As advised, you can stain it first and paint it later if you do not like it, but a stained door will give a much richer appearance and be easier to maintain. Painted doors look cheaper because they ARE cheaper, as nhb22 said. Since you are doing three panel craftsmen style doors, a stained finish is more traditional and will be visually more interesting. In the 1950s, many plain flat interior doors were constructed with beautiful veneers and then stained, but a cheap flat door would look better painted. Paint is used to hide ugly wood - stain is used to enhance beautiful wood.

Johnmari, Thank you for sharing about the many variations on white. Now I'm a little worried. We really don't have $ to go for custom treatments. If I go with the white, maybe I should order, try one, and then understand I may have to return? Yes. Absolutely. That was JM's point and what I assumed (and shouldn't have) you already knew. You need to have a plan to check the color before you commit. Or, as Annz said, there are many other resources out there at about the same price point as JCP where you can obtain samples before you buy. My Lowe's for instance has a nice supply of take home color samples for blinds and plantation shutters. You mention a mix of mission and contemporary - again, either would work. Someone made the point the wood tones do not reflect as much light into the space -- that is accurate. If you have abundant natural light, might not be such a concern. But if you're having trouble deciding between the two, that factor is something to consider. Exterior - Again, either can work. It's a matter of your deciding which choice, white or wood, is going to fit best with the design and look you're marching towards interior as well as exterior. Maybe make a spreadsheet and list the pros and cons of each color choice to help you see which one 'fits' best at least on paper.

First things first: find out the species of your wood floor. We don't have very many room shots of the floors...which makes figuring out the COLOUR they will become once sanded/finished in a CLEAR COAT finish. What you are seeing right now is not a 'stain'. It is oil based polyurethane that has ambered (turned orange) just by aging. I would say there is NO stain on the floors. They are a birch (maybe maple....TOO HARD to tell from these slices in the photos) with a finish over top...no stain. The floor colour will drive the rest of the house. And yes...those floors in the kitchen are the very reason why we tell people NOT to put fake wood next to real wood. And the person who did it is probably colour blind. The clash of colours is enough for me to scratch my eyes out! But I digress. Personally I would find out the floor species FIRST. Then I would get a hardwood flooring professional to come in and offer a quote for the purchase of 'more' of the same wood (in the same cut, width and grade) and the cost to lace in the two floors and refinish them. That's going to be your 'big budget' ticket item. That will tell you what's left in the bank account. Painting out the trim is going to be a pain. The HEAVY graining of the red oak = doesn't look good when painted. I would assume you will need to remove/replace the wood trim unless otherwise convinced that something awesome could be done with them. I doubt it. Much of the trim looks like a patch-work-quilt that has been done a different times with different species of wood and different finish at different times with different skill levels. The doors on the other hand are a different story. If they are solid core, then they are worth a bundle. I would keep them and try to find a shade of stain or paint that would look handsome with the FINAL look of my floors. If you find out you have a VERY PALE wood underneath the orange oil based finish you might discover how pale they are when finished in a high-end two part water based finish (ahem...do NOT go with oil based finish or else you will simply end up with the same colour of floor = bright yellow/orange). I've seen Birch and Maple as well as red and white oak look as pale as wheat or dry sand. It is a markedly different tone compared to what you have now.

You may need to unify some of your wood colors ... the proposed floors look beautiful... but you have too many wood colors already... white paint on all the trim and stairs would be a good start... then decide if doors should be white as well...it doesn’t look like you have an abundance of natural light... so more white will be better....leaving only cabinets and floors in wood finish will make them look more special