Hi, I had a Spotted Gum Timber Floor ( 10mm Real Solid Timber Single Planks ) in a penthouse apartment for 8 years . It was pre-coated in high gloss clear from the factory . When it was laid it was necessary to have a noise reduction 3mm foam under layer ( apartments underneath building noise requirement) . This method of installation actually made the floor very quiet and it also made it a little softer to walk over . When it got any scuff marks, they just easily wiped off with a damp cloth. When I sold the penthouse, the floor was in exactly the same condition as the day it was first laid - first class. It was only ever cleaned with a steam cleaner , no chemicals whatsoever . I would certainly recommend the pre-coated polyurethane gloss finish on the real timber planks to anyone, it was great ! You can just see a glimpse of the kitchen floor in the attached two images. Good luck with your specifying . High quality surface finishes normally stand the test of time . I have added a couple of extra images of the penthouse for interest. We did the interior design fit out after buying the shell from the developer. It was a stunning sky home . Cheers LAADP

Have you been to visit some kitchen showrooms? You can customise the photo search here on Houzz quite a bit. For example, you can simply select [dark wood[(https://www.houzz.com.au/photos/kitchen-design-ideas-with-dark-wood-cabinets-phbr1-bp~t_10444~a_17-103) cabinet finish in the filter options. Then add more filters like floor colour, kitchen layout, cabinet style, wall colour etc if you wish. Leave the benchtop and splashback options open and see what results you get. You can then save any photos that appeal to your ideabook.

Most timber stains will look good but I would go for a mid brown stain. Look at kitchen photos here on house - search white kitchen with timber floors. I just checked myself - when you enter white kitchen and timber floor- the majority of photos have medium tone (35000 images ) and only 15000 images or for dark timber and even less for light tone timber.

Hi Mon, have you seen the Dulux Paint App? You can download it to your phone for free. The idea is that you can take a photo of of the space you want to paint and the App allows you to change the wall colour by selecting from their colour range; Dulux says this enables you to actually see what the new colour looks like next to your floor and other furnishings without the need of trying out several paint pot samples. I have not personally used it but the concept is pretty cool. Hope this is of help. Malcolm