I think you could certainly still 'pull it off' with the select maple because the cabinet detailing will set the tone, but the character grade maple would give you more color and more movement on the floor, which may be good or bad. Too distracting? And I'm not sure of the browns in maple with the red-brown stained oak you're planning. How about unstained white oak? Would that be enough lighter?

I applaud the choice of finish. We used Waterlox on all our non-painted cabinets and trim throughout the interior of our house. The dream was to also Waterlox a site-finished flooring, but time and energy got to us, and we ended up with a prefinished flooring instead.

What about natural hickory? Definitely not on the more modern side, and very interesting looking....

I have handscraped, white oak but stained in a dark chocolate colour, in my livingroom, diningroom etc (house came w ceramic in the kitchen). I chose a UV oiled finish and LOVE IT. Very matte, very forgiving, very cool (in my opinion)

Here's my kitchen so you can see the contrast in the wood colors. The floor is quartersawn white oak with waterlox finish, no stain. The cabinets are plain sawn red oak with an English Chestnut stain. Personally I like the cabinets darker and the floor lighter because dark floors show everything.

Also just so you know...when you first put the waterlox on, it will look darker than it will be in the end. It takes about a month for all the polymers in it to finish setting up and for it to lighten to it's final color. The change is very subtle and you won't even notice it happening, but it does happen. When I first finished my floors I liked the color, but there was not as much contrast between the cabinets and the floors as I really had wanted. Now it's perfect!

Friends of ours have QSWO cabinets with a very light stain. Floors are #2 common red oak, aka rustic red oak, with no stain. It looks really good. The wild and variable grain of the rustic oak contrasts well with the quarter sawn grain on the cabinets.

A waterlox finish on a rustic oak floor would really make the grain pop and the contrast between the floors and cabinets would be significant, even if they were a similar color.

We actually decided to go with the same floor but with a mix of 3", 4" & 5" planks. In the flooring industry this is called random width flooring. There's nothing random about it but that's the term I used to research it and find pictures.

I highly recommend random width flooring in a large space, by the way.

Thanks so much for all your comments so far. This is making me rethink the oak possibilities for the floor again.

rhome - I thought maybe the white oak would be too gray without stain. I think of tan/beige when I think of maple, which I like better than a grayish. I think I just may have to go get some samples and play with them myself

chloe_s_mom - in our previous home we used hickory for some built ins in our family room. I LOVED them - especially for the variations in the wood tones. But here, I think I want the cabinets (and possibly the granite, I feel another new threat post coming on) to shine. I just want the floor to set them off without calling attention to itself.

ccoombs1 - I have been eating up all of your posts about Waterlox. Thanks so much. You are the one that has pushed me over the edge and convinced me that this would be the best way to go in our situation. The colors and "feel" of your kitchen are very similar to what I am searching for. When it actually gets down to the nitty gritty of starting the floor I'm sure I'll have more questions. One thing I did want to ask you was, did you stay in your home while actually finishing the floors? I have respiratory issues and we have two under-20-lb dogs. I'm wondering if I need to put 4 nights in a hotel in the budget?

chris_harper2 - I was thinking of 4 inch planks, but the random width sounds very interesting too. I'll look for pictures. Thanks for the idea

Thanks so much! I am really happy I went with waterlox. The look is just so much more natural. You know how poly and other floor finishes lay on top like a sheet of plastic? Waterlox doesn't look like that. It soaks into the wood so you can still see the grain and pores in the wood. Its kind of hard to explain, but the look is fantastic. When you first apply waterlox and for the first week or two, waterlox is darker than it's final color. As the polymers set up, it lightens. As far as the odor, it is STRONG. I used a $25 vapor respirator from lowes to apply mine and it blocked all odors. You will need to be out of the house for at least 24 hours after the last application. Dogs too, since their sense of smell is even greater than ours. And you know about wearing socks, not bare feet due to the oils, right? Just for a week or so. I'd keep the dogs off it too, unless you can talk them into wearing socks.

Here's a picture taken after the 2nd coat. Although I heard white oak can look a little grayish, I see no signs of it at all. Maybe it's the waterlox making it look so warm.

Have you seen Jamielo's kitchen. She has QS white oak cabinets and a QS red oak floor. It is just beautiful! Here's a link that might interest you.

Here is a link that might be useful: Craftsmen kitchen

marybeth1 - yes, Jamielo's entire house is my ultimate dream. I told her once that I was actually going to come live with her. I came SOSOSOSO close to going with her cabinet maker even. We just live a little too far away from him and I finally decided that with my limited cupboard/drawer space couldn't justify the inset cabinets and I am now going with frameless. One thing I want to do differently than she did is to use a lighter colored granite. I was afraid that the granite, floor and counter would all be too much the same color tone. (But I did see a gorgeous black stone - found out its not really granite tho) that is almost making me change my mind. If I did go with dark granite I don't think I'd be as worried about the similar tones in the wood. Gotta do some more thinking....

We have hickory flooring. One of the things I love about it is how it can look more or less contemporary depending on what you put it with. It is an attention getter though, as you said.

I am not too terribly knowledgeable about wood floors in general, but I would do more research about maple before going with that. From what I've read and heard, maple is a fairly soft wood. You'd probably be looking at quite a few dings and scratches pretty quickly.

We are putting in Brazilian Cherry, but it's a lighter shade -- called Brazilian Cherry Lite. I'm not really sure of the exact species.

We are also doing a quartersawn white oak frameless shaker style cabinet, in a medium/dark stain, except theisland, which will be painted. I went with a really dark floor, though. Dark floors catch my eye every time, in books and magazines.
We went with a 5" wide walnut floor that my Dh handscraped. The finish is Rubio Monocoat (Charcoal), which our friend who does hardwoods floors recommended. It is a zero VOC one coat finish-a huge plus, since I'm pregnant, and we didn't want to have to move the whole family out for several days.

I was at a local hardward/lumber store today and thought of you. Saw a really cool floor. No idea how well it would hold up, but it was very nice (read interesting) in its natural colour: acacia

Oak is always beautiful, especially q-sawn, but oak stains badly with exposure to water. That's one main unavoidable drawback to its use in kitchens and baths. Ash has a similar grain to plain sawn oak, and does not water stain. FWIW.
Casey

I thought I would show you my QS white oak floor. I love it! I put a little brown stain in it to bring out the unique tigering pattern.

chloe_s_mom - Thanks for the new lead on wood. I've never heard of acacia. I'm off to research!

sombreuil_mongrel - Ash.. hmm another sample I need to buy and test with the waterlox

marybeth1 - Wow that is beautiful. I just love that tigering in QS oak. Do you think the QS floors would look ok with QS cabinets also? Or would it just get overwhelming?