I don't know about the maintaince/living with wood floors but do know that tigerwood will make quite a statement. Cherry will definately darken and has variation in color. You might be better off choosing a wood that is consistent and stain it a natural cherry color... perhaps alder? I've read that maple stains inconsistent. Lyptus is also a beautiful wood similar in color to a natural cherry but I'm not sure about it's staining attributes. If you don't have much natural light you want to be careful about not going too dark or attempting to exactly match your hardwood floors.

We have Tigerwood floors- which we LOVE! Best decision we've made so far- and only thing that hasn't gone wrong! :>)

One of the reasons we choose Tigerwood, was that we had so many different kinds of wood/tones in our upstairs. This was the only wood that had tones of everything and could tie it all together.(Eventually the rest of the boxes of Tigerwood will get installed, and it will be throughout LR, hallway and Master BR.)

In the kitchen, we chose a medium stained Maple called Mystic Toffee. As the Tigerwood has darkened it is closer in colour than it originally was, but it still looks beautiful!
Our granite is dark, Butterfly Blue, but we have lots of windows, and good lighting, so I don't think it appears too dark.

Pic #1 October 18, 2007 shortly after installation, note the contrast.
{{!gwi}}

Pic #2 March 31, 2008 Tigerwood has darkened and now is closer in tone to cabinets.
{{!gwi}}

Thanks so much for the pictures, raehelen! I am a visual person. I can see they look good with a darker wood cabinet. I suppose I do a wood similar to your maple and then do a light color countertop and backsplash to help lighten up my room since I don't get a lot of natural light.

Could you tell me how they are with keeping clean? Does the "tiger grain" hide dirt, or does the dark color show all dirt/dust? I have friends with walnut and brazilian cherry floors and they way they have to sweep everyday to keep them looking clean. I am not really interested in that.

What brand floor did you go with? Your floors appear to be 5" wide, is that correct?

Thanks again. Anyone else with Tigerwood?

We have brazillian cherry floors, and chose to do a darker cherry cabinet. It's not exactly the same situation that you're considering, but it may give you some ideas.

Here is a link that might be useful:

I love tigerwood. I think it goes (color wise) with quite a few options. I'd probably stay away from competing finishes or grains...ie bamboo or hickory, but cherry...it's nice tight grain won't compete at all. I think it will really be lovely with the tigerwood!

I'd consider deeper toned painted cabinets as well. Red, Black, Brown...I's stay away from gray or yellows and probably stark white. But an Ivory with an amber wash...gorgeous.

Thanks, igloochic! Beautiful kitchen. I think we have decided to do the tigerwood floors and Kraftmaid cherry cabinets in Sunset stain (at least that is the decision today...could change by the end of the day!). When we first started thinking about remodeling we were certain we wanted a slate backsplash, but since we tend to want darker woods, we have decided to go with a light color countertop like you used. The contrast is beautiful and it will bring light into the kitchen. Thanks.

Merimom,

It was Alku05 who had the light counters- Igloochic has NO counters (at the moment)!

As for cleaning- I do sweep every day- well, actually I microfibre mop into my vacpan- have thrown out the broom and the dustpan! It only takes a few seconds! But then I always have, you mean you don't sweep your floors every day? :>) These don't show dust the way dark brown floors do- and they don't seem to get very dirty- any smudges disappear quickly with a spray of Bona hardwood cleaner and a wipe of a microfibre cloth (hated how I had to scrub the little grooves on my vinyl floor).

The planks are 3 5/8" wide (I know this for sure, cuz I can read the boxes piled up on the plywood floor in my LR). The brand is Kentwood, and it is a satin finish (I'd recommend that over glossy especially if you aren't on the obsessive/compulsive side of cleaning).

AND, I may be going with a lighter granite too, we get a granite 'redo', and I'm looking at Giallo Fiolo, G. Victoria or Santa Cecilia... what are you thinking of?

Thanks, raehelen...Sorry for the mix up, alku05 and igloochic!

OK, I definitely don't sweep everyday, but that's because we have very worn engineered wood floors right now...Maybe if I had nice new floors I would WANT to keep them clean...Ya, right!

I have not seen any Kentwood floors, but we just started looking. We've found Bellawood floors (lumber liquidators) for $6-$6.50/sq ft and Westhollow floors (ifloors.com) for about the same. Neither of them are what I would call "satin" if by that you mean completely matte (no shine), but they are not high-gloss either. We are trying to stick to a max of $6/sq ft so we may end up with a little bit of a sheen in that budget.

Not sure on the countertops yet. My husband likes quartz over granite bc of sealing, but I like the movement in granite...However, that is a whole different topic. We will definitely do something light...maybe Zodiac Cappucino if we do quartz. We'll cross that bridge after we nail down our cabinet order. Thanks again!

raehelen,

I would like to see your before and after pics of your Tigerwood floor. The photobucket album is asking for a password though :-(

We have red oak natural kitchen cabinets and are thinking of going with the Tigerwood for some nice contrast.

Thanks

Thanks,
Brian