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Distinguished Flooring LLC Light oak is possibly the best color based on your comment. Also, you may want to explore laminate flooring due to your active household.

elklaker If you are selling it, speak to some realtors in the area to see what their clients are looking for. In many areas, a darker stain is preferable. The cabinets may be painted or replaced but few people want to take on restaining or replacing flooring. Get some local opinions.

Jayme Hobbs May I ask why you are putting in hardwood if you are selling?

stitzcrew I agree about cabinets. Oak cabs scream dated with the very grainy look. Painting a neutral color will help. Even though I despise oak for cabinets and furniture, it will work really well with floors. I would find a stain somewhere in the middle of too dark and too light. Also I would highly recommend buying a matching range to go with the other nice looking appliances. Painted cabinets and new countertops (inexpensive depending on what is in surrounding homes) will make a kitchen feel new. Spend money on the things that will return and you will get it back easy and sell your house faster. If you are a DIYer you could add a simple backsplash too which will always look appealing if not too funky. Goodluck

cosmera I am putting in replacing the hardwood that is already in the rest of the area aside from the kitchen, it was the engineered wood, put in at it's infancy and wore really poor. So, since the linoleum must go we decided to take the wood into the kitchen too,

Cancork Floor Inc. How 'bout a click-together stone floor? Yep. Same install as laminate, but with the full "show" of slate or mica?

Cork is also a beautiful choice. So long as the dog's is medium sized and has trimmed up nails, there should be very little problem with scratching.

cosmera I will be replacing the stove and the counters once the flooring is done. I intend to do a tan granite or quartz counter. I have already tiled the bathrooms since they had linoleum and painted much of the house already. I don't have the budget to paint the cabinets too. Do you think a darker oak, like almost a walnut would look ok or should I go more towards a solid, less grainy look?

stitzcrew i would go a little darker b/c the grain usually soaks up stain and will always look darker depending on the cut of the flooring. Do some samples and see what will go best with the rest of the kitchen and home. If you have wood trim instead of white that may dictate stain color as well. Painting should not eat up much money but will eat up your time. I would do quartz which is usually a little cheaper and non porous compared to granite. If you are going to spend the money on the countertops it would be best to update the cabinets somehow if you can find time to paint. Most people will see the nice countertops which will only make your cabinets look more dated. I feel that wood floors in a kitchen look best when there is a contrasting cabinet color that is not wood tone. Avoid any laminate if you can since you are looking at putting in a higher end countertop. Although good for pets it will not likely win favor with buyers. Granite/Quartz countertops and laminate floors should not go together. If you go with a slightly less expense granit/quartz and use that for cabinet update it will net your a greater return. Sounds like you are doing many good things catch the buyers eyes.

Jayme Hobbs I think oak color like the cabinets would be too much. I think darker/or a different material would be better.

cosmera I love the laminate idea, but I already have tile in the laundry, a different tile in the entry, and matching tile in both main floor bathrooms. I have a ranch/rambler so it is all on one level.

cosmera The top sample is the same color as my cabinets and trims. What is the verdict for the best choice for flooring?

Jayme Hobbs Afraid to comment since the samples are so small and it is difficult to visualize it on a large scale. .however, I have been googling pics and it does appear that in pics with similar cabinets in tone and style as yours, a closer match looked better than a distinctly different color.

stitzcrew I myself would avoid the two that are on the top and top right b/c they really show the grain. The other three are more subtle and don't have really heavy tiger stripe grain. I would avoid matching the cabinets so you can have contrast with the floor. Your 4 new samples are a pretty good for darkness. I would say you could match if your cabinets had a more updated style of wood. If you search butcher block countertops you can see good pics where they contrast two different wood colors...same with flooring.

Jayme Hobbs I suggest you "google" wood floor with wood cabinets and look at the pictures. Some have similar tones and some do not. Try to find the ones with cabinets close to your color of stain. Then at least u can have some idea what things look like on a larger scale.

cosmera Hey Jayme, I did google before I made this post,. Seems most of it has light (usually painted) cabinets with dark floor. Or light oak floor with dark cabinets, but no light oak cabinets with dark floors. What I found looks mostly like oak cabs and matching floors.....

stitzcrew put this in your houzz search "CCFF BEFORE & AFTERS" there are good examples of before and afters of oak kitchens. It is hard to find good examples of light wood cabinets and wood floors.

eagledzines If you decide not to paint the cabinets, then stay away from the stains that have red in them and go with the browns.

Jayme Hobbs pics of what look like lighter floors with lighter cabinets

Jayme Hobbs sorry two the same

Jayme Hobbs and two more of similar tone/the one to the right has light and dark mixed

Jayme Hobbs These look like darker floors

yvonnecmartin One thing that will update the kitchen is to remove the scalloped wood over the sink.

Marti Lindsey The darker the better. It seems the trend is dark floors.