The best practice for installing solid wood flooring in a kitchen is to have the floor installed and sanded and finished with all but a final coat of varnish before cabinets. The sanding will achieve a flatter more uniform surface without the impediments in the way. This is even more relevant if you have furniture legs on any of the cabinets.
You could substitute plywood under appliances if the wood is a costly one, like reclaimed heart pine or similar. I did so in my old house because I barely had enough old flooring to cover the open part of the floor, and I was worried about the heavy range digging in. I think with white oak, you're safe on that account.
My monogram range came with pieces of 1/8" hardboard (masonite) to place beneath the legs so the range (it's like 400 lbs.) could be pulled out easily; the installation kit also included a small sheet of hardboard to place on the floor in front of it when sliding it in and out; the strips under the feet stay permanently. I applied wax to them to further ease the install.
I ran wood flooring under the fridge and DW though.
Once the construction is over, the last step is a cleaning, screening and a final coat of finish. Of course, the tradesmen need to be careful, and the floor should be protected in the interim with a product like Ramboard or masonite sheets carefully fitted and seams taped to exclude grit.
HTH
Casey

We got advice from an old hand recently. He says to install entire oak floor but at first just sand the area that will be under and near the cupboards. THEN install cupboards and appliances, then finish the floor.

Also, got rather startling advice to hold off on the installation of about 2 feet of new floor tile in the place where porcelain tile and wood will meet -- until after the oak is installed. Modern wood floor installation really puts a lot of force into that floor and if the tile abuts it, it can harm the tile floor.
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When we bought our oak materials, we got the advice to buy sufficient to run underneath all the cupboards in the room. This allows more flexibility in future and makes the laying go faster.

We just finished our red oak floors (no stain, just poly) in our kitchen/DR.
We laid the floors before any cabinets were down in the entire space even under the range. then we installed cabinets & appliances. when we were ready to sand & poly the floors we moved out the range/DW/Fridge to another room for a week and sanded & polyed under each of them. I also removed the lower cabinet doors to allow more room to sand the toe kick (standard overlay doors on frameless). I learned from past experience to finish the floors last, you don't want tools/things falling to ding up the finish.

I will note that this time we used varathane water based poly (gloss) and even keeping things & people off it for a week, the dogs have already scratched the finish. we used miniwax previously and had absolutely no scratches after 4 years. guess I shouldn't have messed with something that worked. oh well :)

stacys:

willing to take a photo? Am approaching final choice for finish for red oak floor also.

What was minwax finish on former floor if it was not polyurethane?

sombreuil: thanks for your advice. Heard the same thing from a younger "old hand" but the older guy trumped him in my DH's estimation.

ten years after above posting...We have a fully wood-floor bumpout kitchen abutting a tiled front entry. The kitchen floor is generally what DH had in mind when he insisted on having it, to match the existing dining room and hall oak floors adjacent to kitchen. I do wish I'd not lost one battle, though--the old corridor kitchen between the bump and the old house is now a walkpath with seating area along a peninsula of new kitchen. I had wanted to extend the tile all the way to entrance to dining room. I still wish I'd won that battle. Because it is walkpath and because sitters at peninsula stools knock grains of dirt off their shoes when resting shoes on stools legs, the am't of grit falling onto the wood floor in that area is huge. Unless there is a throw rug there to catch the dirt, the floor always looks dirty. The indents in the oak grain hold darkish colored particles that requires strong brush to dislodge when we wash the floor. I have to replace felt pads on bottom of stool legs frequently--without them, the grit will etch the floor. Yes, I know that the grit should be trapped in the entry before approaching kitchen, but we are real people, not story book ones. As for wood floor under the stove, it's still there.

A hint--sort your oak pieces before laying floor so that the most "clownish" patterned ones or flawed ones are under your stove, refrig, and cabinets and on floor of closets. DH thought he had measured correctly but was a foot off in one place, so I have some clowns along walkpath and some of the best pieces under the peninsula. So it goes. Ten years later, I have bigger worries than this.