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Remodeling Kitchens

Hardwood Kitchen floors to match oak cabinets

4 years ago

My kitchen is 16 years old so it is a little dated. We have traditional natural oak (golden in color) cabinets and linoleum floors. Someday we will change the cabinets to white/cream cabinets. But for now we are going to keep the oak. We are ready to do our floors over now though. I am looking for hardwood flooring (type/color) recommendations. We want the hardwood to complement our traditional oak cabinets now and also white/cream cabinets which we plan to get in future. Any hardwood recommendations?

Featured Answer

Olychick

4 years ago

I would match the existing flooring. Even if it's not the top color choice with your oak, it will look more cohesive than adding yet another flooring and will be ready for your cabinet update.

Or replace all the hardwood with a more natural finish that will go with everything.

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Comments (12)

cat_ky
4 years ago
Please post pictures.
Candy thanked cat_ky
shirlpp
4 years ago
Only hardwood in the kitchen? What is going on with the surrounding areas?
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Of course the easiest way to do what you want to do is to install a different width in the kitchen and use something to act as a transition between the two floors. If the kitchen section will be at the same finished height and you can and want to weave new into the old, then you will have to have oak milled to your 2 1/2" size. Not impossible, but will cost more than factory runs at the usual widths. I don't have pics for you, so I hope someone does and can post them for you.
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Gosh, unless you're in an unusual housing market, it's generally better to not do anything and offer money for new floors since potential buyers might prefer carpet or even tile. Not everyone loves wood floors. I'm not even sure it makes financial sense. You'd have to do the math with realistic numbers but I doubt any tax credit would make up for the expenditure and increased sale price. Incidentally, exotic wood floors are a huge turn-off for me for environmental reasons. Wouldn't be attracted to that any more than an exotic fur coat.
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Someone here has pictures of their natural red oak floors and their quartersawn white oak cabinets. It was a beautiful contrast!! Hopefully she will post to this thread because I can't remember who it was. I did the opposite...quartersawn white oak floors and stained red oak cabinets. Quartersawn oak is more expensive, but has a very different appearance and grain. It really doesn't even look like oak, except for the tone and color of the wood.
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What LVP matches this hardwood white oak floor?
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The 'change' is not in opinion...it is in YOUR location. The original concept for THAT poster = slab above grade. Yours is BELOW grade. Gluing down is always a risk below grade. We MUST assume your slabs vapour barrier has been breached. MUST. It is the ONLY safe way to approach this. Your sales person is doing her job. She has experienced the difference between a glue down (over well prepared concrete) vs a floating floor that was POORLY prepared. Yes. There is a difference. The DIFFERENCE in 'feeling' is in the 'proper' vs. 'poorly' prepared concrete. A well prepared subfloor = a solid feeling floor. Always. That adds a huge amount of cost to your project for a glue down option. You would need to add in $3-$5/sf for concrete SEALING...and then you start dealing with the installation/floor prep costs. A glue down vinyl is top of the table...yep. It is what gets 40-50 years out of a floor. The COST is staggering. The adhesive adds another $2/sf to the cost of the floor....especially below grade. And yes, any slab that has even 1" of it below the surface of the ground means the ENTIRE THING is considered 'under ground' = below grade. That's how it is supposed to be looked at. If you do not want the chemicals, then go with floating. Remember: your concrete must be flat....that can add $3/sf to prepare. And you need a vapour barrier (10mil polyethylene sheeting) and then the vinyl can be put down. A floating floor = more expensive to purchase but cheaper to install (all the way around). Your sales person may not be educated in MOISTURE mitigation. Even a single course on moisture mitigation (4 hours) will illuminate her and would allow her to understand a glue down floor vs. a glue down BELOW grade. Two very different beasts.
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Candy
Original Author
4 years ago
I have a living room and a dining room that abut the kitchen and are on either side of my small hallway. They both have honey colored beechwood floors (very warm in color). The hallway is carpet just waiting to be torn up. The hallway will be the same flooring as I put in the kitchen. The family room, is berber carpet.
shirlpp
4 years ago
Living room, Dining Room, Kitchen, Hallway, Foyer - 5 spaces with carpet, beechwood floors, and linoleum currently in the kitchen - 3 flooring materials. I agree that your floor planning should include more cohesion amongst the spaces - otherwise it is going to be too choppy.
Candy thanked shirlpp
Candy
Original Author
4 years ago
The beech wood in the living room and dining room is prefinished. It would not be appropriate for the kitchen and hallway areas. Someone else recommended a slate floor. What do you think about that? I am open to suggestions other than hardwood. Thanks.
shirlpp
4 years ago
What about something like:
Candy thanked shirlpp
jhmarie
4 years ago
I have wood cabinets and if i did not have hardwood floor, I would have done a stone tile similar to what shirpp posted above - maybe a slightly lighter tone as I have only one window in my kitchen. Slate works well with white and wood - however it can be dark. Be sure you plan no alterations to your kitchen layout when you change out cabinets. Then your new floor may need to be replaced.

This is my wood kitchens idea book - some newer, some older and some with a mix of white and wood. You may want to work with the wood if it is in good shape.

https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/75202366/list/wood-kitchens
Candy thanked jhmarie
kariyava
4 years ago
I think slate (or slate look tile) would look lovely with both your existing cabinets and white cabinets.
Candy thanked kariyava
Candy
Original Author
4 years ago
shirlpp ... I love the picture of that floor recommendation you posted. Will you please tell me more about that flooring. I love it!
Candy
Original Author
4 years ago
jhmarie ... Thanks for the link to the kitchen ideas book. The oak cabinets with the traditional oak floors actually looks very nice. Those pictures helped me to visualize it. Do most people do red oak floors?
shirlpp
4 years ago
You'll find more of that modular flooring below. If you want to search further, you'd search for 'modular tile flooring', 'modular tumbled tile', 'modular porcelain tile'.

I love it too and I'm going to use that pattern in maybe a tumbled tile in my foyer.

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/743375482217372652/?nic=1a

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