I am having a hard time figuring out what I want and what to get. I have been looking a lot. This is for my condo in Arizona. I have light colored maple kitchen cabinet (I wish they were dark but it is what it is) and think I want a medium tone. I have looked at oak, gunstock oak, some lighter walnut, some maple. Does anyone have something in those tone they would like to share pictures of? I DONT like the hanscraped look, I think I need engineered bceause of the concrete floors (unless it’s oak) and prefer planks (3 1/2 to 5 inches). I would like the floor to be able to be refinished and don’t like the smooth smooth look. Help?
While I am at it, if anyone has pictures of their kitchen with Quartz counter tops in the brown family and wouldn’t mind sharing, i would appreciate it. Any input and advice is welcome! thanks
I meant smooth shiny wood. I don’t like the “fake wavy” forms on the handscraped. If that makes sense. I like some distressed wood with some lines, so it hides scratches better. By laminate do you mean engineered?
No laminate is different from engineered. At least on the lumberliquidators.com webpage there are different links.
The laminate I put down is not real wood. When you cut it, sparks fly from the coating that makes it so durable (some have a 50 year or even a lifetime warranty). Poke around the website, lots of good info there.
We spent a lot of time looking at wood floors and ended up going with Santos Mahogany from Ua Floors. Good warranty, aluminum oxide finished, and if you go with their Milano line, they guarantee you’ll get three refinishes from that engineered product if you use a certified refinisher.
Can;t find my camera right now to get some shots, but if you want to see some detail of UA’s santos mahogany, just look to the sides of the 22 pound cat.
Laminate is essentially a photograph of wood grain covered by a very very tough coating on some kind of engineered substrate. It is not wood, but is tough as nails and very easy to install, but can have a bit of a “cheap” look to it if you’re not careful selecting it. Each board clicks in to each other and does not require nailing, some kinds even come with underlay attached right to the bottom of the boards!
Engineered hardwood is a thick veneer of hardwood (usually around 3/16") on a plywood substrate which is then milled into the typical tongue and groove formation for nail down, glue down or floating floor application. Most of the new houses we build use engineered hardwood instead of solid hardwood, even the insanely high end ones. I believe it is a more stable product due to the plywood base, takes less time to acclimatize, shrinks and expands less, can be applied over any type of subfloor etc. Because the entire board isn’t wood you can get some exotic type floors for less money, and yes they usually can withstand a couple refinishes.
For the OP, if you’re looking for a slightly distressed look but not that weird smooth groove thing, and don’t like the super glossy look or microbevel finish you might have better luck sticking with the open grained woods like Oaks, Mahogany, Walnut etc and stay away from the Maple. I’ve seen some cool “barn board” style Oak floors that had a slight white wash and didn’t have the grains totally filled so it had the character of a slightly distressed floor without all those smooth gouges running through it and high gloss of the pre stressed stuff.
For the OP, if you’re looking for a slightly distressed look but not that weird smooth groove thing, and don’t like the super glossy look or microbevel finish you might have better luck sticking with the open grained woods like Oaks, Mahogany, Walnut etc and stay away from the Maple. I’ve seen some cool “barn board” style Oak floors that had a slight white wash and didn’t have the grains totally filled so it had the character of a slightly distressed floor without all those smooth gouges running through it and high gloss of the pre stressed stuff.
Yes, that’s what i am looking at now, oak, mahogany, walnut. There is one maple I like. I just added Birch to the list today. What a project!
Beware birch is very soft, so will mark easy. I had cork in my last place and liked the look because wasn’t smooth. I’m really starting to like the bamboo look too. If you want wood I really like something a little different like walnut, it has a nice grain.
