apparently not tested on your floor. thats the usual procedure . you observed the stain being applied and didnt halt them? steps ahead of time are typically designed to avoid this. get it stripped off...I'd go clear or a darker / slightly grayer given your cabinet tone. You usually get floors/ cabinets a few shades different from each other. its the yellow that doesnt work w the cabinetry.....you can try to convince yourself its going to be okay..but it is close to clashing if you ask me. the fix is to remove it. Hopefully you will test shades on your floor. High quality water based coatings are available .

somewhere between these two is what I'd want...a default to clear [maybe]. you need sample test of stains done on your own floor...thats the typical procedure. your cabinets are attractive...you dont want a clashing floor.

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Thank you for the reply - the stain sample was placed on my actual floor a foot or two from the island so I put our sample cabinet door on the sample stain to get a better idea. I was trying to go for something a shade or 2 lighter than the cabinet color but that clearly wasn’t the end result. We are going to have to have them redo this but have to navigate this cost with the contractor. Was curious if anyone else had a similar experience

just dont see how that work could have progressed ..its way Yellow. thats the one thing to emphasize to get some relief on the cost...... anyway..these problems do happen. My neighbor had to have the entire first floor stripped and redone after the first team 's work was unsatisfactory...they found a different team and were completely satisfied the 2nd time around so its a hassle, but you can get it right. Good Luck.

Your floor guy should be able to tone that down for you. Red oak is probably the most common hardwood flooring in this country. Every floor contractor knows how to stain it. It is almost foolproof. I agree with herb, they should have put stain on your floorboards, not on sample boards, to show you the color on your wood.

Usually a floor is stained, the stain has to cure, and then floor is sealed with a few coats of polyurethane. You can tint the sealer to help you counteract unexpected hues like pinks and greens. Hopefully they can tint out the yellow for you with a coat of (tinted) poly.

The solution, imo, would include the use of a water based poly finish. It'll be clear without the amber added tone. Ciranova Ecofix Plus with the hardener in ultra matte would be my choice. It's called a water-based PU impregnating oil Link. Ecofix Plus I'd ask the distributor for experienced contractors in your area. I would not use someone, if possible, who has never used the product.

Your existing contractor can be used to remove the finish he put on. He misrepresented the product.

Red and white oak solid 3-1/2" or so solid strips were, at one time, installed in US new construction. That is no longer the case in the overwhelming majority of new construction where wood floors are used. Wide 7-11" engineered wood flooring is the norm. And red and white oak are not used at all or as often as the less open grain European Oak you'll find from almost. every supplier.

You're comparing a photo taken in what looks to be artificial lighting with one taken in bright sunlight. Sunlight is always going to make anything look yellower. To really compare, take a photo of the finished floor in the exact same spot as your sample at the exact same time with the exact same lighting and then compare.

These photos are both in my house, same oak with Special Walnut stain, but taken at different times with different lighting.

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And actually this one shows the dining room (90+ year old oak) above the transition strip next to the kitchen (10 year old white oak), both with Special Walnut.

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Regardless of the sample or anything else, the only thing you can do is have the floors stripped, restained and sealed if you truly want a different color.

So sorry for the off-topic question, OP, but I am looking at your cabinet door and just wondering brand and color. We just put in our cabinet order and ours look VERY similar. We also will be refinishing our wood floors to match and I was considering Provincial, so I am following this for selfish reasons.

That said, I completely agree with you that the floors look totally different than your sample! So frustrating!

No worries! We went with omega walnut cabinets with a sage stain

The contractor agrees that the floors didn’t turn out right so we are going to sand them down and start over toward the end of the project - pivoting to a darker stain this go around with a water based poly to finish 🤞🏼

Good luck, Lauren, hope it works out for you!

Keep in mind that the darker your floors, the more you will see every speck of dust.

Yes we had dark floors before and just run the roomba vacuum during the day!