Homeowner was so pleased with their bathrooms on the upper floors, that they retained us to redo their dinning, kitchen and living room. Originally the home owner wanted wanted wainscoting and small panel coffered ceiling, and in addition to open 
concept (meaning removal of some walls, and reinforcements of beams both above and below) – yes a tall order. Wainscoting would have been a big no no, due to the fact that we had leaned up so many walls, that there was no space to place wainscoting. Once we opened up the walls, to put small panels of coffered ceiling would have made the space look small. The bigger panel coffered ceiling did make sense, as it gave the impression that the space is much larger than it is. With an over abundant of windows that gave a ton of natural light, going with a medium grade darker wood floors worked well, as it complimented the kitchen cabinets as well. We used red oak stain on 5 1/4″ oak panel installed straight. The obstacle was to match up the kitchen and dinning room floors (Creme Malfi 18″ x 18″ tiles) to the wood floors so that it all one level. Kitchen is a bit on the dark side, but that’s a matter of taste. Dark cherry color with dual sub zero refrigerator freezer, glass back splash by the wine cabinetry, and mosaic’s by stove. We threw in some cabinet with windows, so it wasn’t going to be this heavy masculine kitchen. It worked, and it was a fun project.