I strongly dislike the matchy, matchy look.
I would prefer the different flooring.
I am planning to remodel my kitchen, one thing I hate my maple cabinets are the same color as my maple floors. I've already had my other maple bathroom vanities stained darker. If I bought your house, I might stain or paint your stair railings just to soften all that oak.

I agree. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. It's like when you're putting together clothing. It's not about 'matching', it's about coordinating. I don't particularly like to see flooring changes with different woods in the same house. It makes the rooms look choppy, but there isn't any reason to have furniture or installed cabinetry matching the flooring.

My kids just built a new home and they purposely chose dark kitchen cabinets and light wood floors. It looks super.

Variety is the spice of life! We've got 3 different woods stained in 3 different colors in our kitchen alone. When you consider the dining and living rooms, you can add 2 more wood species. And then another different wood flooring in the bedrooms. I say mix it up!

The house will look monotonous if you choose everything in the same color. Everything needs to coordinate, but in different shades of light and dark.

IMO floors should definitely not exactly match the cabinets. It would be too overwhelming. In my house we have natural red oak floors. Our cabinets are stained a darker cherry color.

We also have darker espresso colored furniture:

The different wood tones coordinate and play off each other.

It is personal preference, but in general:

1) Floors that come into contact should be the same wood and stain. If your dining room is next to your kitchen, the same wood should carry though both of them.

2) Stairs and railings should match the floor. Dark floors and light stairs would just look odd - to me at least.

3) Anything on the walls - cabinets, mantles etc don't need to match the floors. In fact, it usually sets them apart better if they don't match. You should probably stay with the same undertones though. eg if the cabinets and the floor both have warm red/orange undertones, they will probably "go" even if one is light and one is dark. As you can see in the pic above, the red of the cherry and the red of the oak look nice together even if the cherry is much darker. I don't think a really yellow maple floor wouldn't look nearly as good. If you wanted maple floors, you would want a "cooler" color dark instead of the "warm" cherry.

TerriksÂyour pictures are amazing. However, mine is other way roundÂlight cabinets(red oak) and living-dining room dark floors(planning not yet installed). I am not sure how that may look. Kitchen and entry foyer will be tiled (mostly desert sand shade).
I hate oak, now more oak on the floor will make me sick.
From entry foyer to dining room it is approximately 19 feet----after the DR it is Living room----stairs is in the entry foyer. If possible I will post a picture. It is open floor plan, the kitchen is open to dining room. kitchen knee high wall to living room.