What Color Wood Floor Goes Best With Oak Cabinets
Oak cabinets are always a very beautiful and durable addition to any room. However, oak wood is also available in a wide variety of shades. This can make it difficult to find the right color for the neighboring floor. Unfortunately, both flooring and cabinets can be a hassle to install. So, it's important to plan ahead and have the best colors in mind. If you have your heart set on oak cabinets, then check out the info below on how to pair your floor color with them.
Oak wood can have different natural shades, so the best color for an accompanying floor is also subject to change. However, oak typically has warm undertones, which gives you a starting point. The broad classes of oak include white oak or red oak. But even those have many various shades. You should find a floor color that will fit your oak's individual temperature and style:
- Blue, green, or brown to emphasize nature
- White for neutral warmth and an easy canvas
- Grey for a cool neutral
Choosing the right color for your floor can be tough all on its own. Guiding the style of your room by your favorite oak cabinets will prove to be even more challenging. Keep reading to learn how different floor materials will partner well with cabinets, and what colors will look best on them.
What color flooring goes with light oak cabinets?
Traditionally, oak wood is known for its two signature color classes, white and red. Although these groups have a surprising range of darkness or brightness, the standards live up to their name. White oak can actually appear to be unusually white for a wood species. And red oak typically has pinkish undertones that will give off a reddish appearance.
No matter how bright or dark your oak cabinets are, there are always three options. You can use cool colors, warm colors, or neutrals.
If your oak cabinets are especially light, then cool colors will create contrast. Warm colors will agree with the cabinets and further brighten up the room. Neutral colors are actually absent of color and usually won't sway the room one way or another.
Keep in mind that rooms usually go from darker to lighter as you move from the floor to the ceiling. This means that light oak cabinets will give you the absolute freedom to play around with the rest of the interior design.
Blue, Green, or Brown Floors
No matter what kind of wood you're using, the natural look is easy to elaborate on. Fortunately, blue and green are really versatile, even though they're such powerful colors. Both green and blue are frequently found in nature. But they are also successful in either light or dark shades. This makes them essential tools in working with any kind of wooden cabinets.
If you're working with light oak cabinets, you can use darker shades like indigo or navy blue to create a sturdy base. You can also use dark greens such as pine or sage for the same effect.
However, you might want your light oak cabinets to really pop. That can be difficult since they're brighter to begin with. In that case, you can use softer, lighter shades of blue or green. For example, sky blue or mint green will help pull light oak cabinets out of the background.
Brown is a near-neutral color, and it's always found in nature. For example, you can use sandy browns to create a beach house look in the room. But you can also use darker browns to imitate forest soil or tree bark.
Blues, greens, and browns are often used together in order to design interior styles such as coastal or Japanese scenes. These styles may have different personalities, but they both aim to recreate soft, peaceful nature.
White Floors
White is the most versatile "color" to work with. That's because even though white is neutral, it also has a very warm temperature. White has the strange ability to reflect all colors, making it the perfect canvas for literally any style. You can use white to brighten up a room without drawing any attention away from the rest of the décor.
If you're working with light oak cabinets, you can use a white floor to match the warm temperature of the wood. This is especially useful if your oak cabinets are white oak, which can appear way too bright for other floor colors. Remember, it's best if your floor remains within the same color family as the walls your oak cabinets are sitting on. You can read this post to learn what color floor goes with white cabinets.
White and oak wood are commonly used together in a variety of interior styles. This usually involves the country, cottage, or farmhouse interior designs. The best way to describe these styles would be "cozy." These classic styles would make any combination of oak wood and white décor feel natural.
You might also find oak cabinets and white are popular partners to create an arts and crafts style. That's because oak is highly popular for DIY projects. Oak offers a lot of personality and durability. It also comes in many different colors. White is usually used in arts and crafts style rooms to tie all of the bold décor together.
Does gray flooring go with oak cabinets?
Next up is gray, a cool neutral that can feel like anything from an afternoon shower to a mechanical slab. Because gray is neutral, it can work with pretty much anything. That includes oak cabinets of any shade or even other types of wood. All you need to keep in mind is gray's naturally cool temperature.
If you have light oak cabinets, you will have to use brighter shades of gray. But even those will always carry a darker shade. Gray also comes with many undertones, which typically include either blue or green. Blue can often give the color gray a steely look. Even the lighter grays would mainly be used to create contrast with light oak cabinets.
It's best to avoid using dark gray floors with light oak cabinets. The contrast in temperature and style is too great. Dark gray floors are usually associated with industrial interior designs. That means the room should feel modern, minimalist, and manmade. Wooden cabinets are uncommon in these interior styles.
What color floor goes best with honey oak cabinets?
Honey oak cabinets are just a brightly stained version of red oak. They are sweet and light, and they can eventually develop a slightly golden hue. This means that honey oak cabinets should be paired with floors like any other light oak cabinets. That includes all of the suggestions listed above.
What color flooring goes with dark oak cabinets?
Oak can be available in surprisingly dark shades of wood. And dark cabinets can naturally draw a lot of attention to themselves. The best way to maintain some kind of balance in the room is to use a dark floor instead of a light floor.
Ideally, you should use a floor with a slightly darker shade than the cabinets. Unless you have carefully used accent pieces, such as area rugs and furniture to bridge the floor and the cabinets, dark oak will look strange. The cabinets can appear to be suspended without a base if you use a brighter floor.
However, you can also use a floor that is slightly lighter than the cabinets. This will deliberately let your dark oak cabinets pop. Just make sure that the color of your flooring and cabinets has neighboring shades and temperatures.
If you use neutrals instead of colors, you have to tread carefully. You should use something cooler while avoiding darker grays that could easily conflict with wooden cabinets. Also, white would be too bright and distant from dark oak. This makes brown the best neutral choice.
Should wood floors be lighter or darker than cabinets?
Using more wood is a common solution when you want to pair an entire floor with oak cabinets. The color of the floor should be treated like any other material. The wood floors can be either lighter or darker than the cabinets, as long as the shades do not stray too far from each other.
But it's still customary to let your room grow brighter from the floors to the roof. This strategy can make the room look smaller, which is why some people choose brighter floors instead. But dark floors keep the room grounded, too. This boils down to personal preference.
What color hardwood floor with oak cabinets?
Any kind of hardwood floor is going to match the natural style of your oak cabinets. They will share brown undertones because of the wood. All you need to do is choose between contrast and agreement.
If you have light oak cabinets, it's best to use brighter hardwood floors like cherry or maple. If you're installing dark oak cabinets, then choose a naturally cool wood like walnut. These selections will allow you to keep your floors within close range of the cabinets' shade. You can also reverse these choices to create a stark contrast.
What color tile goes with oak cabinets?
You may also consider that all light oak cabinets were very popular in the nineties. Specialists like Family Handyman agree that you were likely to see oak cabinets in a typical nineties home. This means that your floor could also be styled to relive that classic decade.
Generally speaking, the nineties were full of bold and vivid colors. You could choose some vinyl tiles that are totally in your face to match your new honey oak cabinets, and the two would be very happy neighbors. For additional decor, you can read this post to learn what color hardware goes with oak cabinets.
Summary
Oak cabinets will probably last you a long time because they're very durable. Oak wood can also be pretty expensive when it comes to cabinets and furniture. So, it's best to choose the right color for the floor beneath them. Now that you know what floor colors you can use with oak to create different styles, all you need is the rest of the decor!
What Color Wood Floor Goes Best With Oak Cabinets
Source: https://homedecorbliss.com/color-floor-with-oak-cabinets/