We sell and install prefinished hardwood. The fact that we install holds us accountable to only sell products we know will perform well. Once you select a good product, it will come down to proper installation, customer education and maintenance. ANY wood you choose, even the hardest on the scale will dent, scratch and ding. So get that out of the way and know it wil happen. Mid tones and low sheen finishes along with textured finishes like wire brush or hand scrape will help drastically with hiding "life". You're on the right track with your notes above. In our experience, MIRAGE- top pick, the Kentwood Originals Collection, Hallmark Monterey Collection, some of the better quality Anderson Tuftex hardwoods, Homerwood, and the thicker wear layer United tile "Plank" brands do well! Remember, keeping your home at a consistent humidity, not using a wet mop on it, and keeping consistent temperature is key. If you have direct sunlight from windows, you will need window coverings to protect your flooring. Hardwood is an investment and you'll want to care for it correctly to get your full life out of it. We RARELY see cracking, peeling of the finishes, etc with any of the brands listed. Another normal thing with hardwood is that it expands and contracts through season changes. You WILL have gaps at different spots at different times. Sometimes this could be a quarter thickness, it's normal! These are all expectations we educate our customer on. Don't get too wrapped up in the online reviews of hardwood. The hardwood reviews I see online are all related to improper care (wet mops, steamers, etc. in particular), incorrect install, or expecting them to perform without scratching, denting, etc. The customer was simply not educated on what it should do and how to care for it. Sorry for the long post but there's our take on it! We have been doing hardwood flooring for over 50 years. Be sure to purchase through a reputable, experienced dealer and installer when making an investment like this. Good luck, it will turn out beautiful! Also, if you have a specific product you're leaning towards, i'd be happy to respond on it as well.

I redid my floors a year ago and went w/ Calif. Classics Mediterranean line. It's a wide plank (8"X6') smoked french oak, (it's 9/16" thick. thicker than average wood planks). I think they all come in at 4mm wear layer.

they have about 20 colors. I got Granville

http://www.californiaclassicsfloors.com/hardwood-flooring/Mediterranean/French%20Oak/Granville-flooring.aspx

I've spilled everything on this floor and it cleans up beautifully. cat barf daily too.

It has an 8 coat lacquer finish on it (it's matte) so I'm not worried about refinishing.

http://www.californiaclassicsfloors.com/hardwood-flooring/mediterranean-hardwood-flooring.aspx

you can see 3 other shades in front on the far right. All the others are Grand pacific, which are also nice.

here's Provenza (first is Contempo) which is also a decent brand, similar to what I have.

I should have mentioned we have already hired a remodeling company for our entire remodel. We are picking out materials now and I believe they will find somebody to install.

Your budget is going to be an issue if you want wide plank. A solid hardwood is going to offer 4" wide planks for your budget. The wider you go the thinner the plank will become (not a good thing) to fit your budget.

Remember: the gold standard for hardwood = 3/4" thickness. The $8/sf factory finished solid hardwood with 3/4" thickness = 4" - 5" MAXIMUM. Then you get into stability issues with anything greater than 5" wide. Which then leads to HVAC updating that may not be in your budget. And then you get into full glue spread = more expensive install than a nail-in-place which then drives the budget even higher.

Whew! Now you can see why people have issues getting what they want with a medium budget allowance. A stable high-quality wide plank product in 3/4" thickness (solid or engineered = doesn't matter) gets into the $10 - $15/sf.

That means you must figure out which is MORE important: $8/sf budget OR the WIDE plank?

First things first: Do you have WHOLE HOME humidity control? Can you push a button on your HUMIDISTAT to change the humidity in the house??? If you don't know if you have this function than you probably don't have it.

IF you do NOT have a whole home humidifier/dehumidifier (whichever one you need...possibly both) then please bring in your HVAC professional to give you a quote to upgrade your heating/cooling system.

The warranty of the wood floor (and the splitting, checking, delaminating horror stories ALL) hang on the home's INTERNAL environment. And only ONE PERSON is responsible for that = the homeowner.

Had prefinished HW briefly, hated the small groves between pieces that collected very noticable dust, and any scratch (albeit hard to scratch) was much more noticable than site-finished HW.

Much prefer site-finished HW.

My comparison found costs surprisingly close; site-finished had higher labor, prefinished had higher product costs.

I have on-site finished hardwood in our current home so I'm definitely aware of what it takes to maintain a wood floor. For our new house, we feel we would never get return on investment with onsite finished (and honestly I shouldn't have done it in my current home either as I never got the money back in sale). my current floor has plenty of scratches in the 9 years I've had it, but I believe the flooring company only put one layer of poly on it to save time even though they claimed they'd do 2. I'm also aware the floor will get discolored by sun, rug, etc and am fine with that. I only clean my floor with Bona cleaner and I'm probably one of the most anal people about trying to make sure it stays in good shape.

Our new house does have April Aire. Current house does too but it didn't ever work well. New house should be better for this at least.

We are ok with 5" Plank (I'm ok with 4 but my husband wants larger) but I won't go any smaller than that. I really hate the look of very thin planks, it just reminds me of a home from the early 1900s or something.

The Bona kit dust mop is excellent. Prefinished hardwoods are able to get a stronger finish that is often UV cured- definitely a plus compared to the sand in home, however you may notice a little more gapping between board when seasons change. Anything over 4 1/4" make sure you go Engineered. It will be much more dimensionally stable. 5" needs engineered for sure, OR else the installer should be nailing AND gluing, not many do as the installation takes much longer and cost more likely.

Honestly we are starting to find it's really hard to get a 5" plank in the colors we like anyway. So I have a feeling we will need to go 4" which is what I have in my current home now. I think I'll be ok with the gaps between the boards - I do like the smooth, uniform finish of my on-site finished hardwoods now but am willing to compromise to save a bit of money (and get better return on investment). I think I'm mostly worried about the kitchen. We seem to get a lot of water drops on the floor when carrying items from the sink to the counter. I'm not sure what sort of effect that has on prefinished hardwood as I only have experience with my current on-site finished. We are good about wiping it up but sometimes a few drops get missed.

A 4 1/4" solid Mirage product with cashmere finish could be a good fit for you. Keeping foot rugs in front of the sink, and other water prone areas will help. If there's significant standing water you'll see issues. If you wipe it up, you'll be just fine! The mirage finish does excellent. Much of their line is a smooth look so may show more dents and scratches but shouldn't puncture the finish- it's pretty flexible.

Are Paramount floors a good option and decent quality? They do seem to have some colors that we like