I have had wood island countertops in 2 kitchens now and love them. I would only use John Boos Hard Rock Maple with the oiled finish. It is super easy upkeep, and allows you to cut right on the countertop. The oiled finish is just an easy rub in/ rub off application. When the counter is new you need to do this about once a week for about a month, then after that about quarterly. It is so nice to have a fully useful counter. Just yesterday I fixed 35 pounds of pulled pork and did all the "pulling" and chopping right on the counter. So nice. current house: previous house:

I encourage you to live with it for awhile before you decide on anything. I had the same situation in carpet against my marble when I built 14 years ago but I lived with it until just last year when I tore out the carpet and got laminate. I would hate to see you paint the stained wood on your stairs. I think the balance is striking against the white and once it's painted it is VERY difficult to go back. As suggested, when you replace the carpet, that would be the time to use get a closer match to flooring which I agree would look nicer. Since the floor appears darker, a good sanding on the rail and stairs with medium grit paper would remove the varnish/poly and some stain and you could then darken it to match the flooring. Until then, consider adding some accents that bring out the golden oak color and "justify" that wood color in the foyer. Perhaps a small table or bench or anything that compliments the color of the stairs. Over time, I can assure you that it will become less predominant (as you have found) and your eye will focus more on the total impression. Also, you could provide a more spectacular focal piece in that area that draws the eye in a different direction. JMHO.

I ended up getting the red oak stairs and the white oak floor. Did white oak, no stain, water poly. Stained the stairs darker to make it look intentional. I might have been able to get away with keeping the red oak stairs natural, too, if the floor installers had been asked to, and they had looked for boards that were redder and installed them near the stairs. There were some boards that looked like red oak. Here's the thread and pics ... [https://www.houzz.com/discussions/red-oak-stairs-do-i-install-white-oak-floors-or-red-dsvw-vd~3697644[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/red-oak-stairs-do-i-install-white-oak-floors-or-red-dsvw-vd~3697644) Make sure you read the part at the end about the nosing strip. That was a real oversight on my part. (I miss my stairs looking like that - they look cluttered now with the railings.)

Thank you all for your feedback! Yes we own it. Honestly I just would like for my home to look modern and tile isn't modern to me. The main reason I want to replace flooring is because I want to rid of the tile and the home needs new carpet. There are a few areas with minor cracking and I also strongly dislike the look of tile. I would rather replace the tile now while the home is empty as it would be less of a hassle. I initially thought it would be easier to just replace all the floors rather than finding something to match the enhineered hardwood. I decided on LVP because I have kids and a dog and I wanted something waterproof to replace the tile and didn't want to have to try to match the LVP with the hardwood. However, we ultimately decided just to keep the hardwood stairs and engineered wood floors. But since we already see signs of aging in the tile we are still going to replace it. I decided to go with the CORE LVP Flooring in Roswell Hickory in the tiled areas. Any thoughts on it and how it may pair with my floors (another pic is below)? This will be $8K to do plus the cost of carpet install which is $2K. It's right on budget! I'm hoping it ties together with our hardwood and I'll top everything off with a new coat of paint before moving in. Our floor dark floors are in the living and dining room, but all other main areas are tile. So the new CORE LVP will be in the kitchen, kitchen nook, laundry room, entry way and all bathrooms. The floor transition will be dark to match the dark wood areas. Most bedrooms are carpeted and will be replaced with carpet. This really just applies to the main area. Another picture of my floors...