<p>Hardwood floors throughout the house except for three bathrooms and basement playroom. We even have hardwood in half bath off kitchen. </p>
<p>The newer boards were installed 18 years ago to match existing and all has worn well other than wear marks in front of refrigerator and top of stair landing (stain has worn away where feet fall consistently). The hardwood floors are very forgiving in the kitchen. A dropped glass rolls instead of breaking but that same glass shatters when it falls over on granite countertops.</p>
<p>I have seen many mentions of Bona on floors in this thread. We just vacuum regularly (Miele canister) and mop infrequently with vinegar and water. </p>
<p>I am now shuddering to think what may be below the carpet in the basement. It was installed directly onto the concrete floor……don’t want to contemplate what may be beneath it!</p>
<p>We have hardwood in most of the house including the kitchen. Bedrooms are carpet. We considered replacing the master carpet bed and bath with wood and tile but in the end just recarpeted since all the doors would have been too short for the new flooring. It would have been mice to switch to wood but it was just too complicated. </p>
<p>We have carpet in bedrooms and hardwood or tile (bathrooms) in the other areas of the house. I love the hardwood but do appreciate the warm softness of carpet in the bedrooms during the fall and winter months.</p>
<p>We have both, and like both. When children were young, I liked the W/W in the living areas. Now we have hardwood. We’ve always used commercial-grade solution-dyed nylon for any W/W carpeting. We’ve had it in our family room for nearly 20 years, and believe it or no,t it still looks good! It is a very short loop pile, dark heather color. It has seen a lot of accidents over the years as well, but we try to clean anything immediately, and professionally clean occasionally.</p>
<p>Our last house had hardwood on the first floor and after 14+ years, there was only minimal visible wear, including the kitchen and powder room. Before moving into this house, we changed out some carpet and now have hardwood throughout the first floor which also includes the master bedroom. We love it. I could kick myself for not doing the upstairs hallway at the same time. We have nice area rugs in all the rooms and in front of the sink and stove. I think our home is very warm and inviting. Eventually, I hope to have hardwood throughout.</p>
<p>Seriously, some of this depends on where you are and how bad winter is. Our hardwood floors are cold in winter. Apparently you can perceive cold from the bottom up (not just the room’s air temp.)
And yes, a durable finish matters. Some of the new woods will come with a finish with some guarantee to last x years.<br>
Adding that we also have plank laminate in the kitchen . Pretty close match to the rest, but it’s its own room. Held up fantastically. Maybe 15 years old but looks new.</p>