Much appreciated! Your household sounds very similar to ours, very reassuring. Next question...Sand and seal, or prefinished? It is a new construction house.

I've had both. I found the finish to be superior in pre-finished, and it takes time out of the schedule when building. The other thing you won't have to deal with is the sanding dust and the smell of the finish. We did pre-finished in our new home completed this summer.

Pre-finished is superior, I agree. With new construction, many say that the sand and seal is the way to go. With your experience, is it a risk to go with the pre-finished? So far, is there anything that you don't like about the prefinished?

The main advantage of pre-finished flooring is their consistency and you don't need to empty the entire house for a couple days in order for them the sand & seal the flooring.

We just remodeled our kitchen / family room into open concept about a year ago. We put hardwood throughout the entire space and haven't had any problems. I have a mat by my kitchen sink for the worst of the water but the floor is standing up remarkable well ... as good as the laminate we had before which had a few chips in it from fallen cutlery. We installed Naturally Aged Flooring ... maple fruitwood ... which is a gently hand-scraped flooring with some black knots and marking throughout the floor. If I do get a knick, I just color it in with a black permanent marker and, voila, it blends into the floor. I have attached a picture so you can see what it looks like.

Very nice! I really do appreciate all the feedback. There are many decisions to make. Can be somewhat overwhelming.