Pictures? Help us help you, you want advice we need something for context.

I don’t see any knots. I don’t love the short boards. Looks to me like you got what you paid for but not what you imagined. The floor looks fine.

I’m not seeing any knots, either. It seems, what you are calling ”knots”, is the many variations in the grain. There are many short boards, which would bother me a tad.

For context, these are our site finished white oak floors:

The grain in our floors is more uniform, as we requested “select” grade, with some rift sawn boards to be included. The floors are now 6 1/2 years old.

Didn’t post a close up of the knots but they are there and dispersed. Never did a remodel before and the contractor said he would match the rest of the house. i just didnt know enough the ask about grade or length. I have long boards iin the rest of the house and virtuallly no knots.

@User thank you for your voice of reason. Need to move on and just enjoy the new kitchen. I will be wiser for my next reno next year.

If you don't have to match existing solid 3-4", you can get much wider stable engineered flooring. 7-11" is a range available in European Oak. Lighter without yellow or dark grain is possible with that species.

The look is normal for red oak select grade. The gapping is seasonal combined with average quality millwork.

Your floor certainly looks like Select & Better. If you really don't like it, you could pay to have it redone and ask for Clear grade in long lengths.

Per NWFA/NOFMA specifications, Select grade can have "one (1) small tight knot every 3' (914.4 mm) of piece; pin worm holes; burls and a reasonable amount of slightly open checks". I see zero knots in you picture so I think it's safe to say that you floor is select. Minimum length for overall is listed at 9" and for Select, an average length of 33".

It's not uncommon for older floors to be well above the minimum requirement for a grade, which surprises some people when their new floor is closer to the requirement. Many here used to buy #1 Common & Better, which was almost Select. When #1 Common is REALLY #1 Common, they think they're getting scammed until they read the grading requirements.

http://www.monticelloflooring.com/Gradingrules.htm (floorreports.com)

@Timothy Winzell - Thank you very much for your reply. I do have knots and pin worm holes, but I did not post close ups of those! You are correct that I am comparing my new floor to my existing floors. When the contractor said he would match the kitchen to my existing hardwood floors, I thought they would look the same. I didn't even ask what grade I was getting - I wasn't as informed then as I am now. It was only when I started to be aggravated by the new floor's characteristics that I asked what I received. Select and better sounded so good - names can be deceiving.