With a stain that dark, ambering is not going to be an issue for you but I would not use an oil based product regardless. Brain cells are too important! My personal preference is minimal sheen so I use matte finish top coat or low luster. As mentioned, the names and sheen will vary among manufacturers. With any of them there are certain things to remember - never shake the can, do not stir vigorously so as to create bubbles but DO continually stir gently as you are working. the solids settle out very quickly with low luster products especially and what you are left with on top is going to dry improperly and give you inconsistent sheen levels. This is a big project and needs to be approached with the long term goal in mind regardless of the time it takes which will be longer than you think - it always is. When you get tired of it and try to rush it, you'll see the result of that in the finished product. This is hard for me because if you were a friend of mine here in flesh and blood I'd do anything to talk you out of it. Of course it can be done and many people show their beautiful results but for every one of those there's probably 2 people who got part way into it and wondered why in the heck they ever started. But I'm going to be a cheerleader and say go Shee go! - you can do this, take your time and don't ever work on it when you're tired.

I would suspect the Varathane might not adhere to the Minwax. If going with low-end, low-quality, off-the-shelf products, I HIGHLY recommend Varathane's Nano Defense. It is an Aluminum Oxide infused water based polyurethane. It is about $80/gallon and covers 450sf. I've seen this used and it is pretty tough. The Aluminum Oxide is a scratch resistant product (not scratch PROOF...but scratch resistant). You will MOST LIKELY have to sand down the Minwax, and start again. If you wan to refresh your finish, then use the SAME product used on them originally. If you want a NEW finish...then do the work. Full sand and refinish. And a professional hardwood flooring professional would stand by a finish - especially inside of 12 months. If the finish is FAILING (pealing, splitting, white lines, etc) then it is up to the refinisher to deal with it. If it is scratched up...that is a homeowner thing which is then paid for by the homeowner. If you MUST do low-end, low-quality products then might as well work with the toughest thing we've got - Varathane Nano-Defense. But it still takes all the work normally required to get it down. Full sand and refinished. These water based products don't like sitting on oil based or oil modified. And Minwax is a BEAR to get other things to stick to. Good luck. Personally I would leave it and do it when you are ready to sell.

Ok....here's the *issues with matte poly - they are SUPER HARD to live with!!!!! They are even HARDER TO LIVE WITH if you choose a DARK FLOOR! Ohhhh dear. As handsome as the Pompeii Lipari is, it will be HELL to live with. And here's why: dark floors NATURALLY show dust (human skin cells make up 90% of all indoor dust; and most skin sluffs of LIGHT GRAY....). And your colour choice is dark. It is not a mid tone. It will read as "dark" in any space other than a box with windows on all 4 sides. So the DARK wood you have chosen will show dust (light gray film over everything) on a DAILY basis. Yes. Daily. Now for the matte finish. Matte finish is duller than SKIN OILS. Which means bare feet AND stocking feet will leave behind visible OIL MARKS. So will hand prints. And knee prints (even through blue jeans). And elbow prints (even through t-shirt material). And if animals are in the picture, dog's pads have plenty of oil on them....which will show up on the matte finish. Your beautiful floors will be a constant source of frustration. These are things a sale's person will not tell you. The dark floors are hard to live with. Period. Matte finished floors are hard to live with. Period. A dark floor finished in a matte will be HELL to live with. End of story. Personally I would look at a lighter floor (two steps lighter) with a satin finish. Satin is a close cousin to matte. It gives the same appearance as matte but without the oily prints. Splashed cooking oil will show up....but that is a GOOD thing! You want to be able to see the oil so that you can clean it up - it is a hazard on the floor. The skin oils will BLEND IN with satin. They are the same sheen level. The extreme colours (white or almost white; black or dark) are very hard to live with. The extreme gloss levels (matte or super matte; gloss or super gloss) are hard to live with. That's why MOST PEOPLE compromise and work with a mid-tone floor (two steps lighter than your choice) and satin or semi-gloss finishes. These compromises suit 90% of homeowners better than the extreme options. The extreme options SHOULD COME with their own LIVE-IN house keeper! Good luck. I would keep looking.

@Brianna I do have this on another thread but thought it would be helpful here as well. Brianna, I'd love to hear how things went for you. Hopefully I can offer some additional insight as I am currently in this situation :( A quick side note, I am shocked that polyurethane brands, specifically Minwax, does not offer more of a warning about the longevity of "off-gassing." It is understandable to deal with a toxic smell during application and sometime after, but the lack of education/honesty about their product, to me is complete negligence. Especially when these brands are carried at DIY home improvement stores and are bought by "everyday homeowners" and not restricted to just professionals. To sum up my situation... I bought my house in June 2021. I immediately sanded and refinished my floors in the Minwax stain and Minwax fast drying polyurethane for INTERIOR use. I did one coat stain, 2 coats poly. I aired out my house for an entire month before moving in July. As everyone can assume, the smell as intense, a 10/10! When we moved in a month later, I would rate it an 8/10. I cannot stress this enough for people thinking about using poly....DONT USE POLY! The off-gassing is very real! All of your area rugs, your couch and soft fabrics will most definitely absorb the smell. And if you're like me, you will be washing/ cleaning constantly to get rid of it. I have always had a very fresh smelling home, and this "adventure" has consumed me for the past 6 months and has continued today. Today, I would rate the smell a 2/10. I ask everyone that comes into my house to rate the poly smell...yes, I'm that person. For those dealing with this, here are the methods I used: 1) AIR OUT YOUR HOUSE EVERYDAY! This is the most important. Create airflow by pulling air in and pushing air out using window box fans. I did this for 4 months straight. No Joke! Every room with 2 windows has an in and out fan. 2) I CLEANED MY FLOORS AT LEAST 4X A WEEK! I used my Shark floor steamer. I would fill a bottle with vinegar water and pour it on the floor, then go over with my steamer. I would repeat this with bleach water. This definitely helped neutralize the smell. I started this 1 week after the last poly coat. 3) AIR PURIFIERS! I used multiple methods, so not sure what has had the most effect. I have 2 CARBON FIBER air purifiers, which I leave on every day and turn the setting up on high at night. Carbon fiber absorbs VOCs. I also bought Activated charcoal fiber pellets and put them in mesh bags in closets and under furniture. Be sure you activate the charcoal by laying them in the sun for a few hours. Not sure if it actually works, but that's what I read. I have 2 Filtrete Smart Furnace filters which i taped to 2 box fans and let them run in the house as well. Air filters are expensive, and this does the same thing. This specific filter absorbs VOCs. These became very very black from absorbing the fine particles and worked awesome. I use a Berger Lamp ever so often and also would put baking soda and water in a small crockpot to neutralize the air. Please change your furnace filter often during this process. I went through 3 in 6 months. 4) WASH SOFT FABRICS AND FRESHEN AREA RUGS! It's important to wash any fabrics taht have been exposed to the poly smell. I have consistently washed curtains, couch pillows/blankets, clothes and bedding during the "off-gassing" process. I have most of my clothes and off-season items in totes to avoid the exposure. I spray fabrics that i cannot wash with a backing soda/ vinegar/ eucalyptus mixture. The area rugs that I do have down, I have been freshening up every month or 2 with a similar backing soda/ vinegar mixture in my carpet cleaner. Even sprinkling backing soda on your rugs and let it sit before vacuuming can be helpful. 5) USE CANDLES, WALL SCENTS, ETC... These can be helpful but the last thing you want to do is mask/mix these smells with poly. Your goal is to really purify and clean the air. Poly has a sort of "warm" smell so i stayed away from "warmer" smelling scents like vanilla or sugar. I found that fresh, minty smells did better. Eucalyptus, Spearmint, Solar Musk, Citrus, Herb and Floral smells worked best for me. 6) OZONE MACHINE If you use one of these, definitely do your research on how to properly run one. Not sure if it helped much with neutralizing the floor smell, but it did help neutralize fabric smells. These machines work amazing and can make a dent in the "off-gassing" smell. I used it weekly the first couple months. FYI: don't put them directly on the floor, I set it on a stool. It can leave a mark, so I'm told. Again, these can be harmful so do your researched! There may be other things I'm forgetting. I tried to simplify this while giving as much info as possible. I am glad to see the off gassing is coming to an end...hopefully and I can actually feel comfortable having people over. I will never use poly again on a project of this scale. Hope this helped someone! :)