I can't speak to which one you should choose over the other since I've never had maple floors, but I'm quite happy with my birch floors. These pics were taken when first installed but they have darkened somewhat, not a lot, but enough that when I took off a toe-kick on a cabinet there was a noticeable line distinguishing the wood that had been exposed to light and that which hadn't. Anyhow, here's a couple pics of the floor. Don't mind the mess, still got lots of work to do :)

My favourite part is how it has this iridescent quality and it sort of shimmers in particular light:

We've had a birch floor in our dining / living room for about 8 years. Areas exposed to light darkened (yellowed) quite a bit the first year but since then has not changed much. Don't look under the area rug though, wow looks like a different wood.

If I were doing it again I'd go for maple, its a harder wood. We have several scratches & dents on our floor.

I really like maple, but love birch. Regarding hardness, they are pretty close on the janka scale are they not? One site I googled said that the various birches run from about 1260-1470, the various maples run from about 1180-1450. All pretty hard.

The pictures of birch above are beautiful. One of the things I love about birch that maple doesn't really offer is the contrasting light and medium brown colouring. I pulled this off the internet too:

"Birch generally has a lighter sapwood and a darker contrasting heartwood. Boards that have both often display an attractive combination of lighter creamy shades mixed with darker red and brown tones. If you like this type of action and color variation, you'll find it with certain varieties of birch wood floors.
Editor's Comment
This aspect of birch wood flooring happens to be one of my favorites and what makes birch stand out a bit. The combination of the contrasting color tones makes for a very interesting looking floor in my opinion. A good example is a variety shown on the website of Carlisle Wide Plank Floors.
Obviously it's not for everyone, particularly for those who like a uniform color. But for me it's a refreshing difference from the typical colors and grain patterns that you get with other domestic and European hardwoods like oak and maple"

The picture I've pasted below shows off this colour variation you can get with the birch. It isn't for everyone (quite dramatic), but I LOVE it. Unfortunately this photo isn't really focussed on the floors, but you can get a sense of what I mean. I will try to get better picture of the floor for you tomorrow.

Good luck with your decision - you'll probably love both birch and maple.

Here is a link that might be useful: Birch flooring

mariposa - it is Quartzite Bianca, also known as Luce di Luna. It is a beautiful stone, very like granite, but a little harder. I can't stop looking at it! (as you can see from the picture, our kitchen isn't quite done yet, so I'm still getting used to it!)

Marybeth, I will post a better floor shot tonight.

As promised, a few more birch floor pictures.

Sochi, are you using stained doors or white in the rest of the house? I love the stained glass! Love your accessories/colours :-)

When I remodeled my home, I had select red birch, on-site-finished, placed everywhere in the house except for the bathrooms. No stain was applied to the floor...I left it the natural, lovely color. Even the stairs received this treatment.

Here are some photos of the finished product. After living with these floors for 5 years, I can tell you I love the birch flooring and never tire of the variety of grain and colors in the wood. It's truly art-for-the-floor.

Yes, if you drop something heavy on the floor, there will be a dent or two....but it doesn't detract from the floor or destroy its beauty. I've lived with oak and red oak floors in previous homes, and much prefer the red birch flooring in this home.

Hope these photos help.

Kitchen:

Living Room:

Living Room with stairs:

LR Finished floor, before I moved in:

Mariposa - thanks so much! We don't really know what we're doing for paint colour yet. Trim will likely be white around the house, the door to our powder room and foyer closet will be white (or maybe green?) with privacy glass. I am going another walnut cabinet/closet in my powderroom.

I love the stained glass too! Our house is very old - 130 years or so, but most of the Victorian character was lost years ago. But, that glass was installed some 20 years ago and the living room is sunken - so we took those two characteristics of the house and let it influence the modern (and slightly retro-modern) kitchen. We're not done yet, but so far I'm pleased.

So your kitchen walls are not painted??? They look white or sort of light grey on my monitor.

Yes and no - the drywall is painted with a white primer. If I took at closer picture you would see that it isn't 'really' painted. Any suggestions on paint colours would be welcome!

These are birch floors circa 1926 (with some newer patched-in planks in the kitchen). The photos are about 7 years after a complete sand/refinish with clear oil-based poly. I absolutely LOVED these floors. They were stunning -much better than the red oak I have now :(

Stacey - wow, beautiful, beautiful floors! And beautiful house! A definite mid-century mod vibe there, it looks fantastic.

Thank you everyone for the pics and comments!

thanks Sochi-
I loved that house! Didn't love the neighborhood or schools, though :(
I love my new neighborhood and schools... the house is just "eh" but we're working on trying to make it fabulous.

I hope these pics help marybeth. I have a lot of friends with Maple and I just really preferred the birch. I don't know if the fact that it was from 1926 had anything to do with it. I think not, because the newer planks looked pretty much the same.

Good luck with your decision!