Sashasmommy, I briefly googled Smart Strand and it seems like Dupont is pushing it as an environmentally "friendly"/"green" product. They do list stain resistance and softness as attributes. Does anyone else have anything to add on this newer product? valinsv, you have very good points about allergies. It does always creep me out to think about the dust and the nasty mites that are along the baseboards and other places the vacuum can't get to very easily. I don't know anything about engineered hardwood. Is it as durable/thick as the other kind (I don't even know what the old kind is called...serious knowledge gap here!) amyrsq, I have a really hard time with carpet colors. I would want something that remains neutral enough that I wouldn't be tied to a certain color scheme. I guess when I think about different carpets, I have memories of seeing homes where the carpets varied wildly from room to room (think primary & secondary colors). It was jarring, shocking and incredibly disturbing to the senses. Not to mention tacky. I don't know that I would have the decorating finesse to carry it off. So, that is why one color may be a safer bet for me.

Chrissy, I understand that people want to protect their floors and carpets - all of that - but I think we should be more concerned about *people* than about our floors...I had a friend who had to wear special inserts in her shoes to keep her knees from dislocating. When she was in a shoes off home, she had to walk on the sides of her feet to keep her knees in place. It looked *awfully* uncomfortable...I guess I don't see how people can do that - insist that shoes come off, even if it makes their guests uncomfortable...yes, I could take "indoor only" shoes when I go places, but I don't have a huge shoe wardrobe - to have indoor shoes only. My goodness. And since they are tie shoes (not slip on), they're a pain to switch.... Sorry. Perhaps this is a bit off topic, but it does relate to cleaning floors - doesn't it? :-P

Thanks so much for sharing about your floors Debbi. "I feel like it's almost bullet proof" - I'm hoping the white oak will be just as durable. My current red oak cabinets have been very tough and have stood up to lots of abuse and neglect which is what made me choose oak again for my new cabinets and floors. :) When I first started the search for HW flooring, I thought all I'd consider was solid. Then I saw some high quality engineered floors and was sold. I think the extra stability from the engineered core of the will make the floors more durable. The floor I'm likely getting also has a 4.5 mm wear layer. It's like a thick slice of wood. It can take up to 3 sandings (or so I'm told) so I hope they'll stand the test of time and last for decades. "Everything is expensive, but when we are buying, we're hoping to only have to do it once." That is how I'm justifying spending the gobs of money going into this reno...! I've been selecting higher quality materials that are (I hope) quite timeless so that this kitchen will only have to be done this one time.

When working with gold and orange wood tones you can work in the blue/green range of tones. I prefer blue range but some prefer the green-tones (ick). Slate (Welsh Black Slate, etc) is blue based. You can bring in Golden Slate (has up to 15 different colours in it) to give a lighter floor with plenty of colour options. Golden Slate has both green (deep olive tones) and blue (soap stone) in it.