We have hickory floors with no stain. It does have a lot of character, meaning color variation. Our floor guy said they could do "premium" hickory and all the color would be more consistent. The natural character hickory goes well in our home, but I agree that the variation is perhaps too much in your kitchen. All light boards would be very pretty. Hickory is very hard, so is a great floor for a kitchen.

I find red oak to have a pink/cinnamon cast to it...whereas the maple/hickory are MUCH MORE gold. I foresee a clash of undertones with the red oak. Of course, if you PAINT THEM your fine. But a natural (even a stained finish) with red oak is going to cast a different colour of wood. The maple cabs, though a pale fleshy colour right now, WILL turn to a slightly darker GOLD. In a year or so, the cabs should be a very close gold/yellow match to the gold in the hickory (which is why I like the two woods put together). The red oak, will start out a pinky fleshy reddish hue...and stay that way. It will clash until you stain them or paint them. Your current front doors are OK-ish. The brown is just about right for the hickory. A snick on the reddish side but nothing I would lose sleep over. That's as "reddish" as you want to go with hickory. Red Oak will be worse until you paint.

Will a light gray clash/look strange with the warm tones of the cabinets and floors? I feel like the only other option is white, which I really do not want to do. Gray is not a problem in and of itself, but the one you have chosen has cool undertones that may not be flattering to your warm woods. White is not the only other option. A warmer gray can absolutely work. Below is Owl Gray; its green undertones could make your floors look orange. Compare that to the greige below, a warm grey beige from Farrow and Ball that makes your floors look mercifully brown. These hues are not that different, but their effect on your space is huge. For backsplash we are looking at marble tiles of some sort (either brick pattern or herringbone). If you can wait to pick a bs that will give you the option to see sample tiles in your space with your materials in your light. That said, nothing makes faux marble counters look faux-er than a real marble bs. In the image below, the bs looks like the real thing (because it is) and the counters look like plastic. It's also a lot of "stone" look in one place. That said, people do it all the time. Google your counter and maple cabinets and save images of kitchens that you like. It may help you find a look you love.

hollybar thank you for these ideas! I'm actually walking into the paint store right now to get a sample of Manchester tan. It was recommended by quite a few people and, that was when I was thinking I needed something warm and glowy but not to yellow. ever since the post of all with pictures of blue and green photoshopped, my mind is racing for new ideas. I wonder if my original idea of doing blue or green in the back room will still work? hmmm.. Considering the urbane bronze is supposed to be a dark warm gray (with green and brown), would a bluish green work here? repeating your suggestion but things too good to be true I really prefer blues and greens! I guess I have a lot to learn because I automatically figured blue wouldn't work in anyway. also, it gives me hope that you said you might do the other room a different color. I have a post from over a year ago that has got on for hundreds of comments. I had multiple people follow through with me and they have been an incredible resource and support. They helped me figure out what to do with that crazy black and white floor and all the different things going in in the kitchen. one thing they also is that we should do one color to unify. although, I kind of feel that the floors, although different are much more similar than before and maybe we can get away with it. If you have any color suggestions feel free to throw them my way. it's going to be hard to go to the paint store and not make a snap decision!