It's funny the way the camera views things differently. IRL, the 3rd wood looks much closer to the tile color, but I'm not sure that's a good thing. The dark floor we have now really shows the dust - not good for a lazy housekeeper such as myself. I do fine with the halls and kitchen, but I don't even notice it in the big room, probably because I seldom go in there except to walk through it. Another thing I've been wondering about is the feel of the wood. Our current floor has, or had, a smooth finish. It didn't look plastic, but had an obvious finish coat on it. The first two samples here don't have a smooth finish at all, almost like they need to be sanded a little more. The salesman said they have a scratch resistant coating and they are hand scraped. The third sample has a finish that feels smooth, more like furniture.

Thanks to all for your comments! No going back on the natural cherry cabinets (they were just installed) so looks like I will have to address any issues with the finish we use on the red oak floors. I think my problem is that I really hate to put a stain on beautiful hardwood but, as you both note, a contrast is considered best. Guess I was just hoping against hope that the cherry will darken enough so that I would still have a contrast. An option suggested by my kitchen designer is to go with a Provincial stain on the floors. I really value her advice... just resisting staining that wood! :-)

Ingrid, I second guess myself all the time. If I have room in my garden and choose a plant on-line (I rarely go to nurseries--they are known for their lack of variety and hardly any roses), I wonder, before and after I order, did I do the right thing, should I have bought this one instead, will it do well in my garden under harsh circumstances, will it look and grow the same, etc., etc., etc. I also tend to push the envelope a bit as well. Who else, where it is hotter than Hades in the summertime, grows raspberries and has great flushes of them (in a drought stricken area as well!). So at least I am adventurous when it comes to the plant world. It is probably a good thing I don't have a bigger yard. Lord only know what you would find me growing in there. One lesson I learned early on, the definition of a weed. A weed is ANY plant that grows where you don't want it to. That has helped me get rid of plants and not think too much afterwards. Each plant and whether or not it does well, is taken as another of life's lessons.

While we've only been in the house a little over 3 months, I'm very happy with ours. Our floors are 90/10 Red/White oak milled in 3-5" all cut from our property and milled/kiln dried locally. My only regret is taking them to a processor that doesn't end match. We did get a little bit of gaps during the winter, but not as bad as expected, and frankly, I like the natural imperfections. Ours were site finished, and we opted for a water based finish as we didn't want the strong red/pinks you get from the red oak with an oil based finished. This makes cleaning a little more specific in what types of cleaning solutions you use, but not a big deal to us. Here's what it looked like after if was finished: