I think if you tried to match the stain it would look odd. But what you are talking about with going purposely darker or lighter could look cool. I would hate to tear that up too!

Congrats on a great find!

That's your subflooring, and it's not intended for use as a finish flooring. Either place the matching oak on top of it or use something like Marmoleum which is what it was intended to be covered with.

I too think it's subflooring (they used to use pretty stuff for it!). If it's redwood, it's of course technically not a hardwood. But...have a floor refinisher check it out. If it can be used, why not? I like it too. Dig out the piece under the threshold and put in something flush, probably to match the oak.

As far as how they'll look, don't try to match them and they'll be fine (assuming the kitchen floor really can be used).

Thanks for the input!
It is somewhat of a subfloor, but there is one more layer beneath this wood and the joists under the house. We can't put another wood on top, because it is already sitting higher than the oak in the dining room, so there would still be a threshold needed. And we really don't want any type of linoleum back in the kitchen.

We went ahead and stained the wood this weekend, and it already looks fantastic. If we didn't have the oak right against it, we would have kept it natural with just a gloss coat to bring out the red and the old plank character. But we thought two natural woods might clash, so we went with a dark Jacobean stain.

Will post a pic soon, once we get the threshold done, and everything looking clean.

Thanks again! It's always nice to have second opinions

Here's a pic of our new kitchen floors looking out to the dining room. Ideally, we would have loved to have the same floor throughout, but under the circumstances, I think this looks pretty fantastic!
The stain turned out really well, and it is even and glossy.

Now we just need to get the threshold cleaned up, and finish this kitchen!

That looks great! I hope you don't have a white cat... ;)

And if you do, get rid of it! These floors are worth giving the cat away. LOL. Just kidding.

Great job!

Nah--many cats love Roombas!

I know this is an old post, but I ran across it through a Google search because I'm having a similar conundrum. I will be replacing some old grey carpet with a new laminate but there is already laminate in the kitchen. Should I just replace the kitchen too, or would the two work?

Its best to start a new thread if you want people to still be interested in your question after reading through a long old thread.

The old thread showed oak flooring meeting clear vertical grain fir flooring commonly used under linoleum in a kitchen.

Your situation is not similar in any way.

The kitchen looks 'finished' . The Pergo looks too rustic.