lines.

While I don't mind the distressed look and loved the samples she had, the only personal accounts I can find of anyone using this company haven't exactly been positive. Creaky floors, rough edges, etc.

If I go with distressed, I'm assuming it would be tougher to keep clean. Am I right?

I looked at several brands of reclaimed flooring a few years back, there really are so many options today. Had we not already had wood throughout most of the downstairs I would have used one because I do think that dents and scratches would blend in better plus I like the look. I have not heard of Tennessee Wood before but I did have samples sent from Carlisle and Mountain Lumber, both have websites that show their extensive options. I do not think that even a distressed finish on wood should be so rough that it is hard to clean.
And beautiful dog! I love Great Pyrenees, he looks like as much of a giant furry baby as my Golden.

We have natural cherry cabinets with soapstone countertops and natural maple flooring. When the cabinets first came I was worried that there wasn't enough contrast but they darkened very quickly and look great with the floor. We have had maple in the kitchen since 1990-the remodel that extended the floor into the dining room happened in 2010. We have no dog now-just 2 cats (and no small children). We did have a dog (lab/vizsla mix ~65 pounds) and there was an impact from her, but it wasn't real obvious to anyone but us.

I posted my kitchen pictures first thing this morning and looking at this thread now it says they were posted by flyfly. That is weird. That kitchen and posted reply was from me badgergal. Anyone know how that could happen?

Hi Ayerg73,

I understand your concerns about how the wood floors will look with natural-look cabinets (stained or natural). We spent a lot of time looking at samples trying to figure out what would look o.k. together. If you don't want to feel like you are living inside a tree (which does sound kind of appealing - the cabin in the woods feeling), I think you need to have some contrast b/w the colors. Either dark floors, w/ lighter cabinets, or vice-versa.

We have 2 goldens, so we also thought about the scratches, etc... and didn't go with a shiny finish. Our's aren't installed yet, so I don't have a report on whether or not we made a good choice. I think the distressed, hand scraped finishes also hide scratches and dents.

After we selected our floor, there were some new styles out that had an oiled finish. I can't remember the brand. They were pre-finished, but the advantage was that you could easily fix scratches since the didn't have a hard coat of aluminum oxide on top.

A friend got beautiful, dark floors with the aluminum oxide finish - which is very strong. The only problem was that when it is scratched (by her dog's nails) the mark left is white - so really shows up against the dark stain. The wood itself is still protected, just the finish was scratched.

Good Luck!

I'm almost done with my kitchen which has a natural cherry island, tall, full-height cherry, some white bases on the perimeter, and gass cabinet uppers. My flooring matches the rest of the hous, matte maple floors (Mirage). I love the contrast, and I think it adds depth to the room. As long as your floor is dissimilar enough to the cabinets, you'll be fine. If the color tone is too similar it will look like you tried to get it exact but failed.

I'm generally not a fan of dark flooring, too much dust and too many scratches show up (but I love the look.) If you really want a dark wood, I think it's better to keep the cabinets dark, especially if you have pets that will shed and scratch.

badgergal - I noticed that too. It was under your name when you first posted it. No idea what happened...? Beautiful kitchen, though!

abbeys - I totally agree with that. What you said made me think about how much I love my dining room table because it has a distressed finish with lots of contrast on it's own, making matching the cherry a cinch.

decolisa - your kitchen sounds like it will be beautiful. Can't wait to see pictures. You chose a light color for the maple?

Here's a picture of the table...

So then I started looking a little closer to those Tennessee floors and found this sample...

The DH and I actually found something we both liked and I think it will be great with the cherry. Question is - will it be too much with the table? Hmmm...

I think the floor needs to have a bit more red in it. The finish is totally customizable, so I don't think that will be a problem.

The funny thing is, I wouldn't really classify either one of us as having a 'country' style. But I do like the distressed look and I think it's just easier to live with when you've got a house full of kids and pets.

leela4 - thanks so much for your pics. Your kitchen is lovely. I do like the lighter color with the cabinets.

BTW - Can you tell me what your backsplash is?

Yes, I chose a natural maple color for the floor.

I can probably snap a picture of the
over the weekend--or at least the area where you can see the white/maple/cherry contrast the best.

The subways are Horus Art Tile-Broadway in Crema. The mosaic behind the range is Oceanside Tile and we did a custom blend.

My KD seems REALLY to think that we should have painted cabinets, as we have wood floors and she seems concerned that wood cabinets would "compete." Also that wood will make the room dark. Since we have about 11 feet of windows and a breakfast room that has even more windows, and we plan to have good lights, I'm much less concerned with the idea of a "dark" kitchen. More concerned about the woods clashing.

So what'd you go with?

And others - more pictures? I'm even thinking we'd refinish the floor to be darker, in order to have natural cherry on the cabs. We WILL be having Zodiaq countertops in a very light, uniform color (don't remember the name at the moment).

I have very few natural cherry with cherry floors.
Or even dark floors. Not sure why. Cherry is incredibly
pretty. Here is what I do have. HOpe it helps.
~boxer

Bedford NH (dream kitchens)

Helen Richardson HGTV

We have natural cherry cabinets with unstained white oak floors. Our island is antiqued white. We rescued a 11 lb. chihuahua after finishing our remodel. He small, but very active. I think we only notice the scratches. Our cabs have darkened a bit more since these pictures were taken.

nhbaskets - So nice to see your kitchen again! I have always loved it! Just beautiful!

We have natural cherry cabs, soapstone counters -- floors were really tricky for us. We ended up going with maple with a medium cinnamon stain. It's a little darker than some of the pictures others have posted. We love the maple. Could have gone with natural maple, too.

(sorry they're a little blurry)

and a view of the whole area:

hope this helps!

Thanks so much for the pics everybody!

drbeanie2000 - personally, I wouldn't worry too much about your KD, because she is suggesting things based on her taste. As you can see from the pics, there are a lot of beautiful cherry kitchens with wood floors. I would do what feels right to you.

As for what I chose, I'm looking at the same floor that I pictured above -

I hope that it works together. I see so many light floors with the cabinets and can't really visualize this floor in the space with the cherry. I know it will look amazing with the cream cabs and my other choices...but that cherry...

Any thoughts about whether they'll work together?

ayerg73 - thanks! We hired a KD in the first place because we are not that creative and don't want to make mistakes. On the other hand, we know what we like, and seeing is believing. There ARE lots of nice cherry cabinets with lighter floors (which are what we have now). In fact, our rental kitchen has them, and they look fine - great, in fact - to me.

beanie

drbeanie - I know exactly what you mean about not wanting to make mistakes and searching for other input.

I had to remodel a kitchen in one of our rental homes before we put it on the market last year. We had to rush to choose things because we were only in town for a very short time.

I chose things in a budget and really thought it would look great. I had to see everything from pictures when it was complete, but it was AWFUL. I would have hated to have that kitchen and worried that noone would want to buy it.

Luckily, it was someone's taste.

I definitely didn't have the same taste as my KD and we parted ways a long time ago. My husband teases me about how much time I spend on GW - but it's been such a great place to get a myriad of opinions from people that aren't going to just be nice and say it looks good to keep from hurting your feelings.

This forum has saved my sanity this time around! :)

Good luck with your choices!

I did hard wood in my kitchen with Cherry cabinets and I regret it. So much to the point that I seriously thought about changing the floors. Mine match too much though. I think a nice light tile would have looked so much better. I love the bigger tiles for floors.

I would say if you're going to do it make sure there is enough of a contrast. Definately don't go with a high gloss as it will show everything. I also wanted to go with a dark brown floor but I was afraid to go so dark. I regret that too because mine look too orangy to me.

Here's a picture. I'm getting a lighter colored granite in a couple of weeks so hopefully it will lighten and break things up.

Hi, We love our natural cherry/ white kitchen with white oak floors. The floors are 4" #1 common white oak with Rubio Monocoat (a natural oil). We need to wipe up spills right away or else they show in the wood, but otherwise we love it! I think if the woods are different enough, it's awesome. When the woods are too similar, it gets a little much IMHO. Have fun! Follow your heart!

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