Thanks. I took a look at Alterna as you suggested and they have some nice colors. La Plata in taupe/gray and a couple of the Tuscan Path colors look nice. I also found a blog with someone who installed the kind of flooring I mentioned in my original post: http://ouroldabode.blogspot.com/2011/08/kitchen-floor-grout-able-vinyl-tile.html It looks very nice in that kitchen, but it is difficult to say if it would work in ours because our colors are so different. This post was edited by jrzmurray on Thu, Apr 4, 13 at 17:18

We had existing white oak in the DR/LR/hallway, but not in the kitchen. We opened the wall between the kitchen and then-DR (now used as our LR) during the reno. We had thought to use a different wood species in the kitchen space, but our floor guy told us it would look better (flow better) if we used white oak in the kitchen as well. Our original floors are from 1967 or so. They were likely covered with carpeting for the first 30 years, and then re-finished prior to us purchasing the house in late 1998. They were refinished again in 2004 (we hated the finish used, so planned to have them sanded and refinished again along with the kitchen floor). The floor guys removed about 10% of the old DR floor, and weaved in the new white oak floor boards. BTW, the grade, color, etc. for the new floor boards were chosen by the floor guy to match the old floors. When the kitchen floor was first installed/finished, before the cabs, island, and LR furniture went it (think clear, empty floor space), if you stood in one corner of the then-DR and looked across the entire open space, you could just barely detect that the new floor looked a little fresher and brighter than the old (but newly refinished) floor. I am VERY detail oriented and notice a lot of the little things that others don't (blessing and curse!). Honestly, the only reason I could even tell the difference (between old and new floors) is because I was looking for it (and doing so when the rooms were completely empty). They looked, and look (even more so 3 1/2 yrs later) very well-matched and blended. If they didn't, I'd see it, and notice it every day, and this is not the case. My advice if you decide to try going the wood floor route, is find a good floor guy, ask if he can match your original red oak floors, and keep that in mind as a viable option. Good luck!

It's your choice, but I don't care for the linear lines of the Latitude tile because of the linear lines in your vanity. Your other choice, Facade, goes better in my opinion. I even like the other two colors that it comes in, the grey and the taupe. If you really like linear line tile, you may like something like this https://www.missionstonetile.com/Hexagon-8-inch-Isla-Wood-Look-Tile-White-p/isaekhw8p.htm

appreciate you all taking the time to reply. wish i could reply to each comment individually just after each comment but unfortunately doesn't look like i can do that. @rnonwheels -flooring will be luxury vinyl plank; considered black countertops but i really like how white really brightens and opens up a room @mint design studio -my flooring might be a bit busy, but i'm likely doing simple, white 3x9 (or larger) subway tile for backsplash @rachel nye -i might consider doing all namib sky if the stone yard would refund me for the allure slab i bought. although i bought it cuz i absolutely love it, so i'm leaning more towards keeping it. don't have enough to do perimeter counters. thanks for the pic -i love it. is it a calacatta or white volakas? @sunfeather -some of the larger chunks of grey looking clouds would probably end up being removed with cutouts for sink and cooktop. i'll see if i can post a pic of the flooring. likely doing a 3x9 or 3x12 subway tile for backsplash this is the flooring we are using: and possible backsplash: