Match the rest of the house. Otherwise heart pine. I would not go w/ exotic woods if you care about the vintage look.

Bill/Memphis

I agree with bldn10 - match the rest of the house. We have an 1825 house that was converted into a 2 family in the 1910's. At that time they put in new floors above the old wide pine. The "new" floors in our house are 2 1/4" natural quarter sawn red oak in the main living areas (kitchen, DR, living room, halls) and 3 1/4" fir in the bedrooms. With our renovation we're refinishing the floors on the 1st floor and putting in a new floor in the kitchen to match the rest (the kitchen floor was too damaged over 100 years of abuse to save) The type of floor in a kitchen may be regionally too since differnt woods are available in different parts of the country.

My 1923 bungalow has the same 3.25" fir floors in the kitchen as everywhere else in the house; I think it helps open up the space quite a bit. If the floor doesn't touch other rooms (thresholds, etc) you could get away with staining the same wood darker for contrast; otherwise I'd probably do the same wood and same stain as the rest of the house. Either that, or go for something period-authentic like Marmoleum (real linseed linoleum).

We're doing Marmoleum Click tiles in our 1915 house. (I would actually have loved to just refinish the doug fir subfloor---I love the look!---but we have a giant dog and needed something that he couldn't destroy.) The Marmoleum tiles are lined with cork and super soft, and you can install them without damaging the existing subfloor, which was a big plus for us if someone in the future wants to switch to the original fir. You can get both Marmoleum and Marmorette brand linoleum in sheets, too.

Matching the rest of the house is a plus if you can, but in a lot of older homes that's tricky between woods that aren't available or are very costly and stains you don't have much info about. Personally I'd rather see it distinctly different than close but not quite close enough. Lyptus might be an option, too---it's an exotic wood but is supposed to be relatively green and has a look that echoes quarter-sawn oak, but is much more resilient. I've never seen it installed, though, so don't know what the look is like...

My daughter who lives in Portland, Oregon bought a home built in the early 1900s-think it was 1910. Craftsman style. Original fir floors throughout the entire house. Nothing had been done. They looked dirty-awful. Had them refinished-just breathtakingly beautiful now.

If the original wood is not salvagable I would totally go Marmoleum for the period authenticity. That's what I intend to redo my kitchen floor with when it is needed. My current remodel reused the exisiting laminate flooring and it doesn't look as bad as it sounds. However, I will eventually pull it up and put in the Marmoleum click or equivalent.

Best of luck.

I highly highly recommend using cork.
It has been used for years in older homes so you do get that issue and it comes in wonderful colours and designs.
It also FEELS unbelievable!

i have gone with a design that has a wood plank look to it and my GC ( who had never installed cork before ) says he is going to recommend it now.

this is my floor although it has not been sealed yeat and is actually a warmer colour .

The company I used was duro designs but there are quite a few.

Duro will send out free samples just fyi

good luck

http://picasaweb.google.com/muspic/RecentlyUpdated#5434227654317888178

C:\Users\gillian\Pictures\kitchen ideas\New Folder\DSC08641.JPG

Here is a link that might be useful: cork floor

I really recommend not going with dark flooring. It shows every single bit of dust, flour, crumbs, etc.

There are regional differences in the materials, plank widths and some of it also differs by the wealth of the original owner. You might have a local, country or state historical society. Our local society has a lot of the original plans for the old pricey houses and building pattern books, photos, historic color charts, etc.

Another resource, oddly enough, can be real estate listings in equivalent local areas. You can look at a lot of photos of houses from that time period.

Colickyboy,
I studied this in college. The home you describe could be
very close to the stickley style within the craftsman
umbrella or really the mission era. Homes built around the
1900s had natural woods such as maple and oak on the
floors. Stains were medium not dark but that does not
mean dark was never done. I am sure there was one person
on the planet who painted their floors a dark green or
dark brown in 1911. But this was not the norm for this
period. Knotty pine or wide plank wood floors also fit
that time period.

A great on line source for information is....

http://www.oldhousejournal.com/stowicism_the_legacy_of_arts_crafts_builtins/magazine/1572

I would ask do you want to follow the history of your
home or do you want to create your own style?
Go from there on what color you want for your floors.
And the advice to talk to a realtor is good but keep in
mind that if you plan to stay for more than 5 years
you should make your home what you want. You are going
to live there and unless you are doing something nasty
(purple and orange polka dots with puce green) make
your home a place you love. A house priced right will
sell in any market. Priced right.

As for Dark floors making a kitchen smaller?? Not at
all. I used to believe this but not anymore. Dark floors
are beautiful and can actually create a sense of space
because it is a flat surface. Dark walls all around you
might close in on you but a floor does not do that.

Here are some images of traditional craftsman floors...
Wait I should say updated for modern times of 2010

Thomas Conway

Craftsman

And here are two photos of dark floors.
This one below is Spanish Mission style in the Arts and
Crafts period. The one below that is not craftsman at all
but it shows dark floors in a small kitchen. It can look
lovely.

Spanish style Mission

River Rapids Paint by Ralph Lauren

I don't think I helped you decide. Sorry. I just wanted
you to see there are options that look beautiful either
way. Make your kitchen a place you love to be in.
~boxerpups

Here is a link that might be useful: Blog of a craftsman home with dark floors

I'm not sure why the original poster hasn't responded back, but I just wanted to say this was a very helpful thread to me and I appreciate the info you all provided!

Dawn

Wow...I lost this thread until now! We ended up going safe and neutral by getting oak the same widths as the rest of the floor and staining it the same color so it matches. Belated thanks to everyone for the counsel.