We recently put new flooring in, and we choose red oak - and that includes in the kitchen. I've seen oak in many kitchens and talking to installers I hear it's quite common. Bamboo can be more moisture tolerant and harder - but it can depend on the type and construction.

Ultimately I'd say its user preference, and if you have wood already in neighboring rooms I'd say match that.

A few notes on bamboo (from what I learned when recently researching myself). The quality of bamboo can vary drastically, and unless you buy a reputable brand you won't know what you're buying. Considering bamboo isn't really solid wood and rather glued, off-gassing from formaldehyde was a common complaint with cheaper brands. Bamboo can be extremely hard (in the case of strand) or equally as soft as red oak (as in horizontal). There are a lot of different varieties of bamboo and some make better flooring as others and it's hard to find out which one is being sold. A lot of cheap companies apparently will use weaker varieties and/or harvest them too soon.

In my area the reputable brands cost over 2x what red oak cost and was a driving factor in us choosing red oak over bamboo... it was cost prohibitive for us after choosing not to take chances with the cheap brands.

Dozens of us here have oak, white or red, in our kitchens. People do it all the time. I don't like the red undertone in red oak, so we're laying site-finished white oak in the main living area of the house. I like bamboo sometimes in other peoples houses, but wouldn't want it in mine. It feels too contemporary somehow.

I like the idea of matching what you have already. It's less busy that way also. I'm sure your neighbor is well-intentioned, but it's your house. I bet she'll love it when you're done.

I had wanted bamboo flooring when we recently re-did our kitchen, but the bamboo I had intended to buy (based on CR reviews because it was harder and didn't dent as much as many bamboos do) ended up looking "too artificial" for my DH. So we ended up going with site-finished red oak to match the rest of the floors in the main part of our house. So far I am happy with our choice. They look good and seem easy to care for.

We put unifinished red oak in our kitchen. My DH finished it with Early American stain from Minwax. It looks gorgeous and it matches the other adjacent room.

I wanted to mention that Bamboo is not always a "green" choice. Depending on where you are, getting bamboo may expend a lot of shipping energy. We are on the eastern side of the states, it would have used a lot of fossil fuels to ship the bamboo over to us. Our red oak floors are from the US. Oak may not grow back as fast as bamboo but we didn't have it shipped across the world either. Something to think about.

I'll try to post pics later of our floor.

Good luck!

We put in site finished red oak and I love it. Our neighbors, who are really into green products (solar on the roof), bee hives in the backyard, etc., had put bamboo in their house several years ago and admitted that it wasn't wearing as well as they had hoped. We are happy with the oak, it's lovely, classic and should last for years.

If you're looking for a green choice, consider cork. In addition to being sustainable--the cork is just the bark of the tree, not the tree itself, like hardwood, it's much quieter and kinder to your knees and back. It's comes in a LOT of different colors and styles.

We original considered bamboo because for the green factor, but ruled it out due to all the reasons listed above.

We have oak floors now and I'll never do them again, WAY too loud. Can't wait for the cork in our new house.