should the flooring match the cabinets?

A great method in cabinet color matching with hardwood floors is simply letting opposites attract. A lighter cabinet color, such as blonde or white, paired with a dark hardwood flooring, lets each wood have its own character. If both wood types have similar sheens and textures, they will tie together nicely.

You can also get a hardwood flooring color that is the same shade and color of your cabinets. It may not be an exact match, but taking this route will make your kitchen more uniform so to speak.

Contrasting the colors of your hardwood flooring and cabinets tend to make your kitchen pop more, so we would recommend going along those lines, like the picture below.

When selecting wood floors and cabinets, it's best to avoid matching. It can be hard to find a floor and cabinet that are exact match, and if the material looks similar but not identical, it can create a less than pleasing visual. It can come across as an accident or poor design.

It is not neccessary for your kitchen floor to be darker than the base cabinets or wall cabinets. The color of your kitchen floor can actually be a little lighter or darker than the cabinets. This creates a proper balance in the room. You just have to keep the floor and cabinets within two to three shades from each other.

Two common ways to pick out your kitchen floor include:

• Coordinate your floor color with your countertops and cabinetry; which will act as secondary colors These secondary colors will help separate your flooring from your cabinetry and countertops.
• The second option is to match your countertops and cabinetry and use the flooring as a contrasting piece. One popular traditional look, for example, is a kitchen with white cabinetry and black countertops with dark wood flooring. The Black and the white are the two primary colors, and the dark wood flooring acts as an accent color between the cabinets and countertops.