New wood floors - dark or light?

[cunningplan101]

Which do you prefer - dark or light wood floors?

I'm putting a new engineered wood floor in a period property and, if money were no object, my ideal floor would be something like this:
Beautiful antique solid oak

But it's really hard to recreate using new wood. The closest I've found is this:
Coffee engineered wood floor

I'm worried it's going to feel heavy and oppressive. Should I have gone for the Scandinavian-weathered-whitewashed look which seems more popular at the moment?

I prefer the dark. We have dark with bright white walls upstairs and I love it.

I currently have the same dilemma... I did recently come across this, and will most likely go for that for the period look. www.woodandbeyond.com/products/Select-Engineered-Oak-Flooring-Reclaim-Brown-15%7B47%7D4mm-By-190mm-by-1900mm.html

That Ruskin one is lovely! Bet it's expensive though.

Does it have to be engineered? If not, could you maybe try and find a reclaimed floor supplier?

I have to go for engineered as need to put soundproofing underneath - otherwise I'd love reclaimed. You can get reclaimed engineered but super expensive.

MsFreud - I like that one a lot; have ordered a sample. Only thing is, I need 18 mm really...

I prefer light.

But normal oak not the bleached look.

Please read the following link

UNDER FLOOR HEATING AND SOLID WOOD FLOORING, A BAD IDEA?

www.esbflooring.com/blog/under-floor-heating-and-solid-wood-flooring-bad-idea

We have a solid oak floor with underfloor heating. It tends to be a bit unreliable and I do not recommend it. We have a wood burner for cold days. Engineered is better.

As for colour, I do think the dark is oppressive. I thought both your samples looked too dark for me. There are some lovely wide planks with a natural look available now. Not the older yellowed look, but a more natural oiled look. We got ours from Kahs. (May not have spelt that right)!