I now have in front of me two samples of stain over white oak. One dark, one medium shade. Coincidentally, Linen white is my wall color too. I agree that the dark stain may show imperfections. Kitchen cabs are off-white for me. I'm leaning towards the medium shade more that the darker shade. Contrast will be fine even with the medium stain against the white or off-white cabs. Sounds like you and I are thinking alike- dark sounds luxurious but a pain to deal with daily. If you need, I'll try to get a photo of the two samples my flooring guy has delivered. Chestnut would be what I'd call the lighter shade.

We used a Puritan Pine and Provincial mix on Red Oak. Floors downstairs are golden toned, but the floors upstairs appear darker...lighting? I love them! Like the downstairs, too. Hides dirt, scratches from dog, etc..

tried to grab some in different lighting and with fiff wall paint. i swear its even less orange in real life- or even in my camera reel before it posts here

@kristin thanks it looks beautiful! My kitchen island is iron ore and so is my front door so I was a bit concerned about what floor stain to pick. The rest of the kitchen cabinets are decorator white and the walls are chantilly lace (?) but I want to make sure it all works together, of course. Thanks for the photos! So helpful!