Wood floors in kitchen areas are subject to more cleaning and dropped items. Otherwise, it is fine.

Depends on your life style.

When I remodeled I ran the new wood floors through the kitchen for aesthetic reasons and I was similarly "nervous".

It has been six years and they still look fine. I do take care of them in terms of wiping up any splotches as soon as possible.

Mine are a high quality engineered wood and even with a bit of carelessness aren't the worse for wear. There was one spot where evidently something had leaked from a bag and had hardened without my even knowing it was there. It came up without any damage to the wood.

But as I said I am not a pig in the kitchen. Also - FWIW - grit is really the enemy of wood floors of any kind and so vaccuming regularly so that the grit doesn't abrade the surface is critical for wood - but that is everywhere and not just the kitchen.

Also I installed water alarms for my dishwasher and water for the ice maker. They would shut off if there is any start to a flood. Also Smittie pans. I did this for my washer/dryer as well.

thanks to all

We have had solid cherry floors for six years now. We finished them with Real Milk Paint Company half and half tung oil.. My DH loves to cook, too, and is maybe not the neatest cook. The floors look as good as the day we finished them. The floor is damp mopped once a week and spills are usually wiped up.

What floors are on the other rooms surrounding the kitchen? Ideally you want one floor through out the main rooms.

We could not do wood since we are on a farm and the kitchen entry is the main entry.

Wood floors are no problem in a kitchen..have had them in my last three homes…when we moved from our last home after 8 years they still looked amazing…we are now in a 16 year old home and the wood floors are still going strong!