I can't help with most your questions, but I'll say that I do like the look of the floors changing direction when entering a bedroom. I like the boards running long down a hallway, leading you in, then switching and running perpendicular in the adjoining rooms. People will tell you they have to run a certain way and no other because of having to be laid across the joists instead of with them, but I've had 45 year experience in two different homes where they were done as I described and there were never any problems.

The other thing I wondered about is if you add that much height under the stove, won't it make the stove taller than your counters? The person who built my home for herself didn't put the hardwood under the stove or dishwasher. What a hassle it's been every time I've had to replace them because they have a terrible time getting the appliances pushed in under the counter and down into that little space that's lower on the floor. And appliances seem to have grown a bit since this house was built in 1983. My handyman almost quit after installing my last dishwasher and range...you can't slide the range out to level it either. ugh.

Oly - Oh, I forgot it needing to run under the dishwasher too. I have no idea how much that adjusts.

The stove height can adjust but what concerns me is it's already sticking out over the top of my counters in the front. The back is even. I had the installers come back because the level needed adjusted. I wanted them to move the whole thing out, lower the stove so the I didn't have anything out over. I would have been fine with the back area being a tad lower than the counters. They left it in place and made adjustments to the front only. I'm assuming this was easier. I want to call the appliance store and talk to them. Hardwood is typically 3/4" inch, right? That's kind of a lot. I read you can get thinner but I don't want to only be able to refinish it a time or two. And it has to run underneath right or else you'd have a heck of a time getting the appliances out over the flooring later, right?

The other appliance issue is the refrigerator opening is smaller than standard size (stupid). My refrigerator just fits the hole (also stupid). I'm going to have to have the upper cabinet modified to make room. My refrigerator sticks out anyhow and isn't paneled in. I wanted to when we replaced the appliances but I wanted counter depth and didn't want to drop down cu ft size as small as I would have needed to go. Can't stand the way our refrigerator is actually. This is something that must be adjusted if we ever remodel. I can't believe I didn't even think about hardwood height when we bought the new one. I briefly thought about skipping it in the kitchen, but I don't like most tile (or vinyl, etc.) and visually I think it would look best to have it run through that kitchen and dining area as well.

Thanks for feedback on the bedrooms. DH actually just said how he didn't it necessary to install hardward in the bedrooms.. My reply was that this is a ranch house and visually we need hardwood running throughout. I say do it all once. I can't imagine it's that much more for three bedrooms but I could be wrong.

Can you refinish pre-finsihed hardwoods?

Yes, daisychain you can. We have pre-finished in our 20+ year home, but I think we did the hardwood about year 6. At that time we already had hardwood in the kitchen. We could have matched it, but I felt like with the oak cabinets, wood floor, wood floor in the adjoining room, etc. it was an expanse of wood. We had a laminate flooring put down that I love. It had a foam type backing and we had an additional layer put down under it, so that floor is much easier on my feet/legs than the hardwood was. I have had tile in previous homes but 1) I have grout issues 2) it is also hard on feet/legs and 3) to me, a bit harder upkeep. Anyhoo - Shee I can't even tell you what grade ours is. I can tell you our prefinished has help up wonderfully. I know it has multiple layers of finish. And we are somewhere around year 15ish and no need to refinish at this point. I can't remember how thick our flooring is, but I do remember being told it needs to be thick enough to be able to be sanded x number of times in case you want to refinish. I guess that would depend on how long you plan to be in the house. My only suggestions are to go with a color that doesn't have an orangey look (as I would think some reds would) and don't go too dark as I think it's a bit harder on upkeep (everything shows). Those are strictly personal preferences - you may disagree.

I have 5" red oak in my house, finished in place. It wasn't stained. That was 10 years ago and the color is similar to the second photo above. I don't think I got select, but it's definitely not a busy look. In fact, I have some favorite boards here and there that have a distinctive grain and lend character to the floor.

It's funny how we complain about the same oak grain on vertical surfaces (e.g., cabinets) but love it on the floor.

I would love to get my bedrooms done, but I don't want to go through sanding, etc. anymore. If I could get a reasonable match to my existing floors WITHOUT micro bevels, I'd opt for pre-finished.

Our installers took out the stove, DW, and fridge to install our hardwood, wouldn't do it any other way.!

MORE IMPORTANT!! When you add the floor, it makes everything in the kitchen shorter! You'll be raising the floor significantly - an inch to an inch and three quarters. That's a lot! Unless you also have your kitchen counters raised, you will suffer backaches every time you work in the kitchen. Seriously.

Daisy - Yes you can the same as site finished. I've also read the finish is tougher.

Tina - I agree about the colors and not too dark. I think dark flooring would be a nightmare to clean. I also think when it's so dark it looks like brown carpet.

I definitely don't want anything orange, not yellow, and not red. Maybe a hint of red. I like the level of darkness on this flooring. I think I'd like it better with more brown less red.

Linelle - There are companies around here that do dustless refinishing. I can't imagine the cost, but when the time comes I think we'll probably go that way. How bad is the clean/dust from refinishing?

If we lived in a two story home I wouldn't mess with bedroom upstairs. I do LIKE carpet under my feet and I enjoy running the vacuum like a weirdy. :) This is purely a visual update for me though I do image our house will be less dusty without the carpet.

Sheesh - Hmm... that is a lot. I think it may help that I'm short. ? 5'1" here and I hear that with age I'll most likely shrink a little, ha. (Not funny really!) I'm not bothered doing work at the counters if I'm in shoes with little heels. I don't sport heels often in the house though. I should probably start a thread just on the kitchen. Tile would create the same issue. I don't really want tile. I also don't want to install any type of fake wood near the real wood so that leaves vinyl. I think anything that's not wood makes it harder to decorate around or change up.

There's also the baseboards. Mine are only 3 something". I think instead of replacing ALL the base I'd rather use white shoe moulding and then maybe later add another piece of moulding on top to make it larger.

I have 100-year-old oak floors in my house. They look a lot like what you want. I've had boards replaced and you can't tell at all.

I don't think you will regret how busy they are. First, because you like the look in your inspiration pics, and second because I don't think they are particularly busy.

White oak is easier to stain IMO without getting too much red/orange. Red oak may be a little cheaper, I don't know for sure, just because of more availability. As to grade, there are more imperfections the lower in grade you go. If you hand pick, you could almost get blemish-free #1 of you are willing to spend the time. I'd probably go select.

You should definitely have hardwood (or whatever flooring you have) under your cabinets and appliances to make sure they are the same height.

Thanks for the feedback Cawaps.

Outside - If it goes in the kitchen I know we won't be removing the cabinets. Would you guys really not install it in the kitchen because of this? I really don't believe the height difference will bother me.

I would install in the kitchen and don't think the height difference would matter to me. All sizes (heights) of people use one height of counter top with no real problems. I actually think that unless you are tallish, you might find them even more comfortable a little lower (as a result of the higher floors).

eta: I just read your post where you said you are only 5'1". I think you're gonna love higher floors/lower counter tops! The person who built my house for herself, put in a butcher block cutting/pastry board built into the counter top that is about 3" lower than the rest of the counters. It is my go to place for chopping and rolling pastry and just about everything. It is so much more comfortable for me than the regular height counters and I'm 5'5" or maybe now 5'4" with age compaction!

Oly - I do believe we're going to go for it. I was looking at kitchens tonight with other flooring and I only really like hardwood. Well, I like brick but that's not going to happen. Still concerned about being able to lower the appliances but I can't be the only person who installs hardwood later. I'm sure it will be fine. Still going to put a call into the local appliance store where we bought ours.

I really like this flooring. It's less red than the one I posted above. Is that getting too dark as far as dust goes? ETA I bet this floor is darker IR. There's a lot lots of lighting going on.

Reading again about the difference between red oak and white. Red apparently has the stronger graining and the lighter the stain it tends to have a bit of a red undertone. White oak apparently is browner, darker, and more yellow. It has more mineral streaks and the rays are longer.

I also like this one. Red oak with oil base.

What's the purpose of transitions like this? Is the the 'correct' way to run it straight through if you're not changing direction?

The transition in your last picture would be probably covering the bare spot where the wall was removed to make the door, or where a door and its sill was removed.