The oak you show in the photos looks too close to the color of the cabinets for me. Although I've seen some photos of kitchens with cabinets and flooring in the same tone, I'd like it better if you could go lighter...Are these pieces stained? If they were just natural with a clear finish I think it'd be much better.

rhome410 Thank you for your response. The oak flooring shown in the pictures is prefinished stained I have left over from another room. So lighter would be better? Do you think a totally different wood would look ok? Maybe I should consider a differnt tile instead of wood?

I agree, lighter wood or new tile. I love the look of really dark stained wood floors but I think it would make your kitchen too dark. What about travertine or maybe a terra cotta colored tile? I think travertine would look great with your lovely granite! Nice kitchen!

Our cabinets are maple, not oak, and our kitchen is a bit narrow, so we decided to go with a porcelain tile on the floor - it's called "metropol- magma beige" - here's a couple pics (still a work in progress):

I do like the look of travertine, but I don't know much about it. Is it hard to keep up?

Honestly, I don't know about upkeep on travertine...but I don't think it's any different really than any other tile. I have slate in my kitchen and LOVE it, but I think it would be too dark for yours. Maybe someone who has it will chime in...I do think it would compliment your granite nicely.

Robin (in NC, not phila ;o) )

I agree with everyone here, that wood is beautiful, but too dark for the cabinets in my opinion. I'd either go lighter toned wood and then for the back splash and wall get your pop of color. I have tile 18x18 throughout my "living" areas and love it. I wish I would have had the grout line even smaller, but honestly its no big deal. As you know if you have grout get a dirt type of color and you'll have no issues. What type of flooring will this be next too?

You can't see it very well in this picture since it's mostly covered up with paper at this time (and still unfinished also), but my floor is quartersawn white oak and it will be finished with no stain. The quartersawn oak looks so different from plain sawn (which is what your oak cabinets are...probably red oak). I think the contrast between the light floor and the dark cabinets will look great!

Hi,

I love your granite! What name is it? Your kitchen is off to a great start and I'm sure with all these suggestions, it will be beautiful when it is finished.

Please post some more pictures once you decide on a floor and it's installed! I know it will be gorgeous!

Karen

Thanks everyone for the encouragement and the ideas. I'll have to look at some lighter woods and maybe tile.

eaglemom The kitchen floor is next to the dinning room which has carpet and the hall which is ceramic tile. If I go with tile in the kitchen I would most likely change the tile in the hall for the same. If I go with hardwood I might change the dinning room and living room to hardwood. (everyone is right that you are never really finished)

Karen the granite is delicatus gold. We really like it. It has several different colors and also has a shimmer in some spots depending on the light. No issues so far with it.

Karen here is a link to pictures of the granite install if you are interested. View the slide show in reverse order to see DH tackle the job of removing the tile counter top. What alot of trouble

Here is a link that might be useful: granite install

I'm going to agree with the masses. I find the similarity in color and graining bothersome to the eye. I think the quarter sawn white oak or a creme color porcelain/travertine tile would look great. Your granite is really beautiful.

We have cabinets that closely resemble the color of yours, and even though we installed oak throughout the bottom level, we found the grain and color competed too much with the cabinets. I originally wanted maple, but DH nixed that so we opted instead for dark wood flooring in the kitchen & dining areas. I may not be for everyone, but we love it.

{{!gwi}}

Here's what it looks like with the transition from the livingroom. Excuse the mess, we're still a work in progress.
{{gwi:1564052}}

Lukkiirish: What kind of flooring did you use, what kind of dark wood? Looks very nice.

Iris

Your kitchen looks lovely and granite is beautiful.
I too just made a half wall between my kitchen and dining room. What is the hight of the wall before the granite and with the granite. Also, is your granite overhanging that wall with out any other support.

Your granite is very, very nice. I would also suggest a travertine - it will go well with the feel of your kitchen. If you really love hardwood, go with a light clear finish, perhaps in another wood such as maple or birch.

What is the name of your granite. Very Very nice.

Thanks everyone. I really love getting help and info from you all.

I really will have to consider travertine.

The granite is Delicatus Gold and I really really like it's look.

organic nettie: The half wall is between the kitchen eatting area and a small office. No one ever wanted to go in the office because it was a very closed in feeling. So everyone ended up with lap tops on the kitchen table, especially DH. So the bar area is what I call my "computer bar", DH and kids can park there if they want to be in the kitchen or there is a slab desk of granite behind the bar on the office side where I do my computer stuff.
The height of wall without granite is 40.75" and with 3cm granite it is exactlly 42". I think this is standard bar height (if there is such a thing). I will get 30" bar stools.
The bar is 14" wide. I wanted it wide enough to accommadate computers or a 12" dinner plate and could not go any wider because of the space confinement with the kitchen table/chairs near it. I would not have built things this way if I was starting from scratch but it is working for us and is a big improvment over the small office.
If you look at the picture (in link above labeled "granite install" you can see the metal supports under the bar the DH made. The over hang on kitchen side is 8". Generally any over hang greater than 8" needs to be supported. Since the bar only overhangs on the opposite side of the wall by 1.5" we needed support.

Thanks! We ended up using Brazillian Walnut and love the contrast it offers. It's a very dense and durable wood, one of the hardest woods used for flooring (Brazillian Cherry being another). With the oak you can see the stain used to make it the color that it is, but the walnut is not stained, that is it's natural color, it only has some varnish on it for protection. We bought it at Lumber Liquidators and just made sure we bought the same plank width as the oak we installed so it would match better.

Your granite is wonderful! I'm sure whatever you choose will look gorgeious with it! If the walnut is too dark, I would suggest checking out the website for Lumber Liquidators, besides their decent prices, it's a great source for ideas.

We have porcelain tile purchased from Lowe's and DIY install.
It's only 3 months old, but I love it so far.
I, too, admire your granite...and that beautiful chandelier really is nice : )

{{!gwi}}

Another vote for a light floor. Dark wood would be beautiful also (darker than the cabinets, I mean), but might show the dust more. Since I'm not the best housekeeper in the world, that makes a difference in my home!

Thanks all. I do agree that the dark wood might be an upkeep problem as we do alot of gardening in the summer and bring in alot of dirt and grass. Winter brings the snow and some cross country skiing in the backyard so maybe a lighter tile is the answer, except I have found it very hard on the knees (but that's just my age I guess). That's what makes we think wood would be better.

Laurie we do a fair amount of DIY too. What is the name of your tile? Looks like it has gray and yellow in it. I think the little chandelier is just so cute. I hope it's not over doing it.

The tile name is Pietra Series Bone 18". The grout is Keracolor U Ivory #39.

It's got cream, gray and a slight hint of brown. Our subfloor is concrete. Before we did the remodel, we had vinyl flooring, so I was used to that for 27 years. We installed the tile right on top of the vinyl (it was still very securely adheared to the concrete. I do a lot of cooking/cleaning in my kitchen and have not noticed any difference on my feet or knees. I've never had wood, so I don't have anything to compare it with. I DO like the feel of the tile on my bare feet...it's got a matte glaze (not shiney at all).
Your chandelier is perfect for that spot. It adds a lot of charm and character & definitely not over doing anything : )

We debated wood vs tile and went w/tile b/c

(1) we have 2 dogs that love to run around the Foyer/Kitchen area (boy did they do a number on our supposedly "top-of-the-line" vinyl floor in one year!)
(2) 2 children & DH who like to walk in the house in cleats (grrr...working on that though)
(3) we had 2 DW leaks in our old kitchen that weren't noticed immediately (the water stayed mostly under the DW & side cabinets!)
(4) in MD we have orange clay/dirt that's dragged in all year round...we have mud rather than snow in the winter :-(

So, tile won out!

We picked one that doesn't show the dirt (remember the MD orange dirt!)

I was also concerned about the age issue now that I've hit (yikes!) the big 5-0. But so far I've had no more problems w/the tile than I had w/our old vinyl floor or my SIL's wood floor.

Even though the grout is light, it hasn't stained yet. We have StarQuartz grout that's supposed to be stain resistant and not supposed to need sealing. So far so good.

I don't know much (if anything about it) but have heard that cork flooring is wonderful for the legs because it's has a lot of give in it and that it is also very durable. It's a natural product which is a plust, and it has a really unique and different look to it. They also sell it at my favorite wood store, lumberliquidators.