I feel two coats of urethane finish is sufficient over top of a sealer. Look into Bona's line of sealers. You'll probably want something like IntenseSeal or AmberSeal to bring out the wood color, followed by two coats of Traffic.

https://www.bona.com/en-US/Bona-Professional/Products/Coatings/Waterborne-Finishes-and-Sealers/

@Johnson Flooring Co Inc What would be best to keep the natural worn color of the wood? I don't want it getting orangey or yellow

The amber color generally comes from aging of oil modified polyurethane. Traffic HD is clear and non-yellowing so no worries there. If you don't use a sealer that accentuates the color of the wood it will look rather dead.

@Johnson Flooring Co Inc I don't suppose you have any photos of before and after the sealer then the poly? I'm assuming by 'dead' you're not referring to color as much as bringing out the natural character of the wood and the grain?

This is about as close as I can get.

Picture 1: Bleached Brazilian Cherry. The left is oil poly, the right is Bona waterborne.

Picture 2: The light wood on both of these floors is Red Oak. The rhombs has oil poly while the other has BonaSeal (now ClassicSeal) and Bona Naturale. When the rhombs was finished with waterborne urethane the Walnut didn't look much different than the Oak.

that helps, thanks!

i just got the matte finish on plain old (new) white oak in my kitchen remodel. They used amber stain because they said it would match rest of house best (old white oak floors that have yellowed). Even though I might have preferred lighter I was OK with that. But decided to hold my ground and asked them to use the matte finish which the floor guys were sort of against. I love the finished product!! It's super smooth, no shine and makes a more modern clean look. It dried nearly instantaneously and they did the whole thing in a day from sanding to top finish. Amazing what new products and technology have done to transform floor finishing. (I last had floors done in around 2001 - big mess). I sure hope this stands up because I love the look. I recommend it. And no smell at all after it dries (same day!)

Like Johnson said, use either Intense seal or amber seal. For a deeper tone, apply additional coats of sealer.

@bb How have your matte floors held up? Have you find they are easy to clean or do they show more? We're about to have Bona traffic HD put down and can't decide between the satin vs extra matte.

@S MacD what did you end up going with and are you happy with it?

We did Traffic HD in satin and I absolutely love it. We have a dog and a toddler and our previous shiny poly floors would show EVERYTHING - every water dribble, every dog sneeze etc etc etc. The combo we have now (medium brown stain plus satin Bona) is almost too good at hiding all of the above, I really should mop the floors more often than I do these days...

Intense seal is there deep tone sealer. Tge ingredients in it allows you to add different types of pigment To create a hybrid system. Other than that, it’s just another shade of sealer. There is a color bar on the bottle that indicates the color Level. It’s a ambering sealer.

Grays and whites should have no sealer applied to it. However, You can use natural seal or Nordicseal over those colors. But, it will give you a different look. It is acceptable if, it’s the look you want.