Hardwood floors in Kitchen of DC Rowhouse?

[ccbush]

We are doing a partial remodel of early 1900s DC rowhouse in Mt Pleasant area. Prior owner tore out previous floor and installed fake wood, ugh. As part of remodel, redoing floors. Main floor is open floorplan with no separate entryway. Walk in front door and can see from front of house, which is living room, all the way to kitchen in back. We planned to remodel with hardwood throughout, however, concerned about entryway and kitchen being able to withstand water/snow/ice and kids. Looked at a ton of open houses and developers seems to be doing hardwood throughout including kitchens, but don't know if that's practical. Any suggestions on alternatives or have folks found that hardwood holds up in kitchens and entryways?

[Anonymous]

We had hardwood growing up in New England, and there's rarely snow in DC anyway. Why do you think that would be an issue? You can get a boot tray or whatever if you're very dirt concerned.

[Anonymous]

Our hardwood takes a brutal beating in our DC rowhouse - but we just refinish it once a decade.

[Anonymous]

The kitchen hardwood looks beaten down compared to LR or DR. I am disappointed with putting hardwood in the kitchen. It looks beautiful at first because it’s one continuous flooring, but it looks the most scuffed.

[Anonymous]

Not all hardwood is created equal. Choose the right type of wood for your home and you’ll be fine for DMV weather. Even so, I’d still put some sort of small area rug (and maybe a waterproof pad underneath) under the sink area where you rinse the dishes.

[Anonymous]

I have hardwood in my kitchen, and it's fine.

[Anonymous]

My hardwood looks like crap in my kitchen. Scuffed and water damage from ice cubes and drips of water from people cleaning their hands. I hate it.

We have refinished once and would have to do it every three years to keep it up. Don't do it.

[Anonymous]

Hardwood in my rowhouse kitchen has held up well for fifteen years for family of four.

[Anonymous]

We had hardwood in the kitchen and it was impossible to keep dry between dogs and kids. Replaced the kitchen only with LVP when we renovated and it's SO much better. It's a complementary pattern, not trying to be a perfect match, and we get compliments on it. And I'd still rather have fake wood than stress over maintenance and uneven wear. Good, well stained hardwood with older kids would likely be fine. But little kids and pets are just hard on floors.

[Anonymous]

Don’t do it. I have 1 year old white oak floors in my kitchen. They already have water damage and a hot pot fell off my counter and lefts a burn mark on the floor. We are getting tile quotes this week.

[Anonymous]

Solid hardwood all the way.
Put some rugs.

[Anonymous]

We have had hardwood in the kitchen for 15 years, and it's fine. It's even survived a dishwasher flood.

We have quartersawn oak finished with Street Shoe, a water-based poly that I don't love, but it has held up really well, and I don't dislike it enough to redo the floors.

Our front hall also has hardwood, not quartersawn, with oil-based poly, and it looks fine 25 years after we moved in.