I have unstained red oak in my kitchen, dining, living room and halls. Like Barbja's clear hickory, it shows nothing. I forget to sweep and am embarrassed to say how long it's been since I did a proper cleaning. And this is with two cats. It's a warm, happy floor.

This house had it's oak flooring stained dark when we bought it. It looks lovely but is impossible to keep looking nice. I long for my previous oak floors which were not stained dark. When we refinish these at some point, I will not be doing dark again. I also think the dark floor thing is about over as a trend. So if I were you, I'd seriously consider a medium color wood floor.

On ceramic, I really dislike tile floors for kitchens. They are hard to stand on and cold underfoot. And I have always found the grout impossible to keep looking nice. My experiences with tile in kitchens have been in rentals and the grout always sits a little below the tile and catches all the dirt and it is hard to sweep out. Perhaps a better grout job would remedy that to some extent.

I agree with what the others have said. My mother has dark wood floors which are gorgeous but show every speck. I have natural oak floors which show almost nothing. Also, people worry that if there is a water leak, the wood floors will be ruined. It depends on the extent of the leak. A small leak, and if you let the wood dry, it will go back to its original shape and look fine (happened in my living room when the window leaked during a rainstorm, and left a sizable puddle; the wood cupped, then after a couple of weeks it looked great). If there's a big flood, it may or may not be able to dry and look good. But a tile floor, with a big flood, will definitely have to be ripped out. The underlayment of tile floors, once wet, will buckle, and will never revert to its original shape. (ask me how I know!)

Also, once tile grout gets stained, the stain will not come out. People seal their grout to protect it from staining, but after a few years, the sealant will lift ever so slightly, enough to allow a stain like tomato sauce to seep under (ask me how I know!). Tile is also harder on your back to stand on than wood (again, ask me….well, you get it).

You might also think about something completely different, like marmoleum. You can do perhaps a striped floor or a checkerboard, and there are so many nice colors. Since you are having trouble thinking of a floor that will look good with your cabinets, it might be fun to do something completely different for your kitchen.

I have dark stained ipe in my condo right now and they look fantastic...for about 2 minutes after they are cleaned. Then I start seeing dust and spots. While I adore a dark floor against a white baseboard, in my new build my wood floors will not be dark.

As for what to put down? I too would stay away from tile for all the reasons mentioned. I know little about it but have you considered cork?

Another "preaching to the converted" post - we have oak throughout. It was dark stained when we moved in and we thought about keeping it that way, but it really needed refinishing. When we refinished, we lightened it up and are so happy we did. Ours is now a medium stain and still shows dust (we live in a very urban area with a lot of construction going on around us), but NOTHING like before. We have it throughout the master bedroom, halls, living room, dining room and kitchen.

A comment to one of the comments. As for tile buckling if the underpayment gets wet, it depends on what that is. If it's plywood, then a good chance, but if you are on concrete slab, it's that won't happen. We've been debating this also (tile or wood in the kitchen). I like that wood feels much nicer, but my Dad had to have his floor replaced twice because of minor leaks, and they were forever having to watch for drips and spots. I live in a warm climate, so a tile floor being cold is a smaller issue than if we lived somewhere colder.

" having a really hard time finding a hardwood to complement cabinets. The problem is I like a darker hardwood floor."

I too tend to like the darker floors, but then darker cabs get lost on them. Am quite picky with what wood on wood combos I like. If I were doing this, I would go with tile. Here's a few ideas that I think look nice.

Dark Maple Kitchen · More Info

Master bath renovation · More Info

Not sure if this next one is wood or tile (thinking tile) but you get the idea, definitely could get wood looking tiles.

Vestavia Master Bath- Lovette Construction · More Info

Another comment about dark hardwood floors. I like the look but I wouldn't want them. My sister put dark engineered wood floors in her condo. She hates them b/c they show everything. They never look clean. We put in lightly whitewashed white oak floors in our house (everywhere but the bathrooms) when we remodeled and I love them. Like others have said, they show nothing, even with our cat and two kids. During our remodel we stayed in a couple of places with medium stained wood floors which showed more than our current floors but not too much. I wouldn't go darker than a medium stain.

We're going with a natural hickory because we didn't want the cleaning nightmare that comes with dark wood. Looks nice, but not for us. We went with a nearly matte sheen as well, just so less shows. Had considered UV oil, but didn't want the 10 year reapplication that comes with it. We did like the look, however. We will have wood in the kitchen. Unless we had radiant heating I wouldn't want tile in the kitchen. We walk around barefoot a lot.

Please here the people who say dark floors never look clean for long, they are telling the truth!

Another option could be cork. We've got 2 shades of dark cabs in the kitchen and used a dark cork for the floor. Thing about cork is it's not uniform in color and appears somewhat splotchy so it hides things relatively well even though it's pretty dark. It's also nice to stand on.

I took the advice from this forum seriously and chose medium stain maple-- which I currently have and see absolutely no issues maintaining it despite a wooded lot, 2 kids etc etc.

Now to your real posted question matching floors , cabinets and counter tops very very hard unless you go with different materials in Kitchen, living..etc. I like the tile variety to go with the counter tops and cabinets in kitchens, but I didnt go with the look because of the uniform look, and the temps we live in. Not sure where you live.. but you could definitely explore that option.

Thank you. What color and brand of maple did you go with?

Wow... I had no idea it is so hard to keep dark wood looking clean... Thank you!!! I currently have natural maple and was going to go with dark walnut for our new house... Rethinking that option!

I chose just to seal my red oak floors in the new house and they look great! Added hardwood to the kitchen as my current house's tile floors are killing my feet and knees. Ouch!

We rented a house for 6 months while renovating our house, It had tile in the very small kitchen - never, ever again will I do that. I know that a lot of people like it and can adapt to it but after 4 weeks I could barely walk. I bought gels mats and covered the entire floor.

[dark cabinets/light floor[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/dark-cabinets-light-floor-phbr0lbl-bl~l_37184)

Here is a link to some pictures with lighter hardwood floors. I think it's a striking look

@stellaalto-friends just put in walnut with a natural matte finish (i think its the bona traffic hd and the floors are from stile in italy) and they look amazing. i do not think they will be as difficult to keep clean as very dark stained and/or hand scraped floors. the walnut is a little darker than medium brown, but gorgeous and did not seem high maintenance. the only "concern" i have with walnut is that it is not as hard a wood as oak and maple, so dents could be an issue?