Tbh I like the flame patterns you get with flat sawn. I thought quartered had more to do with boards not cupping than with aesthetics, but I don't know the finer points of oak and its prized flecking.
Hoping to build my own nouveauish kitchen one day and incorporate lots of home cast bronze for which I will cheat the forms with a 3d printer. Til then guess I'll just lacquer up some frikkin plywood.
Can't remember if you ever told us the cost but I'm sure it wasn't cheap!