We are finishing new red oak floor in the new kitchen and family room and refinishing old red oak floor in living and dining rooms. We have two kids, a cat, possibly a dog in the future, kids' friends coming over etc. We also want to use a medium color stain.

We need a very durable finish, tough enough for the kitchen which all of us use a lot, shouldn't show every scratch etc. It should be easy to touch up or update every now and then without having to move out of the house for a week.

But I don't want to compromise on the looks either, it shouldn't look artificial or look like it has a film on it.

I am one of those people who research everything to the n-th degree before making a decision. For some reason, the more I read about the floor finishes the more confusing it gets. From reading online (including this forum), it sounds like waterbased is the way to go (Traffic, Duraseal, Streetshoe etc) But when I talk to either my contractor or the local flooring people, they all say oil-based is much better.

Here is the information I got so far:

Durability:

- Online: two-step waterbased finishes are as durable

or better than oil-based

- Contractors: Oil-based poly is the most durable

finish I can get. Even the best waterbased finish

will not be durable, they know because they are

constantly called to redo those floors

Appearance:

- Some online sources: waterbased finish provides great appearance. Oil-based finish yellows overtime

- Some other online sources: waterbased finish will result in a whitish cloudy look overtime, oil finish is more "clear"

- Contractors - some say oil-based looks better and some say waterbased looks better

I would go with oil-based since this is what the refinishers are more comfortable with but I am afraid it would release the fumes for a long time (our friends used it and they say the house smelled for months afterwards), would yellow overtime and we'd have to move out every time we need a touch up.

I'd love to hear what the experienced people here think. Is there a waterbased product that we can request with total confidence that we will not need the floors refinished after a couple of years? If it exists, how many coats would work best? What is the maintenance to keep it looking great? How many years is it expected to last? Can it be refreshed without moving the furniture out?

Thanks in advance

annab