You are smart to consider the natural, unstained wood color when choosing your hardwood. We were not into reds either and, while we didn't want blonde, we didn't want a dark stained floor either. We had 1500 sq ft of 3" wide by 3/4" white oak installed. The natural color is much less red than red oak. It can take any number of stains that yield colors from light golden brown to almost black. We experimented with a few test colors and chose a nearly clear "Natural" color stain. It deepened the natural color a bit and brought out the grain. After finishing it with a high quality oil-based polyurethane, it has "ambered" beautifully over the last three years to just what we wanted. The moral is, if you don't want reds, start with a whiter wood. The trend in this forum has been toward exotic hardwoods. That's fine, but oak has been used for centuries with great success. It has a definite look due to the grain. If you like that look, it takes a stain beautifully and wears very well. Maple is another light colored hardwood, but it can be difficult to stain without appearing blotchy.

I would go with oak in a natural or light stain. It's been timeless for years with a relatively narrow plank. My designer also seconded that choice since I am going for a somewhat Craftsman feel although not a literal recreation and the flooring will go with other design choices I am making. I opted for red oak versus brown oak because I will have a lot of brown oak cabinets in my open floor plan and I wanted something light and less brown to contrast with them. I I am replacing my old red oak natural floors with the same as I liked them for many years and they were innocuous so they weren't much of a design consideration i.e. I never had to factor them into anything colors or other furniture I brought in. I also found them easy to maintain as they hid a multitude of sins - they don't show dust as much and they don't show scratches or other wear and tear. I had considered Mohawk but ultimately decided on Mirage engineered floors. They were somewhat more expensive - especially since I opted for the Select and Better - but I wanted the best finish possible. If it is in your budget, check out Mirage as it is Canadian made and a green product. I believe Mirage is made in China. I am not anti-China per se as some are on this forum but less expensive engineered wood floors imported from China are more likely to have formaldehyde and other potentially noxious substances. I was also impressed by the durability of the finish since I am most concerned with that aspect of the flooring. As for refinishing on site, my original floors were finished on site and I could never imagine going through that again so I personally don't care if my wood floors are going to last for 70 years - if I am still living in my condo when the floors are at the end of their life, I will replace them just as all of my neighbors do :-). Aside from the mess, every piece of furniture has to be moved out of all the rooms as opposed to installing flooring that is factory finished where the installers can just keep moving furniture around. :-)

Hi John, do you have any photos of the space you could post? That might be helpful. In general, it's trickier to make wood floors work with wood stained cabinets, but I've done it. Since you don't want reddish floors, I'd aim for a cooler brown - more towards a walnut. I would NOT do ebony floors; those super-dark floors are impossible to keep looking clean. They show dust, lint, grass, etc. Also, what stain product is your contractor using? Most come in pre-mixed colors. That may determine the palette you have to choose from. Other stains can be tinted or adjusted if needed. Adding green to a stain color, for example, will help cut the red of the oak floors. You have to go easy though, you don't want to end up with a noticeable green tone. You're welcome to email me directly if you want more info - I don't check messages on here very often. Thanks Info@PaintColorHelp.com

I'm not sure what LVT is. :) I have an appointment with the flooring person for Saturday to test out samples. Cherie, we hate forced hot air because it bothers my and the kids' asthma and allergies so I am actually very happy about these baseboard radiators as radiant heat is much easier on the lungs since it's not blowing hot air all over the place. There is central air for the summer months. We live in Northern NH... it gets cold here for sure. I am going to keep the tile in the kitchen for now and the rest will be new flooring *all going in the same direction* ! We are ripping out the red carpeting, which is in all four bedrooms as well as on the stairs. We want to replace that with flooring and we don't want yet another type of flooring in the house so it makes sense to do the living and dining room as well. When we reconfigure the kitchen, we'll have to match it up and remove the tile at that time.