You can really do anything. I would look at Coretec tiles. They are easier on the joints and not as slippery as ceramic tile.

Why wouldn’t you match the wood in the rest of the house? You don’t have to refinish the rest of the house. Cost wouldn’t be much more than tile, and you’ll never be facing this issue again (the inevitable ness of dated tile.... because wood never really gets dated).

Well in theory I agree with H202 but rarely do you see a situation where the match is exact - usually you have to sand the existing and stain all to get an exact match. Sheen is the other part that is really hard to match as an older top coat looks different than a new top coat even if done in the ‘same’. Best if your pro wood floor contractor can show you stained boards for your approval prior to starting. Have patience to wait for the right pro and maybe wait til wood prices adjust as now would be the most costly time to do this work should you go that route. A charcoal slate look floor tile would work should you choose to go the tile route.

My first thought was do wood to match the rest of the first floor - then I saw the wood on the stairs - which looks darker & wonder if that would be an issue. Since you have to refinish the rest of the floors anyway, maybe they could go a bit darker to coordinate better with the stairs??? That's what I'd do - or at least find out if it's feasible.

Maybe think about the traditional and classic look of harlequin layed black and white tiles.

One way to add new hardwood in an area adjacent to older hardwood is to use a contrasting wood border.

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While you wait for the skilled crafts people to be available, you can have the white tile and grout professionally cleaned and sealed. If it has not been cleaned recently, the newly cleaned floor tile will look much better. See https://www.pinterest.com/pin/441352832212438819/ for great "before and after" photos.

Thank you all for the comments/suggestions. They are all very helpful. We had a professional remodeling contractor take a look and they agreed matching the wood would require an entire first floor refinish in addition to the fact that new oak flooring just doesn't look like old oak flooring even after refinishing. The matching would not be a HUGE issue as we will more than likely have an area rug and a stair runner. We just want to avoid a larger, more expensive and involved flooring project.

I agree that it would be better to do something totally different from wood flooring so that it looks deliberate, which it is. I like the brick floor pics that others have posted, or you might be able to do a flagstone floor depending on cost and the look you're going for. We just had tile from Crossville (Argent and Color Blox, specifically) installed in our new home and they look great - miles away from the big-box humdrum.

I love the look of square black Vermont slate, laid on the diagonal. Or you could do black slate in large format rectangles, too. Classic.