Are all these different floors in the same house?!

I prefer wood floors (site finished or engineered) throughout the house with tile in bathrooms, laundry and mudroom.

What floors do you have in the rooms that open to the kitchen?

Real wood all the way. I've had real wood in my kitchen for 35 years with no issues. The rest of my house built in 1968, has the original hardwood floors, which have been refinished twice. Second time only done because we added hardwood to the kitchen and wanted them all to match. First time was because previous owners had messed them up.

@chispa thanks. not all the same house. we've built remodeled dozens of homes over 35ish years. Good to know you put real and engineered in kitchen. My husband just has it in his mind that real hardwoods don't go in kitchen around potential standing water. the floors that open to the kitchen is the living room and entry way...then stairs to up and down. We were hoping to have the same floor in living room as in the kitchen. the entry way will either again, be same as kitchen/living or we may end up keeping the slate that's there now.

Real wood, piano finish. Hard to live with, but nothing is as pretty and glossy.

How often have you had standing water in any of your houses?

If something floods, then it doesn't matter what your flooring is, because you will have damage to the under-layment, baseboard, lower parts of walls and/or any cabinets in the area.

You never have ice cubes escape, and nobody notice?

@mad_gallica (z5 Eastern NY), I’ve had ice cubes ”escape” and not notice until later, many times over 10 years in this house. These puddles have never damaged the wood floors. Just wipe up the water, and there’s no evidence water sat there for an hour…or two…or…

My floors are site finished white oak. Best decision we ever made. Wood floors are a cinch to care for, and are much easier on the back and legs to stand on. We installed shut-off valves with alarms at all water sources in the house.

I am using site finished hardwood. Under the refrigerator run and the run of cabinets that holds the sink I am using wood-look tile. You can’t see it, but it’s under there.

Heck, I tested my engineered hardwood floor samples with standing dog drool "puddles". The drool cleans up fine and so does urine and vomit! Some missed ice cube melting was the least of my worries, but those aren't a problem either.

Sure, if I left a urine puddle and never cleaned it up, it would eventually stain a wood floor finish (engineered or site finished). If we are gone for a while and forget to close a bedroom door, we check the room when we get back for any accidents that might have happened. We check tiled areas too, because that is what a responsible person does!

Engineered hardwood can give you wider pieces of wood to look at, 7-11 inches. Flat cut to see the structure. You'll find lots of European oak because it has less open grain and less yellow when finished with water based poly. Ciranova Fortico satin with a sheen of 40-50. Very scratch resistant. 4mm or 6mm top layer with birch or eucalyptus plywood hardwood only core.

Wood floors look great, are easy on the feet, never go out of style, are repairable if needed. Even old school tongue and groove. I’ve cut out and replaced damaged T&G and it looks fine, with me just a DIY’er. Save extra lengths of the wood flooring you use, and sleep well knowing if the dropped iceberg does manage to do harm, it can be fixed by your local pro. You can also get drip pans for dishwasher, refrigerator, sink cabinet, and even fit them with drain lines if there’s a handy route to take.