In the pictures, those floors are very nice! Are they solid or engineered wood?

I think they are classic, and staining maple is so tricky, I would not risk it.

Even if it "works", you may not like the results.

At the very least, I would want to see other floors that the contractors have done, and know that it was the same grade of maple, etc.

And by "contractors", I hope you mean certified NWFA certified floor refinishers!

Maybe have the contractor try a small 10x10 spot first to see how you like it. If not you would need to tear it all out anyway.

We had light maple (engineered hardwood) floors stained darker, because they were very yellow and scratched up(Don't worry - from previous owners. We went with a medium brown. It pulled out more textures in the wood, and they look nice, but the finishers weren't great with the clear coats. We also had a hard time matching the color to other areas where we wanted to add new hardwood. I actually like your floors, at least in the photos. I think if you have a fairly small area to refinish, you can do it, but if you are trying to match with anything I would go with new floors. The cost difference may not be much to have new floors. Before and after pictures

(And yes, we painted every square inch of the house afterward. LOL)

Pre-treating by water pop will help get the color darker. The sanding needs to be perfect for Maple. They will need to take the surface finish all the way to 180 grit to get rid of all the scratches. Use only a water base finish, when the surface finish is that fine.

Old thread here but @calidesign what did you mean when you said the finishers weren’t great with the clear coat? We had our maple floors refinished and stained a couple years ago and the clear coat finish kept peeling. Getting ready to have them redone. It’s been a bit nightmarish.