I have had the Montana Cabin Hickory installed on our main floor for about 7 years now. It is a prefinished flooring, and has done very well with our granddogs nails. I have the 3 different widths of flooring,I am not sure of the grade, but it has alot of knot holes,it is not a Heirloom grade. If you research on this site(flooring Forum), other people have hightly recommended them. My husband and I both still say this was the best decision we made to improving our home. Mary Here is a link that might be useful: chelsea plank flooring

Bumping... We visited a floor store this weekend and brought home many samples of laminate and vinyl floor planks, all wood-look. I think we are leaning towards one of the higher end laminate wood-looks and using it throughout the foyer, DR, and whole kitchen. My new questions are: Does high-end laminate scratch or scuff under barstools or dining table chairs? How does high end laminate hold up under water? The salesman we talked to was very confident that the choices we took home would be fine in areas where there could be water from time to time. What sort of wood tone should I look for that will look nice with the maple cabinets in the kitchen, and the dark cherry dining set in the DR? Does anyone think I would be better off design-wise with tile-looking laminate in the kitchen, then wood-looking laminate in the foyer/DR?? (don't want real tile, too hard and too cold for my tastes) Also, does anyone know anything about vinyl planking? The sample we looked at had a lot of nice texture and was realistic looking. Might be a nice option since it will be in the kitchen and foyer, both watery places from time to time. It is a floating floor that glues at the seams on tabs that interlock. Thank you again for your input.

Debbi nailed it - if you don't have somewhere where a distinct change in the flooring materials makes sense, then it will look odd. The inside wall with the wall ovens and cabinets extends further into your living space than the cabinets on the outside wall do - so no, it doesn't line up. Quarter sawn white oak with a walnut stain should be reasonably sturdy; it's considerably harder than walnut. It will get the odd dent when things get dropped etc. but the good thing about oak is that the grain will tend to help hide blemishes. We have maple in our house, including the kitchen, and yeah - after a year, there are some dings. But it's warmer, easier on your feet and will make your main floor flow nicely. Note: the most important thing you can do to protect your floors from damage is take your outdoor shoes OFF in the house. (not looking to open that silly shoes off/shoes on debate from a philosophical view again - but grit and dirt from outdoors is the enemy of hardwood flooring.) We wear slippers in the house. And my kitchen floor is just as clean as any tile floor - it's natural maple, so it's pretty obvious when it needs mopping. I don't think tile is intrinsically any cleaner than hardwood. ;)

Dottie - I could not have done this without an educated designer - it's not just about the design choices although I would never have come up with design choices as my brain isn't hardwired in those kinds of visually imaginative ways. I can appreciate things but I don't know how to pull them together and I wouldn't have the ability to figure out where to even start in terms of the sea of vendors. I am good about researching appliances and functions but get lost in the sea of visual possibilities :-) And I can't even imagine dealing with codes and such since Los Angeles is code crazy - I wanted to move some floor electrical outlets up a bit from the floor as I found it difficult to reach them when I had some hip issues so I was thinking about for the future - I was told that if I move a plug, the whole thing has to be rewired back to the panel box. And the darn kitchen sink has to be approved by the UL LOL - who would think a kitchen sink could be dangerous.