If you are looking to actually extend the Product entity yourself for first-order attributes, we have some docs on that here:
http://docs.broadleafcommerce.org/curre ... ities.htmlHowever, you could also achieve similar functionality by just adding key/value pairs in Product Attributes (which is the list grid you are seeing in the admin). This is usually recommended when you don't need specific logic around your additional attributes or have a small enough site so that performance isn't really an issue.
Product options are used for things like T-shirts. In this example, you might have SIZE and COLOR product options with values like small|medium|large and red|yellow|blue. We also have the concept of mapping a Sku to multiple product option values. For instance, you might have a single product called "Hot Sauce T-Shirt" but individual Skus for a "Small Blue Hot Sauce T-Shirt" or "Large Yellow Hot Sauce T-Shirt". This enables you to manage inventory or unique pricing at that level (larges might be $1 more or something).