Sheeisback - don't get yourself set on a look from a photo. Oak has a lot of movement and just because a photo happens to show a section that looks really consistent to your eye that doesn't mean the rest of the floor looks like that. I got some excellent advice when I was in a tizzy trying to choose stain for the floors in our new house - everything but the bathrooms and laundry area are hardwood, no carpet anywhere and I was frantic because it's so much wood and HAS to be right! Didn't want natural, didn't want dark, didn't want yellow/orange/red.....sound familiar? Amy (amysrq in the old days) told me to think of the floor as a secondary player - you don't want people walking in and only noticing your floor, not your inviting decor or art or family photos or whatever it is you feature in your home. Sure they can walk in and say wow your floors look great but it should stop there unless you used some vivid aniline dye in a modern house which is totally not you! She said that anything that falls within what our brains tell us is a 'natural wood tone' will become backdrop to rugs, furniture etc - as it should. Of course some stains have more red or orange but even those will look appropriate and largely neutral unless they are VERY red or orange. It was great advice and calmed me a lot about the decision but I still panicked when the floors were done picking out boards that I didn't think right which is insane. I LOVE my floors now, there are boards that are noticeably lighter, a few boards get a distinct pink hue when the sun hits them and there are streaks of lighter or darker areas within the same board! What am I going to do rip them out? Of course not - embrace the wood for what it is and the beauty of a natural product. Yes, 7' is a nice length but see if you can get them to try for 7 to 10. You'll still have short boards which are needed at the ends and in closets if you're doing them but getting some of those longer boards mixed in with the 4', 5' 6' makes for a beautiful floor. We rejected the flooring brought to us initially because it wasn't what we ordered in length, the installer had a fit, said that's all that's out there and quit. We ended up ordering ours from a place we knew back home in Chicago and had it freighted to NC. For some reason the long boards seem to go north and the shorter more 'character' boards are popular here. We wanted neither. Shoot for select, long boards and you'll be happy. Can't wait to see it. And BTW - are you working with a specific stain mfg that the installer prefers?

Your cabinets are quite warm in tone. I worry that a "cement gray" wood is going to clash with the kitchen elements. You've already stated that the original hardwoods have faded. You MUST expect the same to happen to the next wood floor you install. This fading tells me the windows do NOT have the UV blocking protection needed to prevent the fading. So... you may want to pick a floor that looks good as-is as well as what it will fade to over time. Sadly (in my case) the gray will stay true to colour much longer than any other of your choices. The mid-tone brown will probably lose as much as half it's colour. The SUPER DARK floors (ebony, etc) will maintain most of their colour as well. For these reasons, I would highly recommend a natural colour (no stain) white oak or even European Oak (which will turn silvery-gray over time) over any of your choices. Your windows will give you headaches with mid-tone stains. Only SUPER LIGHT (like the gray) or SUPER DARK (like ebony) will maintain their colours. That's quite limiting. So the suggestion for a natural finish (I would stay away from maple as it turns a STRONG margarine-yellow) is a great one. If you want a floor that is more modern, then have a look at European Oak (it naturally turns silver-gray when exposed to sunlight). It is the SUPER START of hardwoods right now.

HI joshua123, The kitchen tile is from Pratt & Larson. It is a custom waterjet mosaic piece in marble. The color is a dark grey with a lot of variation. the exact color is bardiglio. the white boarder and interior boarded are snow white marble. kathy and Micah at pratt & lason were extremely helpful finding exactly what I wanted for our kitchen. I'll have to post a couple more pictures from a sunny day, as the ones I have posted dont really reflect the real colors. as far as style and mosaics being dated or not, I'm a firm believer that you should go with what you love and what speaks to you. you are going to be living in the house and walking into that kitchen every day. I dont think our kitchen mosaic looks dated at all, but I'm also not a designer. I can tell you it makes me happy when I walk in to make my morning coffee in that room. I did consider using more of that tile to cover the entire backspace area from the cooktop to the hood, as diana illustrated in some of her photos, to really give it a more modern look, but it was too expensive to justify in this house.

@Sharmeen Aghaeian @Caroline Field Sure, pics are from various stages of remodeling/decorating (so maybe 18 months in between them), but really liking them so far. Seem like good quality and don't show dirt easily. Some scratches from my kids, but even those aren't too noticeable. Have not done any maintenance yet. We wanted something updated but not trendy and I like how these floors are neutral without being too light or dark.