Thanks. That worked. That is very odd that I can't find a place to view them.

I was able to view the poll results once I signed out and then signed in again. Will these dark floors be hard to keep clean? They aren't as dark as some of the espresso colored ones, so I was hoping they might not reveal quite as much dirt.

I don't think that will be a problem. Your dark cork is really a medium-brown, which is what many people recommend for wood floors. It might show just a bit more dirt and dust than the lighter ones, but not so much that it should affect your choice.

Thanks for the input so far. Does anyone think that the darker floor color should match the counter top more than it does? It adds a nice contrast to the maple cabinet, but does it fight with the smokey brown color of the counter? Thanks.

From strictly the cabinet standpoint, we have a similar cabinet and went with the medium color and now wished we had chosen the darker color. Regardless, we love the cork floor. Very easy to care for and soft on the feet.

I voted for the dark, which really isn't that dark. It does give you the contrast you need though. You could go darker, it will show dust and fur if you have animals more, but it's easy to dustmop. Based on the pictures I don't feel it competes with the quartz. And speaking of countertops, I know this wasn't your question but I wouldn't mix quartz and granite. Seen side by side the variation in the granite next to the consistent quartz makes it very obvious which one is real and which one isn't. Also the sheens often aren't the same (the granite having more gloss).

Thanks for the feedback! All opinions are greatly appreciated!!! I am completely undecided between the dark and the medium floor colors. I want the room to feel light and bright, but I also don't want a completely honey toffee house since the rest of the flooring in the house is honey oak. From looking at tons of pictures on houzz, it seems the most common choice is to match as closely as possible wood cabinet stain and the wood floor stain. Is there a danger in contrasting wood cabinets with another color wood (or cork) floor?

Not a designer: but I voted for the light choice. Thought it would work well where the cork meets up of the wood floor, and also because there are dark variations throughout to tie into the granite.

Just wondering, have you looked at any honed, rather than the shiny, granite?

I like the medium color with your cabinets. I would create contrast with rugs since this choice creates a monochromatic palette. Hope that helps. Charmean Neithart

A rug or two would be a great way to break up all the honey tones and I had not considered that. Thanks for the idea Charmean Neithart Interiors. I am surprised at all the votes for the dark. It could be a rich looking floor or it could be that the quartz and dark floor will look a bit off or that the overall look will be dark and dingy.

Thanks for the comments pcmom1. I love the look of honed granite, but I was told that it would stain more easily. We have 3 small children and I would hate to find grape juice sealed into my new granite. =) I originally was drawn to the lightest cork sample, because as you said, it blends beautifully with the oak flooring throughout the house. However, it seems to have a bit more yellow in it than the toffee cabinets, so I have wondered if one of the darker two samples are a better choice. Still quite undecided.

amyruth33, do you have any pictures of your kitchen and flooring? Is there a particular reason you think you would rather have the darker floors in your kitchen? Thanks!

The dark floors are a must. I would think about a lighter quartz counter top that compliments. Then bring in contrast with your counter top accessories.

I'll take some pictures in the morning and post. We haven't completed our project. Need to choose paint color, finish backsplash and trim. So close.

If you are obsessive about cleaning don't pick the dark. The medium is nice because it has flecks of dark in it. I vote for the medium. It's beautiful!

Although in theory i thought i would naturally pick the darker floor to contrast, the medium floor looks the best I feel, as it has flecks of the dark. It also looks better with your quartz. I totally agree with others about not doing a granite with this patterned quartz. It will be too busy. One idea to perhaps lighten and brighten the space is to do the perimeter counters with a quartz, a more solid look buff , then the island can stand out with its beautiful dark brown as an accent. Not sure how big your kitchen is or how much light it gets. Just something to consider. Have fun!

Here are a few pics of our unfinished kitchen. Cork on the floor, soapstone countertop.

Love! Love! Love your choices! Especially the soapstone!

Looks beautiful amyruth33! Thanks for sharing those pictures. I really like the light cork floor, especially with your dark counters. The soapstone is gorgeous. How fun to almost be finished!!

Thanks for the comments sharleeg. I agree with your thoughts on the medium floor. It has some nice dark flecks and it really does go with the quartz. Most everyone who walks into my house sees my light cabinets and votes for the contrasting DARK floor. I really love the dark floor on its own but I am still nervous about the kitchen feeling too dark with a dark floor.

We have already purchased the Smokey Topaz quartz for the perimeter, although we have not paid for installation, and we got such a great deal that it would not be out of the question to change our plan. I may have to post a separate discussion to get opinions on the granite island. I was afraid to use granite on the entire kitchen because I didn't want it to get too busy, so I thought the Smokey Topaz would be a nice consistent piece for the perimeter. It does have some larger specs in it and I had never considered that it would be too busy. I certainly don't want the "too busy" look. I was considering a Sienna Cream Granite for the island, or some other light granite piece.

instead of granite, consider another quartz with little to no pattern ( you can't get away from it in granite and you already are doing quartz ).. Yorkshire Honed is a beige travertine look. It will be in keeping with the earthy, natural look you are going for.i think it would help break up all the browns too.I'm sure it will look great!

Here is a rough picture of the KITCHEN LAYOUT, but does not have our cabinet style or colors incorporated into it. Our current plan is to use the darker SMOKEY TOPAZ QUARTZ ON THE PERIMETER, and then use a LIGHTER GRANITE ON THE ISLAND. The island is going to have a unique shape being wider at one end, which allows all 5 of us to sit around it if we chose, but the diagram does not reflect the exact shape.

Thanks for the recommendation sharleeg. I had no idea you could get honed quartz. That color option is very nice. I definitely want to break up all the browns, since I fear my house may be too earthy brown! =)

Here is another picture of my kitchen layout. Although, our style will be more transitional and less arts and crafts than this picture. The first door on the right is the front entry with darker slate tiles, and the next doorway is dining room with oak flooring. There is no wood trim on our doors.

It looks like there's green undertone in the counter, which may be why people are voting for the dark (red undertones) cork. I think it fights less with the counter than the yellower cork.

That's an interesting insight petrovafossil. I guess I can see how it might appear to have a little green tint. I, however, have no interest in anything green in my kitchen =), so I want to avoid bringing those tones out if possible. Nothing against green, it just makes me think of a cabin look and I prefer a more transitional or slightly contemporary look. It definitely has a smokey grayish brownish hew up close and in person. Of course the colors all change with the different lighting during the day. Here's a close up of my quartz nugget with the medium and dark cork floors side by side in the daylight with no flash.

Not saying it's green;) All grays/grieges/taupes have undertones--some purple, some yellow/green and some blue. This reads to me as a gray with a green undertone. Maybe it's my monitor, but even if you don't want to bring out the green, you don't want flooring that fights with it. I think the darker cork may be a better compliment in this respect and that is what most people are picking up on.

Medium seemed to offer some consistency to the colors you have already picked with a little darker variation to it as well.

I love dark floors! I have black tile in the mud room and kitchen. Looks great. I have 2 yellow labs, 3 boys and hard water. It never looks clean and shows every water mark from Kitchen work to weather to mop marks. Think hard before you go dark.

Appreciate the feedback Reico Kitchen & Bath. I agree the medium has some nice variation which is nice since it would be a very monochromatic choice overall. I am starting to lean toward the medium cork, which is a difficult decision since there are far more votes for the darker color. I love the dark color on its own, but in certain lights it doesn't look nearly as rich as it does in my photo. And as Sheila mentioned, it would be harder to keep clean!

PS, you could do the same with the medium cork and light cork border, unless that's too busy for you.

Glad all the feedback is helping! At the end of the day you are the one that is going to be in that kitchen everyday so don't be afraid to go with your gut! Be sure to show pictures when it is all said and done!

Using contrasting cork is a fun idea ladycharlotte. It has crossed my mind but I don't know if I am bold enough to try it. I am afraid the kitchen is going to be busy since I am using a contrasting island counter top color, so adding contrasting cork might feel like too much for me. I have seen a few pictures of contrasting cork flooring in larger kitchens and it is beautiful.

I am still undecided on my flooring choice, but have narrowed it to either the medium or the darkest cork. I just received another sample of the medium color to give a better idea of the variation within each piece. Here are a couple of new pictures of those flooring samples. Some mentioned the kitchen may be busy with a contrasting granite island. I appreciate that feedback and have decided to find the least busy and neutral piece possible because I also fear getting tired of a busy patterned granite. I am thinking about Taj Mahal quartzite (natural stone with a marble look, but more properties of granite) shown in the picture. It is a beautiful piece, but I hope to find more information about how well it holds up against etching and stains if anyone knows. Feel free to weigh in on the flooring choice. Thanks!

The light cork with a dark cork boarder flollowing the cabinet kick about 7" wide. If you want to add a regular light cork diamond insert in the dark it should pop.

Someone mentioned having your countertops in agreement with your flooring. I agree. You will be happiest creating a contrast with your cabinets and having some visual weight in your floors to complement that same visual weight in your countertops. Personally, I'm not a fan of cork as it tends to be very busy. I would think you would want to choose something that grounds the space and does not have a competitive pattern with your granite?

I agree with Karen. I just saw an absolutely gorgeous concrete floor that would look good with your quartzite rather than the cork. Or....have you looked at bleached cork? I recently got a sample from Duro Design. It's much more in the color of the quartzite than they show online. I do think Karen has an excellent point about the busy-ness of cork however. Get some larger pieces of cork to see how it works for you.

What about a bleached white oak floor?

Medium color will be my choice

I love the look of concrete, but I think the weight might be an issue for our floor. I am excited about the attributes of cork -warm on the feet, insulating, soft, and quiet. With all the stone on the counters, I was excited about a noise reducer and something warm on the feet. I could get cork in other colors such as a bleached cork mentioned by ladycharlotte or an off white. I decided on these samples because they were by far the most durable of any. I guess I wish the darker floor had a little more gray in it to coordinate better with the quartz counter, but I am not sure if it needs to be a close match or not. Appreciate all the thoughts. Thanks.

The bleached white cork has grey in it. And Duro design provides their own sealant that makes the cork floor super durable. Write to them and get their samples. You might be pleasantly surprised!

Hi icedamericano. Gray cork is beautiful but difficult to achieve. At Cancork/iCork Floor we carry over 30 different colour choices - several of them run in the taupes and the grays. We have 4 different whites to choose from as well as the lighter cork options. I've noticed that people are looking for floors that "match". What you may wish to look for is not the "orange" of the lighter flecks in the dark counter but look for a "chocolate" that will compliment as well as "set off" your design features. If you are looking for a brown/taupe, I would personally have a look at our "Brown Leather". If you are very brave and wish to look at a very modern floor, the simplest solution would be "Black Beach" - a simple "Black Granite" look without any pattern but great appeal. For something lighter, I would say the "Silver Birch" is a strong contender! Beautiful, light, airy, and will accent/highlight any colour you throw at it...including the dark counter with the medium/light cabinetry. Feel free to visit our US sales website: www.icorkfloor.com. Or our Canadian site: www.corkfloorsales.com for more choices.

Thank you for all the cork flooring input!! I have decided to go with the dark flooring but instead of the block cork pattern shown in my photos, I have chosen the beveled 7" x 36" plank to give the floor more direction. We are just waiting for the final install now!

Here is a way you may not have thought of http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=cork+pattern+floors&view=detail&id=84E4595AAFD96275043559C2846EA804A9C7EAEB&first=1

I think the dark cork will show every crumb

Thanks for the input. I was concerned about the dark floor showing more dirt and crumbs. However, now that it is installed, I am finding that the texture of the cork really hides quite a bit of the dirt. It still does show light colored dirt, but also hides a lot of things such as real dirt from shoes, fall leaves, dark bread crumbs and cereal, spaghetti sauce...=) We are happy with it so far.

I'm glad to hear you stuck with your guns and went with cork. I'm not sure who's floor you went with but here is a small piece of advice from a sales person who has had to fix "other people's cork": I have learned to check the warranty/maintenance to find out if your floor needs to be sealed when installed in a kitchen. If it does, you will need to use the same product (or the same type of product) used at the factory. Did you know that Wicanders does not allow their cork in a kitchen? It voids their warranty! I know! Sad. I'm really glad you went with cork (I think everyone needs to live with a cork floor...just once!). Please check the details of your floor on the website to make sure you use the correct products for your installation. I've found that many a "cork salesman" didn't know the limitations to their own product. Only after the client checked the specifications did they find out the install was wrong. Scary but true. Please take the time so you can keep your flooring company "honest" and true to their word!!! And congratulations on your new cork floor!

IcedAmericano - Do you have pictures? I've been following this discussion for a while now and I'd LOVE to see the results!!! Sounds very exciting.

It has been very exciting. We have some important trim work yet and also the back splash, but we are almost finished. The finishing details will take some time, but hopefully it will soon be done and I will post some pics. Cancork Floor Inc., do you know where I can find out more about kitchens and the cork warranty in the Wicanders literature? The Wicanders site says that their floors are suitable for kitchens and only require regular sweeping and damp mopping. Thanks.