Wow! Thanks for all the fabulous pictures so far. mommycooks, I'm so glad that you found the thread and could post. I'm liking that praline color a lot! alexamd, those cabinets are beautiful...and since my floors are oak too, you've got me thinking. What's that stain color? And those pendants are really amazing too. I just keep going back and forth on the white or stained. My kitchen doesn't get a lot of natural light and it's only 13x17'. I'm worried that it's too small to have the wood on wood look, but I want something that's warm and cozy. Do you think that in my small space that it's too much wood?

Oh, I'd love to see this too. We have already selected stained cherry cabinets (medium "toast" stain), and are getting ready to select a stain for our new oak wood floors. Not sure whether I want to go lighter or darker!

owls4me: We absolutely LOVE the cumaru. It's my DH's favorite part of the new house - and I had to convince him to go with this wood :) Our flooring installer got the flooring for us. It is supposed to be from a sustainable forest (I hope so, but unless I went to look at the forest in brazil, I wouldn't trust it!). So I don't know the 'brand' of cumaru. We just put coats of semi-gloss poly on it feeling like the coloring was dark enough and didn't want to cover all of the gorgeous variation that we fell in love with. The cumaru is holding up very well (we've only been in the house since April, so no long term info). It has withstood tons of banging and falling objects (thank you very much to my toddlers and my clumsy self!) without a single nick or dent - this stuff is HARD! Let me give my GC a call to see if I can find out more info. If you are near the chicagoland area, the installers were incredible and would recommend them in a heart beat! atct86: hope you are finding inspiration - you really can't go wrong with natural materials!

OneRidgeOff - That's a lovely color - Some of the stains I saw specifically named when I was looking at the Crown Point Galley did have a glaze on them and I was drawn to them although I had never contemplated glazing as I had associated it with those obnoxious Tuscan kitchens from the Real Housewives shows. I'm having the cabinets done custom so I can do anything I want - subject of course to the actual wood and also whether glazing would drive the costs up stratospherically :-) My dilemma is that I actually love them all. I don't hate the red (the first is the Sapele which is naturally red but has a quiet grain) but when I went to look at flooring yesterday, my friend and designer said red tones are limiting potential because they make a statement. The rest of the living area will have some green or teal green - I am keeping a 1920's dark green Chinese Chest; have two Chinese Art Deco area rugs I am keeping and am going with a teal blue upholstery or elements that go with that color. And I actually like REAL golden oak. I had to part with a gorgeous buffet from the turn of the century and I don't mind the color or look at all. But I hate the modern "golden" oak kitchen cabinets that were ubiquitous a while ago - they look completely different to me for some reason. Posting pictures of the Golden Oak Curio Buffet cabinet (which I had to part with) and the Chinese Chest (which I am keeping. I like the dark stain on an abstract level when I see it but I think that it works better when you are really restoring a period home or going full out Mission/Stickley :-). I am also having the den/office area done with built ins that would match the kitchen/dining area hutch and that would be a LOT of dark heavy wood. And then I think - maybe cherry with a light natural stain instead of Quarter Sawn White Oak - EEK - the brain is really disintegrating with this decision. It's ironic as yesterday went to the stone yard - and immediately fell in love with a particular slab of Calacutta and no second thoughts - no buyer's remorse but this wood stain is a new brain worm :-) Golden Oak Antique Curio which I had to rehome as there is no room at the inn for it :-) This is the Chinese Chest I am keeping - it's green but a very drab - not Christmas green. The stained glass window in the background is being repurposed as the mirror in my guest bath with mirror substituting for what had been clear glass. Ironically all these years so many of my female friends instinctively went to it when they needed a mirror :-) I don't mind the color of the wood floors which are being replaced. They are innocuous oak floors which were finished on site but not stained as I recall - just finished with the finishing agent so they were light but not bleached or white - just floors not making any kind of statement :-) In terms of flooring, I am bucking the trend for wide planks as I want rather narrow ones - 2 1/4" or 3" at the most. They are difficult to find - especially when coupled with getting a stain I like so I might have to just go with raw wood finished on site to get the width and color - assuming I decide on colors before my brain explodes and they find me in a quivering heap in the crash pad I am renting while the remodel takes place :-)