I think almost any color goes great with espresso and cream cabinets. I would go to Houzz and look at kitchens with your combo and see what you like. I have had a few different types of hardwood floors and I really really suggest going with a low sheen finish on anything darker than a medium stain. Especially a dark charcoal, you will see foot print marks and dust in no time after cleaning. Some also say to go lighter on the floors if cabinets are dark and vice versa. But with your combination you could go either way. We have white cabinets on the perimeter and and espresso island in our new build and are putting in a very dark almost black wire brushed oak with low sheen. Here's a pic of our floors, they just started installing them yesterday:

My daughter had new #1 unstained, site-finished, red oak installed in her kitchen. Her kitchen opens to her den and dining room. Both of those rooms had 90-year-old red oak which she refinished a few years prior. A threshold was installed between the dining room and kitchen where both rooms' butt ends adjoin the threshold. No threshold was installed between the den and kitchen where the length of the board in both rooms adjoins the two rooms. Six months later, you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between the new and old floors. All of her floors were finished with an oil based poly. You could use a different width if you insist, but your home will harmonize better if you are consistent.

SJ McCarthy, our contract is stated we are responsible for the materials and we pay for the labor. Unfortunately we never met nor discuss with the owner but only discussed in details ( in the proposal) with the project manager who is the solely the carpenter.) We just found out there were a lot of the DETAILS from the proposal were not explained (per the PM,but who knows) in detail to the owner or almost like "bait and switch" - for example like item #2- he spent more time because the owner did not get him another helper to help him- I told him this should not be the customer's expenses-Anyway we are willing to pay for it. The owner was offering to renew and establish a new contract from the original contact ( we felt that he cherry picking the items from the proposal, we marked them up then again he decided not to included) for the unfinished works . Once he agreed in our 2nd meeting (another example: he agreed tiling our study room to be included from the original contact in our 1st meeting then when he write the REVISED CONTRACT- he wants to charge us ), but again we are facing the same old stories-he tried to change the wording. We were burned so many times and now we diligently review line by line knowing the owner's personality. He kept saying he lived by the contract-then I told him then he should honor the low estimated to install our engineering hardwood floor including removing the carpet-in the end he says he would honor but he did not including the cost in the new REVISED contract which we add into it - we are so tired with his games. So now we put a contingency - once we agree with the new contract, no more additional expenses from the previous work was done- and we do agree that we need to be notified first and need both signatures for additional expenses from the new contract. and no more point finger of "not included" since we have discussed in detailed and are in the contract. The new addition has a hardwood floor installed - with Dri-core. Once hardwood floor was installed- they are some areas squeak- we were told by PM -put a marked up then he would fasten without explaining to us-these would be additional ridiculous charges (PM told the owner, too-we told PM that they should explain it to us- ) Regarding the installing the engineering hardwood floor is for our existing rooms(concrete slabs that has plywood already)- we are told just to put a vapour barrier. Is it possible to let me know what brands for the glues have to be moisture resistant ($2/sf) or moisture PROOF ($3/sf).? The manufacture instruction suggests to use Franklin Tongue and Groove adhesive (cross linking polyaliphactic emulsion glue) www.titebond.com -any suggestions? This Applachian engineering hardwood floor - FLOATING only needs GLUE between the wood (tongue and groove per the manufacture manual ) then would be FLOAT - this is not to be GLUE DOWN on our concrete floor (could be glue down if necessary but not in our case). Here is the website- on PAGE 9 http://www.appalachianflooring.com/uploads/general/documents/engineered-installation-guide.pdf We trust the PM and we pay for it- we just want to move on and complete the project-It has been almost 10 months. We have to do what we have to do to protect ourselves now- The owner refuses to install our towel bar in our new shower without charging us, and we told him we will take care them by ourselves. I will update this post and hoping for a better solution. Thank you

If you still like the floor and it's feasible to reuse, then go for it. I wouldn't worry about resale value unless you are flipping the house. It's more likely that a trendy choice would be dated and your "classic" choice would be viewed as retro, vintage and cool again. I just finished my remodel and went with a very untrendy relatively narrow oak floor in a natural stain (or natural un-stain). It's not the trendy wider planks but it was replacing similar flooring that I liked and the flooring is the same style of flooring as that which is in older homes which still have their original wood floors. In terms of moderately priced engineered wood. My engineered wood floors are "moderate" as they were $8.00 per square foot and they are Canadian and use green methods both in terms of forestry and construction. Mine are Mirage but I believe Lauzon is another Canadian company which also has engineered floors in that moderate price point which is similarly green. When I was researching flooring, there also seem to be some American companies but I was fine with Mirage as I didn't have particularly esoteric design needs as I just wanted classic wood floors in a lighter color without excess movement or knots. I opted for their more expensive floors which used higher quality "less busy" oak.