I'm in the middle of the same decision so I grabbed a piece of our floor and slapped some stain on last night. I apologize for the stripes but I wanted to test a bunch before I go to large pieces (this weekend). The three stains are all Minwax in order, Dark Walnut, English Chestnut and Provincial. The two dark strips in the photo are the mixes that I hadn't wiped off yet. The middle stripe is not that light in person, the flash messed with it, but it is significantly lighter than the provincial. We are hoping for a medium brown without red or orange tones. We don't want too dark for all the reasons people on here don't want too dark. We're currently thinking that Provincial + Dark Walnut will get us where we want to be. Though it might just be dark walnut depending on how it looks on a larger board.

@jjam Your floors look beautiful. @Angela Wacker I hope your floors turn out beautiful. @mdln these are such a good ideas/solutions next time I am doing a renovation I will make sure to get this kit. I went by the house in the morning and took a closeup photo (prior to getting confirmation from the contractor and subcontractor) It does look like white oak. @SJ McCarthy thank you for all the information, it gave me ideas on what to ask the contractor and how to have a conversation about the floors. I even came up with a few more stains to try in case the original choices did not work out. The contractor e-mailed me early this afternoon agreeing to test a few more colors. We asked him, again, regarding the type of floors we have and the new ones they installed, initially he said the floors were red oak, but then he texted us an hour later letting us know that the sub had informed him that it was white oak!?! What!! @Beth Thank you!!!! @SashaDog Thank you!!!! @G & S Floor Service @Timothy Winzell it appears you guys were right - it is white oak -probably. Quality/grade? who knows! I cant believe the contractor did not know this! It appears my worries about the floors looking red after a light stain were unnecessary. We stopped by the home to see the samples on our "white oak" and the white stain looked nice with the top coat on it, not pink. The birch was nice, but we decided to go with the white as it looks more like the natural color of the wood we love. I am still anxious about the overall outcome, but crossing fingers that it turns out nice. I am going by the house tomorrow and working from my car so I can take a look and stop the workers in their tracks if it looks bad lol. I am just kidding...but maybe I am not :) Here are the two samples we tried Bona Birch and Duraseal White with bona HD on our "white oak" floors (this is not 100% for sure lol). Leaving the picture here in case someone is looking for a picture of these two stains. You are all such a wonderful group of people! Thank you for helping me through my anxiety. This morning I felt so stupid to have been worrying about a floor stain when so much more important things are going on in the world. Anyways, thank you and much love to you all. Stay healthy!! -Mari

A light or no stain on red oak will give you pink floors, so best to go with a medium brown. A medium tone is also classic - as styles swing back and forth from light to dark I think it's best to be in the middle. Who wants to refinish their floors every 5-10 years? This way you won't have to do it again until they need it instead of when fashions change. Just don't go too cool on the brown - they shouldn't look gray. Gray floors are definitely out on the coasts - if this hasn't happened yet where you live it is on its way.

Thank you so much everyone with your helpful information and suggestions. I might be over thinking the color coordination because I’m seeing some good ideas being posted! I love the idea of not painting my cabinets and wondered if it would be wasted money spent. I like the white oak flooring suggested…. I originally chose red oak only because of my inexperience in flooring materials but mostly because I thought to coordinate with the red in my cabinets I’d need a floor that had some red or warmth. I really do like the picture posted by Beth… red oak with bona Nordic seal.