2022 | ELEGANT CHERRY HARDWOOD FLOORING WITH PROS AND CONS

The rich aesthetic look, as well as the warm, and smooth feel under the feet is what makes Cherry hardwood floors so special. The Cherry hardwood comes from different tree species. For example, the American Cherry comes from a different tree and the Brazilian Cherry comes from another different tree. These trees provide a variety of beautiful color grades and grain structures, meaning that you will be able to choose from a wide range of wood types.

Apart from this, the color grades of Cherry trees work very well with both modern and classic interior settings. If you want your hardwood floors to look aesthetically amazing, and provide a rich reddish-brown or blackish shade, you should choose Cherry hardwood flooring for your home. But before you decide to choose a Cherry hardwood floor, you should know what options do you have, and what type of hardwood you should use. In this article, I have listed each and everything that you need to know related to Cherry hardwood flooring.

Below are some of the Cherry hardwood species types that are most commonly used for flooring. Each of these has its pros and cons that is why you should know about each hardwood type before choosing the one for your home.

Types of Cherry Hardwood Species for Flooring

Here are some of the Cherry hardwood species types for flooring:

• American Cherry Hardwood Flooring: American Cherry hardwood species is one of the most commonly used Cherry hardwood species in North America. It is an extremely strong and dense hardwood species that is why it can be used in any part of your house including high traffic areas as well. Apart from this, American Cherry hardwood is easily available because it comes from a plant that is native to North America. This comes from a tree species that is called “Prunus serotina”.
  
  The distinct beautiful look and feel of the American Cherry hardwood floors make them a suitable choice for every type of Modern interior design. The rich color and beautiful granular structure that flows through the planks; look stunningly beautiful and attractive. But this beautiful look can cost you a lot of money and this hardwood species absorbs water, so there is a higher risk of your floor getting easily damaged by water over time.

• European Cherry Hardwood Flooring: Due to its distinct look and granular structure, it is mostly not recognized as a Cherry hardwood type. But it comes from a tree that is a member of the Cherry family. This plank is known as the “‎Prunus avium”. It has a light brown color. It can also be stained in dark brown, black, reddish colors to get a more premium and darker look.
  
  This hardwood is mostly imported from Europe and is used in floor making, so it costs even more as compared to the other Cherry hardwood species and is also not as strong as some other hardwood types. It changes its color over time and from light brown it gets a deeper and darker shade of brown. If you want to have a premium, rich, and warm look in your house you should choose this type of Cherry hardwood species for your hardwood floor.

• Chilean Cherry Hardwood Flooring: “Nothofagus dombeyi” is a tree that is also known as the Chilean Cherry, it is not a member of the Cherry family but due to its appearance, it is considered a Cherry hardwood type.  The color grades and granular shape of the Chilean Cherry are similar to that of American Cherry hardwood. Once finished, your floors look amazingly beautiful and provide an aesthetic look.
  
  This is also a strong and dense hardwood type capable of sustaining high traffic and heavyweight. But if the hardwood surface of the Chilean Cherry faces pressure, it can bend and break, it can also get more dents as compared to other hardwood species. That is why you should only use the Chilean Cherry hardwood floors in places that do not face heavy traffic, pressure, or weight.

• Brazilian Cherry Hardwood Flooring: It comes from a Brazilian tree known as the “Eugenia uniflora”. It grows in Brazil and hardwood is imported to the United States and Canada. This hardwood is known for its beautiful reddish-brown to dark brown look. The Brazilian Cherry hardwood floors create a stunningly beautiful scenic view and provide an aesthetic and rich look.
  
  There are a lot of features of the Brazilian Cherry hardwood flooring that make it a perfect choice for your house, but it is not as strong as it should be that is why there is a higher chance of your floors getting scratches, and dents. Apart from this, the reddish look of the Brazilian Cherry mostly does not work well with the more modern type of interior designs. Apart from this, it is one of the most beautiful choices for hardwood floorings.

• Caribbean Cherry Hardwood Flooring: Caribbean Cherry hardwood for flooring comes from a Caribbean plant, known as the “Malpighia punicifolia” and also as “Barbados Cherry”. It is a great choice for hardwood flooring as it provides a warm reddish-brown look. The grain structure of the Caribbean Cherry hardwood is also unique and beautiful.
  
  If you want your hardwood floors to look warmer, rich brown-red and aesthetically beautiful, Caribbean Cherry hardwood is something you should consider. The density and hardness of the Caribbean hardwood are much less and that is why you should only consider it for low traffic areas and not for high traffic areas.

• Black Cherry Hardwood Flooring: This is one of the most unique Cherry hardwood species types that you can use for flooring. This plant is native to some regions of North America and that is why it is one of the easily available hardwood flooring species in North America. The Black Cherry hardwood is not black, it is dark brown and it is stained black. This gives it a beautiful and amazing look and warm feel. 
  
  The original color of this hardwood matches the color of American Cherry hardwood. It is a great choice if you are a fan of black hardwood flooring. The black Cherry hardwood for flooring costs more, and it is tough to keep it clean or maintain it properly. You should keep these in mind if you want to choose the black Cherry hardwood flooring.

These were some of the Cherry hardwood species options that you can choose for your hardwood floors. The second thing that you should consider after the Cherry hardwood species selection, is the selection of a hardwood floor type. The hardwood floor types are based on the different features that hardwood provides, such as some floors come pre-finished and some are finished on-site. Below are some of these hardwood floor types related to Cherry hardwood flooring that you can choose for your house.

Cherry Hardwood Floor Types

• Solid Cherry Hardwood Floors: Solid Cherry hardwood floors are the most used Cherry hardwood flooring. These are made of solid hardwood instead of engineered or laminate hardwood. Solid hardwood floors maintain their original warm tone and color and provide a smoother texture.
  
  The grain of the Cherry hardwood is also more vibrant and visible in solid Cherry hardwood floors. The only downside of this type of Cherry floor is that they are not as hard and as strong as the engineered hardwood floors are and that is why they get easily scratched.

• Engineered Cherry Hardwood Floors: It is one of the strongest hardwood flooring types and is also the most durable, reliable long-lasting option for your hardwood floors. Engineered Cherry hardwood floors are denser and stronger as compared to all other types of Cherry hardwood floors.
  
  That is why they last longer and have fewer scratches and dents over their surface. They also provide a smoother texture and consistent grain pattern in the hardwood. The only downside of using these is that they do not provide a natural look and they are also more susceptible to water damages.

• Prefinished Cherry Hardwood Floors: Prefinished Cherry hardwood floors come already finished and ready to install. They do not require any on-site finishing. These can help reduce the cost of installing the floors and help you save a lot of money that you otherwise would have spent on getting your unfinished floor finished.
  
  The quality, look and feel of these already finished hardwood floors are excellent. The only downside of these prefinished hardwood floors is that they do not provide the wide range and variety as the unfinished hardwood floors provide. They are a perfect choice for you if you do not want to finish your hardwood floor on-site.

• Unfinished Cherry Hardwood Floors: The unfinished Cherry hardwood floor planks are not already finished, they are mostly sanded and finished on-site. This process takes more time and sometimes costs more but this provides you the best results and an endless variety of options to choose from during the finishing of your hardwood floors.

• Hand-Scraped Cherry Hardwood Floors: Hand-scraped Cherry hardwood floors are made with hand-scraped planks. You can do hand-scraping by yourself, or you can get them prefinished and pre hand-scraped.
  
  Hand-scraped Cherry hardwood floors provide a more unique and premium look as compared to the other Cherry hardwood floor types. Apart from this, the edges of these planks are smoother and they provide a smooth touch. The hand-scraped Cherry hardwood floors are a perfect choice for you if you want a more luxurious look and feel from your hardwood floor.

• Laminate Cherry Hardwood Floors: To get a darker and shinier look of Cherry hardwood floors, laminate Cherry hardwood can be an option. The laminate Cherry hardwood floors provide a more vibrant and darker look that not only makes your floor look aesthetically beautiful and attractive but also feel warmer as well.
  
  Most of the Brazilian Cherry hardwood floors are laminate Cherry hardwood floors. This extra dark look of these laminate Cherry hardwood floors makes them a perfect choice for your house if you want a warm feel and darker look. The only disadvantage of the laminate Cherry hardwood floors is that they are very hard to keep clean as they do not mask the dust. 

Pros and Cons of Cherry Hardwood Flooring

There are a lot of advantages of the Cherry hardwood flooring that you can get if you have decided to choose the Cherry hardwood flooring in your house. But there are some disadvantages of the Cherry hardwood flooring that you must know. This will help you better decide about hardwood flooring and also give you more insight into protecting your Cherry hardwood floor.

Below are some of the pros and cons of Cherry hardwood Floorings.

Pros of Cherry Hardwood Flooring

Here are some of the pros of Cherry hardwood flooring.

• Dark, Rich, and Aesthetic Look: The look of the Cherry hardwood flooring is aesthetically beautiful, rich, and provides a darker shade. Every shade of the Cherry hardwood flooring provides a unique and premium look that works well with most of the modern interior designs as well. This rich and premium look of your floor also makes your interior and your house shine and reflect more light. The dark brown shade of the floor deepens over time and makes your hardwood floor look even more aesthetic.

• Smooth and warm surface: Due to the dark color and shade of the planks, Cherry hardwood floors absorb light and that is what makes these hardwood floors feel warmer under the feet. They remain warm even if the temperature around them is cold. Apart from this, they are also extremely smooth under the feet and provide a luxurious walking experience. This extra smoothness is only seen in Cherry hardwood floors because they are not as hard as the other hardwood types and can easily be sanded properly. This makes their surface smoother as compared to the other hardwood types.

• Easy to refinish and repair: As you know that the Cherry hardwood is not extremely hard and dense wood. This makes it one of the easiest hardwood species to repair and refinish. You can easily redo your hardwood floors without the fear of damaging them. Apart from this the cost of repairs and refinishing your hardwood floors are also very reasonable and affordable, unlike the oak and maple hardwood floors. So, if you want to keep your floor for the long term and want to refinish sometime in the future, it will be easy and cheap work and that is why most people use Cherry hardwood flooring in their homes.

• Strong and Durable Hardwood: Cherry hardwood is a moderately strong and durable hardwood that can last longer and can be installed in any part of a house. It is not one of the extremely dense hardwood species and is also not as hard as hickory or other hardwood species. But it can sustain the shocks, pressure, and scratches very well over time. The hardness of the Cherry hardwood is around 950 ratings on the Janka hardness scale. If you are looking forward to having a long-lasting hardwood floor that is rich in color and provides a premium look, it is one of the most suitable choices.

• Adds more value to the property: Due to the warm feel, and aesthetic Cherry hardwood floors look more attractive and beautiful. This is something that makes property buyers think that your property has a luxurious hardwood floor. That is why they are more attracted to buy it. This is how the Cherry hardwood floors add more value to your property. So, if you are a property owner and looking forward to selling your property, then you should try and install Cherry hardwood floors. This little investment in your hardwood floor will help you get more value for your property.

• Variety of options to choose from: This is one of the biggest benefits of choosing Cherry hardwood flooring. You get a large variety of color grades, wood types, and grain structures. This is something that is rarely seen in other hardwood species. You can choose from reddish-brown to dark brown and even black colored hardwood floors.
  
  You can also choose different Cherry hardwood species, such as Brazilian, Chilean, and American Cherry species. This variety of options enables you to choose the perfect dark-colored hardwood floor for your house. So, if you are a homeowner who wants to explore hardwood floor that has a variety of options to choose from, you should consider the Cherry hardwood flooring

• Works well with Modern interior settings: Dark-colored Cherry hardwood floors work very well with all kinds of modern interior settings. You can use the Cherry hardwood flooring in your kitchen and match it with your kitchen cabinet colors. You can also choose a Cherry hardwood floor that matches the furniture of your study, your bedroom, or your lounge. You can also choose Cherry hardwood according to your interior paint colors. It blends in very well with your interior settings and makes them glow even more.

Cons of Cherry Hardwood Flooring

Here are some of the Cons of Cherry hardwood flooring.

• It can cost more: Cherry hardwood floorings can cost more as compared to the other hardwood species. The cost of buying hardwood floor planks and getting them installed in your house varies greatly depending upon your location. But it is a common fact that it costs more. This is mostly because most of the Cherry hardwood species are not native to the United States and they are imported from other countries.
  
  This increases the cost of logistics and production and that is why Cherry hardwood floors are considered a costlier option. But this cost factor is also what makes them a luxurious hardwood flooring option as well. So, if you have decided to invest in Cherry hardwood flooring, it will not be a bad investment.

• Hard to keep clean: As you know that the Cherry hardwood floors are mostly dark. The dark colors and shades make everything over their surface look visible. The dark Cherry hardwood floors cannot hide the dust. That is why you will have to clean them more often as compared to the other hardwood floor types. The rich look of the Cherry hardwood floorings also requires more maintenance and more frequent cleaning. Even a small amount of dust can accumulate and make your hardwood floor look bad and that is why you have to clean them again and again.

• Can easily get scratches: Cherry hardwood is not as hard as the hardwood species and that is why its surface is considered softer. This soft surface of the Cherry hardwood is more susceptible to get scratched easily. Not only this, but the darker color of the floor also makes hardwood scratches more visible. That is why you will have to take more measures to protect the Cherry hardwood floors.

• Not good for pet owners: As you already know that Cherry hardwood floors are softer on the surface and can get easily scratched. So, if you are a pet owner, it is not wise to choose Cherry hardwood flooring. This is because your hardwood floor will easily get scratched because of the nails and teeth of your pets. Apart from this, Cherry hardwood flooring is also not a good idea if you have young kids.

• Will change color over time: All hardwood species absorb light and change their color over time but some species change their color quickly as compared to the other hardwood species. Cherry hardwood is also one of those species that change its color quickly over time. It gets darker and darker as time passes. The best solution to this problem is to get a very dark shade of stain or get a black colored Cherry hardwood floor. This will help you minimize the color change effect on your Cherry hardwood floor.

• Humidity can damage the floor: If you have installed a Cherry hardwood floor in a humid environment, or if you spill water over your hardwood floor. It will get damaged very soon. That is because the Cherry hardwood absorbs water and this water and humidity causes the hardwood to get destroyed by the pest attacks.
  
  Your hardwood floor’s surface starts to crank as it absorbs water and this creates more pathways for water.  The only solution to this problem is by protecting your hardwood floor from water and humidity. You can also get an extra coat of water-proof polyurethane to prevent your hardwood floor from absorbing water.

• Can make your space look smaller: Darker shades of Cherry hardwood floors make space look smaller. This makes them a perfect choice for larger rooms but if you have smaller rooms, the Cherry hardwood flooring is not a great choice. This happens because the dark color of the hardwood floor tends to absorb light. This creates an illusion of smaller space. So, you should only choose Cherry hardwood flooring if you have a larger space.

Cost of Cherry Hardwood Flooring

The cost of different types of Cherry hardwood flooring is different. It costs more as compared to many other hardwood species that are much harder and last much longer but cost less. The reason behind the high cost of Cherry hardwood flooring is that it provides a more aesthetic, warm rich, and luxurious look.

Prefinished Cherry hardwood floor planks can cost up to $6 while the unfinished Cherry hardwood floor planks usually cost up to $4 per square foot. Brazilian Cherry can cost up to $6 per square foot while the American Cherry can cost between $3 to $6 depending upon finished and unfinished hardwood floor planks. These costs are just estimated costs to buy a square foot of different Cherry hardwood floors. These are not the exact costs and they may also differ depending upon your location.

closing remarks

Each type of Cherry hardwood species has its unique characteristics such as color, grain, and shade. This is what helps you get more variety from the Cherry species for your hardwood floors. More options of color and grain allow you to choose the best dark hardwood floor that suits your needs and is according to your requirements. The Cherry hardwood for flooring provides a warmer, rich, and luxurious look and a very smooth feel under the feet.

There are a lot of other benefits for homeowners if they install Cherry hardwood flooring in their homes. Such as, it adds more value to the property. So, if you want to sell your house after renovations, you should renovate it with Cherry hardwood flooring to maximize your profits on your investments.

But there are some disadvantages as well. The wood of the Cherry hardwood floors is not as hard as the other hardwood species and it costs more. The softer wood of the Cherry flooring can easily get scratches over the surface and it is very hard to hide these scratches and dust because of the dark color of the floor.

This is true that Cherry hardwood floors are a perfect choice to bring aesthetic beauty into your homes but they require extra care and protection otherwise they will get damaged. You need to make sure that you keep humidity and water away from Cherry hardwood floors otherwise, they will get cranks and will get easily damaged. Apart from these, there are a lot of other benefits of the Cherry hardwood flooring as well.

So, you need to be extra cautious about your hardwood floors. If you have young kids or pets inside your house, the Cherry hardwood flooring is not an ideal option for you. This is because your hardwood floor will get more scratches from the nails of your pets. So, if you have pets and kids inside your house, and you still want the beautiful warm, and aesthetic look of the Cherry hardwood floors, you should provide more protection and care to your Cherry hardwood floor.

Frequently Asked Questions

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