<p>Our 1920’s house has original oak floors throughout. When we bought it 20 years ago the kitchen floor was covered in sheet vinyl–we ripped that off and refinished all the floors. We refinished the kitchen floor again about 6 years ago when we did some renovations. No problems.</p>
<p>Put oak hardwood flooring in kitchen to match rest of house and have totally loved the choice. The first week the floor was in, had a new dishwasher installed and …grrr…
plumber didn’t properly hook up dw. Floor buckled slightly right in front of dw due to leak. Hardwood guy said it would go down and he was right. The warping rescinded in a few weeks. I also place cute rugs in front of sink and cooktop to reduce wearing, etc…My guy said to use plain water with a splash of vinegar on the flooring…strongly recommended against using products such as Murphy’s…Have followed his advice and the floor looks great We’ve had it refinished once in 15 years–probably year 9 or 10.</p>
<p>Ditto: put in oak flooring to match the rest of our traditional style house and we LOVE it.
The look, the comfort (gives more than tile or marble or concrete), the ease of cleaning.
After 12 years, there are some areas where the finish is well-worn, but I think that is par for the course. Plan to refinish in the next 12 months (pre-sale!!!), but I really do not mind. The other types of floors in the house now have issues with the grout, the polish. We even have a crack in one of the tiles in a bathroom…
So I recommend hardwood in the kitchen highly!</p>
<p>“Only do this if you are willing to clean/wash the carpet every few weeks” - Oops. I’ve never done that. (Rubber back mats don’t was very well). Perhaps we’ve gotten lucky due to the very dry CO climate, not as prone to dampness/mold. </p>
<p>I do buy new rugs every year or two. It’s a cheap way to get a decorating change of pace too. </p>
<p>The reason I suggest the rugs is that the folks that dislike wood floors in the kitchen (they exist) usually complain about water damage. On day 1 in the house a neighbor gave us the rug advise based on her mother’s kitchen wood floor woes. A good finish is critical - do some research with your locals to get a recommended contractor.</p>
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<p>The houses where I’ve seen this issue were in suburbs of NYC, Boston, and Philly. </p>
<p>They all tend to get quite humid in the summers…especially Philly where that house with fully installed carpeted bathroom floor was located.</p>
<p>We use foam pads rather than carpets in front of the sink and stove, something like this:</p>
<p>[Calm</a> Chef Wine Floor Mat - Bed Bath & Beyond](<a href=“http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?SKU=18293935&RN=2507&]Calm”>http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?SKU=18293935&RN=2507&)</p>
<p>The WORST floor I ever had was a carpeted kitchen in a rental house. We dropped a bottle of dishwashing liquid on it, and you can imagine what it was like trying to clean it up. Suds, suds, suds. And it was ugly carpet too.</p>
<p>Back to the wood floor discussion…I love mine. Love them.</p>
<p>Thanks to this thread, this is what we are going to do. I think that oak is out, because the rest of the house is pine. But pine is too soft, I think. So we’re thinking maple or cherry. H favors cherry. He thinks maple is too light?</p>
<p>We have hardwood as it is contiguous with the rest of the downstairs. Its easy to care for.</p>
<p>If you have an automatic ice maker, buy a water sensor at the hardware store. That way if you have a slow leak, the alarm will go off and you won’t have water damage. (We learned this the hard way, so I always tell people.)</p>
<p>Hot canary, I like my maple. It has a warm stain, not the butcher block color.</p>
<p>I have engineered Mannington oak floors in my kitchen (and most of my home) for the past 10 years in so. Florida and I still love the love, feel, and ease of care of them. We have a small rug in front of the sink and Refridgerator (which are now in need of replacement). Our summer home, a beach house, also has wood but is the sanded and stained on site oak(which we has stained a dark walnut color). </p>
<p>We use the Bona hardwood floor cleaner system that we buy at Bed Bath and Beyond ( they sell it as a kit with the duster mop head and the terry cloth cleaning attachment. It works great.</p>
<p>How does the Bona clean? In spite of what everyone says, my oak floor is somewhat worn out near the door where me dog goes in and out all the time. Would the Bona clean it well enough for me to put down another coat of varnish? Otherwise, I will have to get the entire floor refinish since there’s no good place to stop.</p>
<p>I don’t believe that Bona is a good prep for raw wood in need of varnish. It is just a good finish coat/varnish coat cleaner.</p>
<p>We love our stranded bamboo floor. Harder than oak, but stays very warm. We use Bruce’s hardwood cleaner. Of course, we’ve only had it since October, but so far so good.</p>
<p>I think this thread should get the CC award for most posters in absolute agreement on a subject…EVER! :)</p>
<p>^^ I agree!
And I love my wood floor in my kitchen. I had a vinyl floor when we moved in. It was ok but when we remodeled, I choose wood and I love it everyday. I also use Bona to clean it. I read somewhere that vinegar is not good for wood finishes (I used it on a laminate floor and it was better than the store bought cleaners), so I buy Bona.</p>
<p>Canary, we have oak hardwood throughout, including the kitchen, and wouldn’t change it.</p>
<p>You said you weren’t sure you want to continue the pine in the kitchen since it’s too soft. Please reconsider. We always used to go to our friend’s really, really old country farmhouse with its antique furniture and painted pine kitchen floors. It was so charming. The wide floor-board floors were painted with splatters of colors in a hog-pog style and it was ideal for a very busy room. You’d never see the dirt. My friend’s mom was a designer, and I know she had something to do with the “look” but it didn’t look pretentious, in large part because of this very endearing room with its splatter-paint floors.</p>
<p>My mom has had oak hardwood floors for more than 30 years -never had a problem .So much safer if you slip and fall!</p>
<p>Thanks, limabeans and bookworm. Our house IS very rustic, and we do have wide plank pine floors in our dining room and foyer. We love it, but we’re concerned about the upkeep in a kitchen. Even the dining room floor has taken a couple of hits that don’t look so charming. Painted wood floors can be beautiful, but I’m not all that artistic, and we were planning on staining and varnishing. I like things to look rugged and lived in, but I’m a little afraid that it would wind up looking shabby. Bookworm, we’ll take another look at maple. My husband is only going by the homes he has seen, so he can be convinced. As I said, we’re do it yourselfers, so this might take a while. We tend to live with the old ugly stuff for a while before we finally take action.</p>