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Discover Our Hickory Hardwood Flooring
Explore the natural strength and beauty of Hickory hardwood flooring at Pennington Hardwoods. We offer both 3/4″ thick solid Hickory floors and 3/4″ thick engineered Hickory floors with a 6mm wear layer. With a wide selection of grades, widths, textures, and finishes, Hickory delivers unmatched durability and a bold, rustic appearance that stands out in any setting. Each floor is custom crafted to meet your design goals and performance needs.
For decades, we’ve provided flooring solutions to homeowners, designers, and builders across the U.S. and abroad. Our commitment to high-quality lumber, expert craftsmanship, and made-to-order production sets us apart from generic, mass-produced alternatives. When you choose Pennington Hardwoods, you’re choosing more than just a floor—you’re investing in enduring beauty and appeal.
Ready to design your space with the strength and character of Hickory?
Characteristics of Our Hickory Hardwood Flooring
Appearance: Hickory is known for its striking natural contrast, with color ranging from creamy white sapwood to medium and dark brown heartwood, often within the same board. Its bold grain and high variation make it a visually dynamic flooring option. Whether finished natural or stained, Hickory’s distinctive look adds warmth, movement, and character to any space.
Hardness: Hickory is the hardest domestic wood commonly used for flooring, with a Janka hardness rating of around 1,820 lbs. Its exceptional resistance to dents and wear makes it ideal for active households, high-traffic areas, and commercial use where performance is a priority.
Stability: Due to its density, Hickory has a moderate level of movement in response to humidity changes. Proper acclimation and installation methods are important to ensure long-term performance, especially in wider widths or mixed environments.
Versatility: Though often associated with rustic and traditional styles, Hickory can also be customized to suit modern interiors, especially when paired with a clean grade or contemporary stain. Its dramatic variation and strength make it an excellent choice for homeowners looking for something bold, natural, and long-lasting.
Popular Applications for Our Hickory Hardwood Flooring
Hickory is a go-to choice for those who need serious durability without sacrificing visual interest. It’s widely used by homeowners, designers, and builders for spaces that demand both strength and style. Common applications include:
- High-traffic residential areas
- Farmhouses and rustic interiors
- Cabins, lodges, and mountain homes
- Family rooms, kitchens, and mudrooms
- Retail, office, or restaurant environments with heavy foot traffic
Hickory’s bold color variation and rugged texture lend themselves well to rustic, country, and eclectic aesthetics, but it can also be tamed and refined for transitional or modern designs. Its resilience makes it a smart investment in both form and function.
Let’s talk about how Hickory can enhance your next project.
BROWSE HICKORY HARDWOOD FLOORING PROJECTS
Our Featured Options in Hickory Hardwood Flooring
We offer a curated range of customizable features that highlight the natural warmth and refined grain of Hickory hardwood. From structure to finish, each detail is designed to bring out the best in this timeless species.
Structure
Our solid Hickory hardwood flooring and engineered Hickory hardwood flooring are both great options. Depending on your climate, site conditions, species, cut, and width selections, either one could be strongly favored over the other. Neither is always the right answer, and we will help you make this decision based on real data, not common misconceptions.
- 3/4″ Thick Solid Hardwood Flooring
- 3/4″ Thick Engineered Hardwood Flooring with a 6mm wear layer
Grade
We offer a selection of grades to match your desired aesthetic. See our general grading descriptions below. Not all species are graded the same, however. Please inquire for potential differences and details in the grading of Hickory hardwood flooring and other species.
- Clear – no knots or other forms of character, and minimal color variation
- Natural – small to medium solid knots, other light character, moderate color variation
- Character – medium to large knots, other moderate character, and more color variation
- Rustic – larger knots, knotholes, other heavy character, and unlimited color variation
Width
We regularly offer widths from 3-1/4″ up to 11-1/4″ in Hickory hardwood flooring and most of our other domestic species. You may select any single width or a combination of widths. Other widths such as accent strip and extra wide planks up to 15″ are available on a limited basis. The selections below cover over 97% of what widths we are requested to run.
- 3-1/4″, 4-1/4″, 5-1/4″, 6-1/4″, 7-1/4″
- 8-1/4″, 9-1/4″, 10-1/4″, 11-1/4″, Combined Widths
Texture
We offer a variety of artistic textures to enhance the beauty of our Hickory hardwood flooring, and some are quite popular combined. It’s the perfect way to add old world charm to your home while minimizing the appearance of wear or damage over time. Our textures shown below can also be tailored to your preference of light, medium, or heavy. To view texture examples, visit our page here:
- Hand Scraped
- Wire Brushed
- Band Sawn
- Circle Sawn
- Distressed
- Worn edges
COLOR
We have many ways to achieve your desired color of Hickory hardwood flooring, ranging from simple staining to special chemical treatments, or even a complex combination of our color services described below.
- Simple Staining – single application of a transparent stain
- Complex Staining – multiple applications or more opaque stains
- Reactive Staining – combined chemical reaction and pigment in one
- Cerused Grain – color grain pores, often combined with staining
- Bleaching – used to create lighter versions of many species
- Oxidizing – used to create an aged, weathered, or gray look
- Ebonizing – used to create Oak that is dark brown to black
Finish
We provide industry leading finish options applied with a state-of-the-art finishing line, by Amish craftsmen who put great care and pride into their work. Shown below are our essential finishing options that satisfy that vast majority of Hickory hardwood flooring that we finish, but please feel welcome to inquire if you have different finishing needs or preferences.
- Rubio Oil – top rated UV cured penetrating oil finish with a flat to matte sheen
- Woca Oil – top rated UV cured penetrating oil finish with a matte to satin sheen
- Urethane – top rated UV cured and enhanced surface finish in a matte to gloss sheen
Get a Quote for Our Hickory Hardwood Flooring
Every home and project is unique—which is why each Hickory floor we craft is built to match your individual needs and style preferences. Whether you’re designing a rustic lodge with wide, character-grade planks or a family-friendly home with durable engineered flooring, we’ll help you make the right decisions from the ground up.
Start your project today.
Compare with Our Ash Hardwood Flooring
Trying to decide between Hickory and Ash? While both are strong American hardwoods, they offer different looks and performance profiles that suit a variety of design and functional needs.
Hickory is one of the hardest domestic hardwoods, known for its dramatic grain patterns and wide natural color variation—from pale cream to deep brown within the same board. It creates a bold, rustic look and stands up well in the most demanding environments.
Ash, on the other hand, has a lighter, more uniform appearance with a smooth, straight grain that’s often compared to White Oak. It takes stain evenly and is an excellent choice for modern, Scandinavian, or transitional designs where subtle elegance is preferred.
Both woods are exceptionally durable and versatile, but the right choice depends on whether you’re seeking high contrast and character—or a lighter, cleaner aesthetic.
Explore our Ash Flooring to see which species best suits your space.
Ready to Build Something Timeless?
At Pennington Hardwoods, we believe your floors should do more than just stand up to life—they should help define it. Our Hickory hardwood flooring is built for performance, shaped by craftsmanship, and chosen for its striking character and strength. It’s more than just a surface—it’s a foundation that tells a story.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Is Hickory too hard for residential use?
A: Hickory is one of the hardest domestic hardwoods available, making it exceptionally durable and resistant to dents or wear. While that hardness can make it more challenging to cut or nail during installation, the long-term benefit is outstanding performance in busy households, especially in kitchens, hallways, or entryways.
Q: Will Hickory’s color variation be too bold for my home?
A: Hickory’s natural color variation is part of its charm, but we understand it’s not for everyone. We offer different grades, stain options, and custom sorting to help you control the look. If you prefer a more uniform appearance, we can recommend cleaner grades or custom finishes to meet your aesthetic goals.
Q: Does Hickory take stain well?
A: Hickory can be stained successfully, though it requires experience and the right techniques due to its density and varied grain. Our professional finishing process ensures even, high-quality results, whether you want to highlight its natural tones or tone them down for a more refined look.
Q: Is Hickory suitable for radiant heat systems?
A: Yes, but it’s important to follow proper installation methods. Engineered Hickory is typically recommended for radiant heat, as it offers improved dimensional stability. Our team will guide you through best practices to ensure long-term performance.
Q: Do you offer matching Hickory millwork?
A: Yes. We offer custom stair treads, vents, thresholds, and trim milled from Hickory to match your flooring in species, color, and finish. Everything is made to order and finished together for a consistent look throughout your space.
Q: What makes your Hickory flooring different from what I might find in a store?
A: Our Hickory flooring is made one order at a time using carefully selected lumber, expert grading, and precision milling. We don’t mass-produce or cut corners. Each plank is crafted to highlight the wood’s natural character and provide better quality, fit, and finish than what’s typically available from large retail brands.
Q: Still Have Questions?
A: We’re here to help. Reach out today to speak with someone who can guide you through the selection process, answer questions, or prepare a quote. We love what we do—and we believe you’ll love the result.
