I've done jobs with different oil products but used the Rubio only twice. One turned out perfect. It was a mix of White and Pure on rift sawn White Oak. The owner insisted on using a green finish with no solvents and I warned her it was fine except for potential issues with dog accidents. You can probably guess what happened. The second was Super White that we water popped. It ended up with some cloudy areas which points out issues with finishing technique. The floor needs to be sanded perfectly and scrupulously cleaned before oil application, and the finish needs to be removed completely or it will be cloudy. I just finished a natural color job with WOCA. It turned out nice in the end but took a bit of work. We washed the freshly sanded floor with the Wood Cleaner. The effect of the water made the floor look less smooth than desired. We tried extra coats, abraded with an abrasive nylon pad then re-oiled to the same end. Then we re-screened the floor, applied two more coats and it looks great. I think I'd forgo the cleaning step in the future. I like the idea of the Rubio and even have enough material in stock to do my own floor however I like the ease of maintenance and relative simplicity of the WOCA product line. The Rubio Soap is crazy expensive IMO. Coloring my opinion is that my local Rubio distributor is somewhat pathetic. I found a distributor in GA that carries WOCA and Rubio so that will at least put that issue to rest and give me a resource with expertise to draw on. I like the Rubio Smoke, Fumed and Precolor products for the breadth of unique looks it can achieve when used with their products. The bad? It requires more routine maintenance than poly. It's more susceptible to minor spills and stains. You are unlikely to find maintenance product for sale locally, so stock up. I have two older parquet floors in a wood that's no longer available. I plan on sanding it, wire brushing it, then applying a mix of White and Super White with the idea that the floor will go from it's current dark mahogany look, to a coffee with cream color with white in the deeper grain. I don't know that I'd use it in my own kitchen even though I can pay my own workers to change it fairly effortlessly. I am something of a skeptic when reading the claims of the wonders of the new generation of oil finishes, even though I'd like them to be true.

Thanks to all for your comments! No going back on the natural cherry cabinets (they were just installed) so looks like I will have to address any issues with the finish we use on the red oak floors. I think my problem is that I really hate to put a stain on beautiful hardwood but, as you both note, a contrast is considered best. Guess I was just hoping against hope that the cherry will darken enough so that I would still have a contrast. An option suggested by my kitchen designer is to go with a Provincial stain on the floors. I really value her advice... just resisting staining that wood! :-)

@Amy Molina thank you for advising. your color really is beautiful!!! i just selected last monday chestnut/classic. it did not appear to have any of that red orange showing through - just a nice neutral brown color. in my opinion, it is like a special walnut but greatly improved. special walnut was a yuck! color on my floor showing orange and the grains too bold. classic gray is the ticket to modernize a color if looking for a brown. its just finding the right brown that is tricky. now i am just hoping i selected a dark enough brown - yoir looks great! they come and do ours tomorrow in the official color.

Believe it or not, Black Magic has some red in it. Because of that, a cold start white abutting may be jarring. Not much is said about but, as Kylie says: it has enough warmth in it without going yellow on you.