I found it! Thank you all for helping me have the courage to find the best color. I also have white oak not red and white. Silly me. They put some color mixes out for me to study. Right onto my floor. They can sand off what I don't like. And I love Mahogany and English chestnut mixed together. It goes with the lighting I have and seems to be dark but not so dark that I have issues with dog hair. It looks closer to your color Erikanh. Kelleg, I was disappointed with Ebony mixed into the English chestnut. Not at all the warm beautiful glow of yours. Your floor guy must have perfomed magic! Don't lose your floor guy. Pbrisjar, The image you posted was the closest example of what the colors looked like. I can not thank you enough. I noticed the Ebony not being what I really wanted but not realizing it until they stained my floor a small section. I should have studied your images better. thank you for them. I will post pics when I get a chance. They are not staining until next week. They are still sanding everything. I am truly happy with the choice, I just hope it looks as good as all of your floors. Even half as good and I will be pleased. Thanks again everyone. ~boxerpups

Thank you so much for the links! nycbluedevil - here is the link to your threads. Your kitchen and bathroom are beautiful. It looks like you used stained walnut for your kitchen and stained rift cut oak for your bath. Beautiful! http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg1011163919891.html http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bath/msg0622101018782.html detroit_burb - those links are great! I am really torn. We are stuck with clear coat, plain sawn red oak floors which are pretty grainy. We are going for a more updated clean line contemporary look with our ranch style house. My concern with the walnut cabinets is that the grain will compete with the grain of the floor hence the interest in rift cut oak as an alternative. But I really like the color of natural walnut - nice too that it's a little easier on the budget because we would just clear coat it rather than stain it. If we go rift cut - we would have to stain it to get the darker contrasting cabinet color that I think the space needs but it's more expensive and I wonder if it's too modern. Ugh. This is the decision I've obsessed about the most. Bathrooms were easy! Lighting easy! It's just these cabinets! Any thoughts greatly appreciated. I just saw this thread too which helped - but still I'm wondering about how it all works with the red oak floors. Following this post too... Here is a link that might be useful: Thread on rift cut oak, mid century and other options

“the photos you posted are horrible, that's not anything like what the OP showed they wanted.” @Judy Neary - you saw the pic I posted, but before responding the way you did you should have read what I wrote. I said I was sorry for my impressions (@Judy Neary evidently that not sufficient for you), and also said that the OP’s example may not be like the pic. The OP specifically asked if she should do this to her kitchen. She specifically asked for feedback. I politely gave mine. @Judy Neary evidently you don’t like when people respond to an OP’s specific request for opinions unless the responses are encouraging. What would the point of this forum be if everyone said yes you should do it, and no one gave examples in the form of photos? SMH

i'm wondering why you're here at this stage in the game? everything is installed, knobs are in , bacsplash is almost done. As soon as they brought those into the house you should have said "stop". this is not what I wanted. In no world do these match your sample. didn't the cabinet maker give you a complete, finished sample door? This is what they're supposed to do to make sure you like the finished result. (and because they did not, how can you be held responsible? You picked a stain sample on some other piece that's been sitting around their shop that doesn't even have the rails and stiles. You should have asked to see a FULLY FINISHED door. It's the fault of the GC and the person supplying the cabs. ) They aren't horrendous, but they aren't a high end white oak either. So, what to do? depends on how much you like or dislike them. To restain the veneer after a clear coat has been applied, (I'm assuming a clear coat WAS applied)? is PIA. the clear coat needs to be stripped, sanded, and then a darker stain applied to match the solid wood. Who made these and stained them??? At no time did they think this two tone was maybe 'incorrect' ?? I don't know what you paid for those wood cabs (painted ones are fine) but if you're going to keep them I'd get a steep discount. Or, just have them start over and make you new ones.