I had the same dilemna. I have golden oak floors throughout the rest of the house, but I wanted a darker floor in the kitchen. I would have loved an rustic, wide plank wood floor. This floor would not have matched the floors in the rest of the house and I was warned that the transitions from one floor to the other would not look so good by the saddles. In the end, I decided to go with the wood look tile because it works better with radiant heat than wood. I am so glad we did. Between the children and dog it was a good choice for us. I still have to stain the saddles at the two doorways that lead out of the kitchen, but it will be fine. If I used any floor other than golden oak, I would have the transition issue anyway. Love my tile floor! So easy to maintain.

I'm around, I thought this thread had died. We are going with wide plank white oak also from Carlisle. It will have a veiled white stain and clear satin finish. In fact, we just placed the order today..so I can't say how it looks but we got a great deal on it that we couldn't pass up. We will be doing the stair in the white oak as well, and I'm really happy with this plan. We considered so many different options and I got to where I was paralized and unable to make a decision. I feel that starting the new color at the stairs makes the color/species change look more intentional, if that makes sense. And going with carpet would just be too many different floors and colors in one area. This was a diy job, and it was very labor intensive, but not too challenging. Applying the tung oil on site was particularly inconvenient, luckily the white oak we are getting will come prefinished from Carlisle (it was a very customized order that a client placed and didn't purchase). I will post pics when we finish the install. Can't wait to cover up the painted plywood subfloor! kiki did you end up getting the walnut?

We selected a high end vinyl free floating wood plank flooring, for several reasons including patio / yard access direct through the 12 foot french door in the kitchen, sloppy dogs and general durability. Great wear and scratch warranty, 20 years. We are doing the entire main living area of DR, kitchen, den, foyer and powder room in the same. Installed over concrete and in the what used to be a sunken floor in the den, now plywood. Should be completed in a week, fingers crossed. We have friends who have a Karndean vinyl wood plank floor in their sun room. 11 years of no heat, soaking wet from rain and humidity and a fun filled patio and pool and beer pong marathons and it still looks like new. I was sold.

One rep from the high-end company came to take notes. He passed the job to the installers who did the demo and reinstall using the same tile. It was brick pattern as opposed to straight lay. I would have paid the upcharge. Needless to say, the installers weren’t exactly certified tile installation experts. Had they been, they would have questioned the change in pattern considering they were using the exact same tile.