I can tell you what I know and what I think I know. I know you cannot mess Waterlox up without making huge errors (even they are correctable). As I was doing my sample boards I tried to apply too thickly, too thinly, leave dust on and create bubbles with a brush. The dust sanded right off with a very light 100 grit rub, bubbles rarely happened, too thick seemed not to matter (up to a point) and too thin is a non-issue. I researched some fine posts here for over a year - and I think I know the following: If you're forced to stop a finish (as I also may be), the best place would be the obvious door, room change or shodow line...in our house, that would be the end of the Island going further into the great room. I'd be inclined to tape off there for an abrupt stop. When time comes to begin the next area, I'd yank the tape, feather the line with 100 grit and finish out the second area. You may notice it, but nobody else will - the biggest thing in my mind is the stain/Waterlox ratio - keep it constant by shaking the stain well always and measuring constantly (I also wouldn't use held over stain for the second run, buy a new can). I think we'll both be fine with a break. I also will do it at a junction between two dissimilliar (sp) boards. We will be forced to install cabs before the floor goes down. As the Graff is 5/8", I will underlay the cab footprint with 5'8" ply, leave it proud of the footprint and then come back with a rotozip and cut it beneath the toe kick (this implies I will use shoemould). No issues here, and this insures that the floor, when done, will not have appliances and work traffic. If ever we sell and new folks want to re-do the Island or cabs, the new owner will, of course, hate me...

Thanks again for the comments. gooster: Glad to hear you had good experience with Modernaire. I am probably overly harsh on them. Their service was probably as good as anyone else's. It was more that the range hood itself was just challenging. ppbenn: The island top is White Princess quartzite. The design of dark cabinets and light counter was really inspired by firsthouse_mp and annkathryn. Thank you to them! The WP is fairly consistent in color and not too busy. Has just the right amount of green and grey without being too splotchy. There are several threads on White Princess. I love it! The island size is 92" x 42". We wanted it a little longer to fit 4 comfortably but when we laid it all out we thought it was better to have more room in the aisle by the refrig. We have 46" there and 42" on the sink aisle and range aisle. @kaysd - the painting is oil on hemp. It is from a Vietnamese artist Vu Thang. http://vuthang.vxartgallery.com/Gallery/

Thank you so much for the links! nycbluedevil - here is the link to your threads. Your kitchen and bathroom are beautiful. It looks like you used stained walnut for your kitchen and stained rift cut oak for your bath. Beautiful! http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg1011163919891.html http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bath/msg0622101018782.html detroit_burb - those links are great! I am really torn. We are stuck with clear coat, plain sawn red oak floors which are pretty grainy. We are going for a more updated clean line contemporary look with our ranch style house. My concern with the walnut cabinets is that the grain will compete with the grain of the floor hence the interest in rift cut oak as an alternative. But I really like the color of natural walnut - nice too that it's a little easier on the budget because we would just clear coat it rather than stain it. If we go rift cut - we would have to stain it to get the darker contrasting cabinet color that I think the space needs but it's more expensive and I wonder if it's too modern. Ugh. This is the decision I've obsessed about the most. Bathrooms were easy! Lighting easy! It's just these cabinets! Any thoughts greatly appreciated. I just saw this thread too which helped - but still I'm wondering about how it all works with the red oak floors. Following this post too... Here is a link that might be useful: Thread on rift cut oak, mid century and other options

@carii thank you for sharing your lovely kitchen, I would never have found Space.Theory without this thread! We're now getting a quote from them, too. I am also in Marin County and we're going through this same process of pricing out all our options for a very similar look to your kitchen. Would you mind sharing the information of the custom cabinet maker you got your quote from with the Shinnoki veneers? Thank you! Jess