Yes. I've had real hardwood floor in the kitchen. I'd do it again in a heart beat. I'm not a slob but I don't get in panic mode if something drops on the floor. If the dog isn't already there, I call her.

I thought calling the dog was the only way to clean up kitchen floors! :)

Your house sounds like my house and there is no way I would put hardwood in the kitchen. Way too much water ends up on the floor from messy hubby's cooking, the dogs' water bowl, snow being tracked in mostly by the dogs and occasionally by us and so on. I know you said you didn't like resilient floors but that is what I am putting in. My pattern is a dark chocolate brown with cream in it in a paver style. I am waiting for my friend to install it. It has been sitting for 3 weeks in the hallway.
Another thought for you might be cork with the sealed edges.

I'm waiting to see other responses here, because they should apply to my question of "Can a neat person with messy pets have X,Y,Z floors?"

Water spills and tracking in snow and mud are the biggest reason I would say get a high quality sheet vinyl instead. I adore my hardwood and do have a big dog in the house (and I am also NOT a susie homemaker) but I do make sure spills are cleaned up. If water seeps in the joints, it can cause the hardwood to buckle. this is true with 99% of the laminate floors out there too. I keep a mat under the dog's food and water bowls too, to keep drips and splashing off the floor. And while I do have hardwood in my kitchen and really do love it, I am putting down a good sheet vinyl in my sunroom so dirty muddy paws can stay out there until they are no longer dirty and muddy. Vinyl is the floor I won't have to worry about.

Our house looks like kids live here, but they don't! It's me and our golden; DH is a neatnick. But then I am the one who cleans up the spills, puddles of drool and mud on the floor. I keep a thick wash cloth under each sink to drag under my foot when something spills while cooking that the dog doesn't get to first. Cotehele chases balls in the kitchen without putting scratches in the finish. The finish on our white oak floors looks just like it did when the last coat was put on in October. I'll fess up and tell you I've dusted and vacuumed the floor fairly often. Yesterday was the first time it has been washed since it was installed. It didn't look bad at all, but our first guests are coming tomorrow. With a little bit of care, wood floors are pretty tough.

We have kids and dogs. I've had vinyl, ceramic and hardwood floors in kitchens in different houses. Our new kitchen? Hardwood. Wouldn't choose anything else. It's a little 'forgiving' if you drop something (plate, glass), it doesn't show much dirt, and if it's sealed well, you don't worry about water spots. (I would certainly clean up spills and not let them sit, but a good poly on the floor should protect it.)

We had our new kitchen floor installed to match the old oak floors in the rest of the house. Had all old ones refinished, as they hadn't been redone since the house was built over 50 years ago.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE my hardwood floors. I did NOT care for the ceramic tile (too cold, hard, and the grout was impossible to keep looking clean!)

Just my opinion.
Suzi

i am a total slob and have had wood in 2 kitchens and will do it again this time around. first kitchen and future kitchen will have pre-finished because of budge issues. not the best for a total slob in terms of all the grooves but the finish is hardcore.

in my last kitchen we had varying width rustic oak and it looked HOT! here's the secret...do a water based finish and apply a product called street shoe:

http://www.onlinefloorstore.com/manufacturer/Basic-Coatings/StreetShoe-Waterbased-Floor-Finish

this stuff is serious. it is what is used on gym floors. don't worry, it comes in satin finish. make sure you get someone who is a floor person and knows what they are doing to apply it. it is not the same as polyurethane. this is a good thing. won;t yellow your floor.

nothing feels as good under the feet as wood. plus, it is great for clumsy people because your broken glass ratio will decrease drastically.

Here is a link that might be useful: not a useful link...just my blog

Yes. I have had it in two kitchens and wouldn't have anything else. I don't let water sit, but normal damp feet of dogs and people, minor spills, doghair tumbleweeds, etc., are no problem. It also doesn't show dirt and spots like other flooring. Make sure it has good poly finish renewed every few years and live on it!

Yes you can! Messy humans and messy dogs do not preclude installing wood flooring in the kitchen, although with big dogs I would not install engineered wood flooring.

After 20 years, we are refinishing our white oak flooring (kitchen and family room) for the first time, along with remodeling our kitchen. The floor was abused by 4 kids, three golden retrievers, and one goldendoodle and still looked OK. We do leave our shoes at the door.

Maintenance consists of a periodic damp mopping and wood flooring is much easier on the joints and feet. We have tile in the kitchen at our cabin and I find it very uncomfortable to stand on for extended periods of time. An added bonus with oak: golden retriever fur blends in if you choose a compatible stain.

Good luck with your decision.

Sarah

Our house had maple floors when we moved in. It's 100 years old and was part of a dairy farm for most of its history. The main entry opened right to the kitchen. I've never worried about snow or wetness hurting the floor but the thing that seems to affect it the most is mud (mud season can be around for months in our part of New England)---the grit will wear away the finish. I don't mind living with floors that look worn so the upkeep isn't bad for us. The finish was nearly totally worn away before we did our renovation. The floors were lightly sanded and polyurethaned during the reno and they look great. We had 2 kids and a German Shepherd and various dogs that stayed with us for months at a time and I never felt that I had to be careful about the floor. My sink is behind me when I prep and things often drip on the 6 feet of floor between the two. I wipe up puddles but don't worry about drips---but puddles would have to be wiped up no matter what floor is down since they are a safety hazard in the kitchen. I am definitely not neat--never have been and am at the point of resigning myself to the fact that I never will be.

We did make the mudroom more usable during the kitchen reno 5 years ago and removed the kitchen exterior door so that most mud and snow isn't tracked into the kitchen anymore.

I love wood in the kitchen. We put oak floors into our apt kitchen before we moved to this house and I think the wood throughout the house (except tile in the bathrooms and in our new mudroom) is what immediately sold dh and me on this house 20+ years ago. If you want a pristine finish you'll probably need to screen and finish the floor every several years---especially in places of most use. We live in an area where a certain amount of wear and tear is expected and perfection is out of place.

I guess after living with wood in our kitchens for 25 years I've decided our floors are pretty indestructible to everyday use. They can look pretty shabby if not kept up but it's a cosmetic thing. I haven't seen any permanent damage done to our floors. I'm knocking on wood because we've never had a major flood or water leak. I imagine large amounts of standing water would ruin the floor (although I know dh would insist that we let the floor dry out completely with the aid of heaters and see if we could get the boards to relax back into place.)

The kitchen is between the mudroom and the rest of the house. Dh and I both work from home and the floor gets a lot of traffic. I put some runners down along the main path to help reduce the wear and tear.

I'm definitely not a flooring expert but I do know what we've experienced and I've never felt like I needed to be careful with our floors. I can't imagine the dairy farmers living here before us were all that careful either. I wouldn't want tile--dh has a bad back and standing on concrete most of the day has made it worse. My back gets pretty tired while I'm working in the kitchen and I think a hard surface would make it worse.

Yes - I've found it actually hides dirt well. Water is hard on wood floors though so if you don't wipe up water slops your floors will not hold up well long term. I know because I have cats who have slopped water on my wood floors for many years and in spite of my best efforts to protect the floor it's taken a toll in the cat dish area. That said I switched from wood to tile when I remodeled my kitchen. After four years of tile I still prefer it over wood - but I don't have any problems standing on tile floors - so far I haven't noticed any difference compared with wood.

Yes, without a doubt. I find it to be even easier than other type floors. I say go for it!!

Love my hardwood floors -- it's my favorite thing about my kitchen, until we finish our renovation! We've had them 15 years in the kitchen and LR, 12 in the addition, never refinished anywhere. The kitchen finish is worn and will be redone soon, with the reno, but the rest looks good enough for me. We have cats (will be getting a dog sometime) and there are scratches all over the place from pets and kids and life, but with our lifestyle, nothing would stay beautiful, and at least these can look good even with the wear and tear.

Absolutely! Our family has a flooring business, and we put wood in kitchens often. I currently have tile in mine, which I HATE because of the grout. The rest of my house is hardwood. I will be doing hardwood in my next kitchen.

I live with a mastiff who slops water all over the place, and a "helpful" 17 month old, not to mention my messy self. My wood has help up wonderfully, and like someone else said, it actually does a good job of hiding messes.

~ mastiff mama

Another vote for hardwood, with these comments.

1) Make sure they're real, solid hardwood. I'm sure that's what you're talking about but just want to be sure... The engineered stuff is much more susceptible to water damage and delamination if water gets in the cracks.

2) I've had hardwood floors in the kitchens of my last two houses and LOVE them for all the reasons above. We're also not neatniks at all. I do think, for us, the bigger culprit is grit, which will degrade your finish a lot quicker if you don't sweep every day (which we certainly do not!) Water, spills: we'll wipe up any large ones, but small ones (like a bit of snow from shoes, or drips from wet dishes) don't get bothered with.

3) Finish: we have a pretty matte finish, not glossy. It doesn't show nicks and scratches as badly. We fully expect to be doing a screen-and-recoat in about 3 years, in the kitchen, hall, and any other high-traffic areas. Its DEFINITELY worth it, in my opinion, to have the beauty, warmth, and comfort of hardwood floors!

We have two big, doofus dogs, a kid, live on a lake in the boonies in Northern NY (long mud season, snow, rain, sand, grit, etc.), are *not* clean freaks and have white oak in our EIK and entry area. I agree with the other posters that hardwood holds up beautifully, and believe me when I say that neither mr. sandyponder nor I enjoy cleaning, so we don't do it a lot. I will disagree about the poly finishes, one reason I think our floors have held up well is that they are not finished with poly, they were stained and oiled with a product called Bush Oil. It took 4 coats, but the surface doesn't really scratch, just wears a little, and we like patina, so it works for us. In the spring (after mud season!) we're going to sand and re-oil, and I expect the floors to again look like new in most places.

Good luck-

sandyponder

Absolutely NOT. A messy person can never ever, ever, have
a wood floor.

They must only have a gray cement floor.

Okay I am being sarcastic. I can not help myself I am
still laughing from NYE. happy new year...
Pardon me my dear, I digress. Messy people should only
have gray dirt colored cement floors with drains lowerd
slightly in the center so the water can wash away the
dirt. And they can have a hose attached to the wall to
keep the rooms clean. The water washes away all the mess.

No furniture, no tables, no chairs, no dishes (that is too
messy), no lights because lights get dusty, no windows
because windows need cleaning, beds? Never, they need
fresh linens that get dirty....

Let me review the question? Can a messy person have a wood
floor ? No never.

I would know this. Because I have wood floors on my entire
first floor. Yes, I am always clean. Never dirty.
Because I am perfectly clean, I never have tiny micro dust
bunnies under my kitchen stools, I never have dog hair from
my boxer dogs or their kennel mates or the relative dogs
that pop in to visit, I never have bits of playdo, candy,
cookie crumbs, trails of snow shoe puddles, crayon
shavings, barbie doll hair, water, soda, sugar, flour,
sparkles, glitter, cut pieces of paper, spilled salt,
Christmas tree needles, dirt from the driveway or boots,
chips of unidentified items about my floors....

Never, never do I have dust, ashes, cinders, dirt, earth
filth, flakes, fragments, gilings, granules, grime, grit,
ground, lint, loess, powder, refuse, sand, smut, soil,
soot,pencil shavings... I live in a bubble of perfection.

~boxerpups

Please know I am being silly, sometimes humor does
not come across in print but please know I am trying to
be silly. I am truly a messy lived in kind of lady.
I am not clean and I have wood floors. Thank God, because
wood hides the dirt. I love my wood floor and my messy
family so much, I want to put wood floors in all the
bedrooms because it really is easier to keep clean. And
I have had tile and carpet. Toss the carpet put in
wood.
~boxerpups the real me not clean at all.

Sandyponder,

Can you post a picture of your floors with the Bush Oil finish? We will have ours refinished with our new kitchen. I hate the idea of the chemicals of the poly finish since we have to live in the house and have a baby. The other floors will probably also be refinished in the near future but not at the same time as the kitchen. How do you clean them (mop, I mean).

(I don't mean to hijack but this seems relevant to the original question.)

Lol boxerpups!!! I feel like I'm gazing into one of my dust pans :)

I have beautiful cherry floors that have gotten very scratched by my dog's nails. I find it to be stressful to watch them deteriorate. I love them, but have to keep my dogs out with a gate as it causes me too much stress. Some people are fine with scratches on their wood. It bugs me.

Boy, what a slob, Boxerpups! Just kidding. I'm glad to hear that wood floors hold up against most normal wear and tear. My biggest concern was based on the fact I used to paper train my dog. I had a beagle that used to pee in his crate. I worked long hours so the best solution was to put down newspapers for him. Unfortunately, he dictated where he wanted to use the bathroom, so sometimes the papers ended up on wood floors. I was living in apartments, so I have no idea how well the floors were polyeurothaned. Let's just say that the floors clearly needed to be refinished once we moved out. As an aside, tile cleans up just beautifully!! I no longer have the same issue as we now live in a house with a fenced in yard. My beagle sadly passed away but we now have a golden retriever with an iron bladder. No messes in the house, but the lattice work under my deck has been ripped to shreds - she apparently likes some shade! :)

jsweenc-

Here are a few pics of various surfaces finished with Bush Oil, our stairs, kitchen floor, porch floor and kitchen counters are all oiled (some are also stained).

It's an easy DIY application, though not cheap, it's no more expensive than poly.

Good luck-

sandyponder

Kitchen (bad pic, sorry):

Porch (ceiling and floor are lyptus):

Cherry stairs (railings are salvaged, treads and risers are new):

Sink area (reclaimed bowling alley stained, Bush Oiled and finished with Epifanes, a marine sealer):