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White Oak floors, what type wood for Cabinets?

15 years ago

We are getting ready to start a remodel and are going with a natural white oak floor for the great room and kitchen (I think). What kind of cabinets would go with and compliment this color floor? We have looked at Mapel and Cherry. Any pics or advice would be great!!

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Comments (6)

sue36
15 years ago
I have natural white oak floors as well. We went with a medium cherry, the stain color is called harvest gold. It is sort of the color that cherry turns after a few years. My perimeter counters are coast green granite and the island will be walnut butcherblock.

Personally, I wouldn't do maple. But that's just my 2 cents. I would go darker, and maple can be difficult to stain.
ccoombs1
15 years ago
I am also using white oak flooring (quartersawn) and chose red oak cabinets with an English Chestnut stain. I think the contrast is really pretty! The floors shown in this picture are unfinished. i have since put on the first coat of waterlox so the color has darkened a bit.
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i don't think those are too modern at all! they're not your classic high shine hardwood though - they're both a wax treated finish. not sure if you knew or cared even if you did. :) if you wanted a more classic highly protective (poly) finish, they have all sorts of stain colors now to help achieve that naturally aged look. i've been researching stain colors like crazy because i'm refinishing a huge farm style table. anyway, i came across this project that might be helpful... she's got red oak with a gray stain and i think it looks great! pic below post. on another note, in both your images above, you've got a very wide plank hardwood. those are typically a lot more expensive than the 2-3" plank and depending on the subfloor, sometimes you can get cupping with wide planks. again, maybe you're just using the pics for color, but thought i'd mention it. i remember your kitchen from when you were updating your backsplash - maybe that was on the kitchens board. looks like you got the backsplash you wanted! well done. so i know you got some interesting (read that as rude) feedback on that post, so i hope this isn't taken in that way, because oak cabinets are not a crime! :) but based on your "inspiration kitchen" you shared above, have you thought about painting your cabinets white to get a similar look? then you could take that out of the equation when choosing flooring. just curious. here are red oak samples with classic gray stain on top and weathered oak stain on the bottom. both are laying on top of her old existing clear stain which have yellowed over time. and here are the finished floors where she chose to go with classic gray stain over red oak: both these pictures are from a blog called "finding soul balance"
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I would use walnut. The custom built staircase in our home, though it is not my taste, is done in golden oak and walnut and it is really striking.
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@Joe Macker. I added protective film to my windows to block UV rays from causing damage. The advantage is that this protects everything in my room. I had damage to my furniture - both cloth and wood from the light streaming in. I have an Eastern exposure. You can't tell that there is any kind of protective film on the windows as mine are not tinted - or tinted so slightly that there is almost no difference but they are rated for close to 99% blocking of the UV rays.
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Natural cherry could be a possibility with those. Not the artificially red cherry that people may think of as cherry. White would be too cold and too stark. I actually think natural maple, a darker wood like walnut, or a painted color other than white, would work better as a wood choice with that floor. The floors are on the cold side, so need warm colors and warm woods to balance that. Alternatively, since the floors will set the tone for the whole house, choosing a warmer tone in those would let that be the grounding warm element that balances out cooler decor choices.
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redroze
15 years ago
(It seems I'm chasing Ccombs in her posts...haha)

I have red oak floors which have more grain than white oak, and a reddish tinge while white oak has a grey/green undertone. I went with maple for the espresso cabinets. As you can see, they are not hard to stain dark at all, and I like how the floors have a lot of grain whereas the cabinets do not.
cat_mom
15 years ago
We used white oak and our cabs are similar to sue36's; cherry with Harvest Gold, but a quarter-cut stain (basically 25% stain, 75% mineral spirits-?). They look very nice together (IMHO!).
sue_ct
15 years ago
I put in a natural white oak floor with dark stained maple cabinets and I really like the combination. I think you are going to find that most people like darker cabinets with that floor to provide some contrast. A lighter cabinet would create a more monochromatic room. That would also create a lighter overall look rather having contrast. It depends on what you like. If you are going with site finished, be aware that they do darken quite a bit just by applying the "clear" finish, which suprised me. If you are going with prefinished your final color is already on it and there won't be any surprises.

These are my cabinets against the unfinshed floor:

And these are my cabinets against the finished floor:

By the way, I honestly don't see any green undertones at all in my floor, finished or unfinished. Maybe it is just me and I am not perceptive enough to pick it up.

Sue
ccoombs1
15 years ago
Here's a picture of my white oak with one coat of waterlox on them and no stain. No trace of the greenish case I sort of expected (and really didn't want). I love the color of these floors!

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