Luckily Ty & I had the same idea of what we were looking for. We preferred oak for the variety and contrast of the grain, and we liked 3 1/4 - 3 1/2 inch wide planks. In terms of colour, we were looking for something in between what was there now and what we have at our current house. We prefer the modern look of the very dark wood floors, but from experience we know this shows every spec of dust, paw print and imperfection. It drove me crazy how "smudgy" looking the dark hardwood got as soon as anyone (pets included) walked across it. It is a never ending battle.
Finally we found a hardwood warehouse that had FOUR hardwood colours we really liked.
Since we were buying almost 1400 sq ft of this flooring, we wanted to be absolutely certain it was going to compliment our kitchen selections so we brought the two flooring samples over to Hampton Kitchens. Seeing the two hardwood samples up against our cabinet colours made our decision much easier.