IMO the really dark floor would look best with a apinted cabinets or the wood left natural. You have kind of gone in a backwards way so now you have all kinds of stuff to compete with your choices. I need to see YOUR space and cabinets but right now I do not like the walnut stain with the floors so adding another color of stain IMO will just make a mess. It loks like you are going to a more modern space with teh FP which BTW is the worst place for the TV. I love the dark floors with the FP but not the wall color which BTW should have been the last choice made. Also you decide cabinet color before choosing the counter .The granite is very yellow is that honestly what you want with the stone around the FP.

Your cabinet maker should be furnishing you with stain samples. And finishing in his clean room.

Unfortunately we are on our own. Fired the builder. The cabinets are in the garage and the Hubby going to stain the cabinets. We have considered replacing the floor to a lighter color. The fire place should look better, we will be putting a nice wood mantle.

Can you return the flooring?

I would have the kitchen cabinetry painted off-white and would also paint the home's other doors and trim off-white, including the walnut-stained doors, since I think the walnut color competes with the floor .

Did you fire the builder after the house was mostly finished? What else is not finished? If Hubby is a professional, he can paint the cabinets. If he isn’t a pro, send the cabinets out to be professionally painted or stained. You will also need to have them professionally installed. If you can exchange the flooring for a lighter color, I urge you to do that. Dark floors are too bossy, IMNTBHO. Medium wood stains are more friendly and easier to live with. Area rugs look better on medium-color floors, too. Hang a piece of art over the mantel and place the TV on a cabinet at eye level to a seated adult.

Can’t return flooring but thought about trying to sell it at half price then get a less expensive wood. One option.
I love white or off white cabinets but unfortunately The Hubby is totally against it. We are installing all the bathroom showers now then will have the Clear Alder cabinets installed they are ready to go, just waiting on the cabinet guy to come over. Hubby going to stain the cabinets just trying to figure out what color to stain them. They are unfinished now. I like the granite in the pictures posted.? Also goes better with the ledger stone on the fireplace. Thanks for suggestions and pictures.

Future disaster post. Alder is not easy to stain at all. Blotches like crazy. You need a real pro. Wood butchers are rarely good finishers. Which is why they have a specific finish pro in house, and the cabinets are finished before they leave the shop. Not on site with bugs and dust. If hubby tries to stain, you’re going to end up hiring a pro to paint them.

Alder left natural with just a clear coat is a popular look right now even in multi-million dollar mansions. Leaving more of a contrast between the cabinet and floor color would be easier on the eye in terms of coordinating. If you are painting yourselves, look into 2K Milesi for the coating. You can find out more by joining this Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/diycabinetrefinishing

I found these two that look decent. I think it is Alder but not sure how to find out what the stain color is?? Also going to talk with painter about staining the cabinets. Considering the natural look like suggested.

@Terry Mahan I just wanted to re-emphasize that alder has become very popular in trends right now. Designers and home owners have been putting this wood all over high-end dwellings often with just a clear coat to let the beauty of the wood really shine. You should be able to find a lot of inspiration photos. When I think of alder, I am rembering one large installation in particular in one of the major appliance showrooms in Dallas, Texas, that partnered with Kent Moore cabinetry to create the display you see when you first walk in, and it is a large, natural alder kitchen with just a clear coat. It is truly stunning. If you have never seen anything like this in person, it might be worth checking around to find an example. Stains are notoriously hard to match and blend when you have two large areas of different woods with different colors. Doing a natural look would be more like a neutral up against your very dark floor. I'm afraid if you go too deep into staining that you will feel like everything went too dark, and once it is done, it becomes a huge ordeal to reverse. Remember that any stain will look darker once it is applied over a large area.

As for coatings, please do check out that Facebook group I linked above, as it is more of a specialty painting forum than you'll find here at Houzz with lots of helpful tips. You can buy 2K Milesi there and spray yourselves or brush on without the hardener. If you want to do a total roller/brush job, then look at General Finishes for a clear coat. You can also look into CSC coatings for the top coat which some people claim is even better than the famed Milesi. Another one to check is Sayerlack Hydroplus from Sherwin Williams industrial locations. Kem-Aqua is another possibility. You'll want to do a waterborne for a clear coat to avoid yellowing, and all those I've mentioned above have options for that. It doesn't take a lot to do a few coats on kitchen cabinetry. You could possibly get by with one gallon depending on how many cabinets you have. Set up a clean room area and check the Epifanes website for the best tips on keeping your job totally dust-free including prepping your tools.

Back2work, thank you for your kind advice. So I think you are saying just to keep to natural look on the cabinets with a sealer and keep the dark hardwood floor. I was considering selling the dark hard wood and looking for a cheaper lighter option. The floors are actually a pretty wood, looks darker in pictures but they are dark. Thank you, I am really struggling with the thought of all my choices. If I knew what I do now, I would not have chosen the Alder wood.

@Terry Mahan Technically, sealer is something you'd put on before a top coat. Most of the coatings I mentioned above are self-sealing. However, you are correct that any top coat will help protect wood from moisture and stains, and you definitely need something on the wood to protect it in a kitchen setting.

Dark floors are definitely a feature of many great designs. It doesn't make sense to me for you to trade a higher quality flooring for a lower quality one just for looks. You liked it well enough to purchase it, so I think you should make a place for it. Especially since you say it is a pretty wood, it should stay.

I wouldn't at all regret the choice of alder. It's one of the softer woods, but around in my area, it is a frequent selection for mansion-level homes, certainly something to be happy about having in your own kitchen. I just think you're going to have a terrible time getting any stain to work well with the dark flooring without A) Going too dark and getting a dark room effect, or B) Mismatching the stains so that they clash whereas the natural alder is currently enough of a contrast to actually work with the flooring you have.

As mentioned above, alder doesn't take stain well. If there is some assumption that stain is a part of a well-done cabinet job, please banish that thought. Some woods like cherry, maple, and alder actually do better without stain, and that would be the standard for fine woodworking.

If your DH will not have a painted kitchen then imo, just use a clear coat on the cabinets - NO stain. Sorry to say, the stain on the french doors does not look great. Did he do it? If so, keep him away from staining the cabinets. Alder is difficult to stain well, even some so called pro's will mess it up. Please, clear coat only. So my advice would be to keep the floors, clear coat the cabinets and pick a lighter granite for the counters. I also agree the paint color is a little too dark.

Yes, he did stain them. He has stained other wood like Ash that turned out great but the Alder is so different I am going to call and visit with the painter about finishing the cabinets. Sometimes you just have to call the pro on certain things!! I have an open floor plan so it all needs to look good together. The guy that built my cabinets sent me this picture of one he did in the clear.

@Terry Mahan What you are seeing in the clear coat is natural variation in the wood. If you do a stain, you will end up with areas that don't absorb as well as others or are blotchy, so you will have an added level of difference to what is already there. I would verify what he used for a topcoat, for not all "clear" topcoats truly impart no color.

Also I meant to add earlier that while all granites are truly a marvel of nature and modern technology with their beauty and our ability to cut and transport them, not all granites tend to be as flexible with a color scheme long-term after installation. I've been hanging out on the Houzz forums for about a year-and-a-half now due to a leak-enforced renovation of my own, and I cannot count how many posts that I've seen from people who have a yellow/brown granite that they want to renovate around, and the color schemes that go with it are very limited. It seems to me that the granite you selected would not work well unless you did stain your alder dark. A more neutral color of granite would give you more flexibility in the long-term as far as wall paint and coordinating accessories.

Here are more natural alder kitchen photos for you:

My husband HATES painted cabinets too. I think you should clear coat the alder, it has beautiful grain pattern. They will look great with the dark flooring. Then granite with a light colored background color. Ornamental White could work. Try and stay away from that golden colored splotched granite that was popular when granite countertops first became the thing to do. You could check out quartz, maybe a warm sandy white. A dark countertop will suck all the light out of the room
Good luck

Again. Painters are not cabinet finishers. You’re asking for big trouble here by either DIY or hiring a painter.

Alaska White would be stunning and the star of the kitchen. Do you have an island? If so, you could do Alaska White on the island only and a solid warm white quartz on the perimeter countertops. Then a simple subway backsplash. If you have no island use all Alaska White. I think there are a few more white granites that are similar, like Delicatus. I have Delicatus Extra in my bathrooms. Stunning, but kind of pricey.
I know this is really hard right now, but when it is all finished, if you stick with what you and your husband want (with compromises) you will have a house you love, and not what some designer thought you should have

With all the advice I have decided on keeping my dark floors which are really nice in person. Will just have to keep up with the dust mop more often. I am learning towards the clear coat on the cabinets. Also I believe you are right, although I love the Golden Crystal granite I believe the Delicatus white granite could be a better choice and would go better with the ledger rock on the fireplace that the Hubby picked out. I like the cabinets in the first and last picture. I think the one my cabinet guy sent has too much yellow so you are probably right about the material we use on it would make a difference. Definitely will get samples done up first before I proceed.

This is my wood flooring. Also my kitchen is u-shape with a 5 x 7 island

@Terry Mahan If you are seeing yellow in the photo your builder sent, it's likely he used an oil-based top coat. If you'll use one of the waterborne top coats I listed above, you won't get that yellowing either initially or as time goes on. A two-component (2K) coating will be most durable, but that will need to be sprayed on as it dries too fast to roll/brush. There are a lot of pro finishers out there who could do that for you. Roll/brush is possible, but please check with the Facebook group I linked for tips and for quality products to avoid poor results.

Once upon a time, it used to be that oil-based coatings were much more durable than waterbornes and you just had to live with the yellowing they produced, but those days are past. Especially the waterbornes from Italian companies like Milesi and ICA are just as durable now if you'll watch testing reviews. Renner, CSC, Sayerlack, and a few others are also at the top of the waterborne coatings game, and the major advantage is avoiding yellowing. Also remember General Finishes which is more of a hobbyist brand, but people have successfully used it on kitchen cabinetry for a waterborne coating.

Glad to hear you are reconsidering your granite choice. I see what you chose originally has a lot of movement in it which is a higher level of granite and trending as more popular these days than the all-over speckled patterns. You have a lot of other options that veer more toward neutrals and away from the golds if you have time and ability to visit slab yards a second time to look at other slabs with movement. Glad to hear you are keeping your flooring! Beautiful!

Back2work, thank you, good advice and yes I did check out the site.

@Terry Mahan One more thing has come to mind regarding the alder stain, and that is based on your builder's photograph, it looks like he may not be in the habit of paying super close attention to color matching the wood he is putting side-by-side. This is a cost-saving technique.

In very expensive cabinetry, a load of wood will be delivered to the cabinet shop and then culled and placed to maximize color matching during the building process. Sometimes builders (even the more expensive ones) will use almost every stick of wood that comes off the delivery truck regardless of color matching.

I expect your builder did something in between those two approaches in his example. It looks pretty good, but there are a couple of places where the colors could have matched better. Since we cannot see your cabinetry, it is up to you to evaluate the level of color match you have in the natural wood prior to finishing. Sometimes those color differences won't be as apparent until a clear top coat is put on, at which time the differences will pop out.

If you feel that you have an unusually large amount of color mismatch in the unfinished cabinetry, that would be one reason to go forward with a light stain to perhaps help even things out, keeping in mind that the stain may not absorb well in all areas and possibly making the situation worse. You might want to consult with a professional refinisher to evaluate the specifics of your situation and have him or her actually look at the cabinetry before offering an opinion. In time, even with a clear coat, I think you'll become accustomed to the color differences once installed.

Another tip is that as we get into summer, in various climates the temperature and humidity changes can cause warping of the doors on unfinished cabinetry. It would be to your advantage to get the cabinets indoors and coated as soon as possible for that reason. Some cabinet makers won't even warranty against warping if the cabinetry isn't coated within a span of say 3 weeks after delivery.