Do you really want something that trendy? It won't be easy to live with in 3 years when the trend towards gray has faded.

Wood in natural tones never will go out of style. It may not be "in", but it'll never be out either. For a modern home, a plain unstained natural maple would be a classic choice.

Thanks hollysprings -- that is good common sense but I think I'm going to stick to gray if we can. The house is a bit extreme in design and I feel the gray will always fit. I might be wrong but I'm willing to take that gamble -- as long as the gray is done well. We have already ordered and paid for the white oak flooring so now we just have to figure out the best stain -- and I'd love it to be gray.

You may have to bleach the oak first, and then stain it if you want a true gray.

Thanks hollysprings, are you a flooring pro? what does that entail? i don't think the crew i hired has ever done something like that.

Dont bleach your floor. You will ruin it if you ever decide to change the gray to natural.

You can do a few things to achieve a solid grey color.
Pastels work well and generally come in a nice shade of grey.
If that particular shade doesnt work you could mix ebony stain to the grey to darken or you could add a white pastel to lighten.

Your floor guys should know this. If not question yourself if you trust them.

Edit: pro refinisher for over 10 yrs. past yr did 4 grey floors.

Lots of ways to get the look you're after, but your floor finisher will need to possess the necessary knowledge and skills.

I want to add here that there are two other material choices to get what you want. One is Rubio Monocoat products and the other is watered-down acrylic paint slurry as the stain medium. I am posting a link to Rubio Monocoat, as you may never have heard about the product. As for the paint slurry technique; it is unorthodox, however I and several other floor finishers have achieved interesting results with it. Your floor finisher may never have heard of either of the above.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rubio

Globaldad - what did you end up doing? Did you look at the Rubio Monocoat? Can you post pictures?