Thanks everyone! michiganrachel - -Hmmm, vacuum scuffs are virtually guaranteed, but I do like the look...I'll have to check whether magic sponges take those off. rmkitchen & dianalo, I see your point and probably would have gone for the shoemoldingless look (if I had thought about this detail beforehand!) but I think it's too late for me now that the floors are done b/c the boards are not all perfectly abutting the baseboards- - I don't think it's sloppy, but I guess the GC had shoe molding in mind and must've communicated that to the flooring guys. Luckily I'm ok with the shoe molding.

Maybe this is a regional thing? When we lived in the Northeast, we never saw anything except shoe molding painted or stained to match the woodwork. We moved to the Southeast and have not seen anything except shoe molding that matches the flooring, including at the base of the cabinets. It looked strange to us at first, but now it seems normal. I will say that when it is stained to match the hardwood floor, it doesn't show scuff marks like the white painted molding did. In your case, cbjmidwood, neither of your colors would be light, so you wouldn't have that problem -- so it seems like just a matter of personal preference. Maybe go to an open house or two and see how they treat this in your area. Your kitchen sounds very nice -- hope you will love it!

I have vinyl plank with huge dogs in my walk out basement where they have free access to a large dog run it has been in for 11 yrs and still looks awesome. We have a laminate on our main floor that looks like slate and has also stood up to the brats for 11 yrs there is no way wood could have handled all that abuse. IMO laminate or vinyl plank in good condition is better than scratched up wood floor that would have to be refinished before sale. We now have a great pyrenees as our 2 old dogs have passed away and he really is rough on floors , no wood could possibly stand up to him.The pic is the laminate floor and the old dogs

Do what needs to be done to make it look nice and finished. Nobody will be walking around and comparing one room to the next one, no one will even notice it. But if you want every room to match and have the same molding throughout, take everything down and got with the new base and shoe. Good luck