I've had wood floors in the kitchen also in our last home (2y prior to our purchase of the home, 8y prior to selling the home). It held up. Refinishing was always an option when you need to (versus having to replace). We planned a new home build again. Thought about putting another material in the kitchen, but like you - it would "disrupt" the flow of the wood floors. In the end decided to go with all wood (except in baths, laundry, mudroom areas).

We're looking at opening up our kitchen and would love the look of continuing the hardwood into the kitchen, but my husband won't consider it. We've had water flowing onto the kitchen floor from our dishwasher several times. It does make it a lot harder to come up with the design that will look good with different flooring.

....get a new dishwasher? (LOL). Seriously, I did consider tiles - in a contrast color to the wood floor stain. There are so many wood look shapes, grains now available if you wanted to go in that direction. I liked the look of stone in a ceramic tile....like marble. Even when you have a tile floor in the kitchen area......aren't you still at some risk if the dishwasher overflows depending on where the dishwasher is relative to the wood flooring. Best wishes to you.

Actually, it's a nice dishwasher that's pretty new. There are some other plumbing issues though. We've had water problems in other rooms, too, such as a leaking pipe behind a wall that caused damage in our bedroom, closet, and laundry area, as well as a bathroom sink that overflowed and damaged the wood floor in our hallway (after someone left it dripping and stopped up while we were on vacation). I seem to drip a lot on our kitchen floor, too. So, we won't get getting wood there.

I support your thinking. Please let us know what flooring you select....Maybe you can post picture of the finished project.

What do you think about a light grey porcelain next to a medium-toned wood? Other ideas?

Sounds like it could work.....can you post pictures for better answer

I don't have any tile samples yet. The plan at this point is for a white coastal cottage kitchen with Cambria Torquay quartz countertops. I saw a white kitchen with marble countertops and slate floors that I liked. Those floors gave me the idea for grey porcelain.

Sounds good. The slate picking up the light grey veining in the Cambria Torquay quartz? Perhaps a search on houzz may produce similar material colors. I found pics on the internet of the countertop material.

For 20 years we have had a solid cherry floor everywhere on our first floor except the study which is comfy carpeted and the entry hall which has large tiles. The tile takes the hardest use since we live in a woodsy area and tramp in muddy feet. We have no pets, take our shoes off at the door Japanese style, and generally are gentle on the floors.

We only wish we had kept the cherry in the study as well. We are considering getting the wood refinished next year, though it is not critical. The most wear has been in front of the kitchen sink from constant traffic more than from water damage. A carpet would have protected that area a bit. The floors were originally coated with three applications of matte polyurethane.

The look is gorgeous and calming. Indeed the flow of the rooms is mainly due to the continuous deep cherry color. In a previous house we had tile floors in the kitchen and living areas and found the upkeep more demanding than the wood has been. Highly recommend..

mskb, I'm surprised that the upkeep was higher with wood. Is that because of the grout?

lgwai, there is an extensive thread on this already on Houzz including a Poll. There are dozens of comments from PROs that you will find very helpful.