I've had both. And while a factory finish is "superior". I agree with Daisychain. I had a 1910 vintage home and the site finish looked more authentic. There's something plasticky about pre-finished flooring in an old home. I did a pre-finished in my current home and I regret it.

If your home is newer, it's up to you. I've had lots of happy customers with both. But for me and my old homes, I like site finished better!

I won't even consider hardwood floors that aren't site finished. To me, it is very, very obvious when I walk into a house whether floors were site finished or prefinished and I do not like the prefinished look at all.

I'm living in a 1935 house now that still has the original hardwoods in the bedrooms, stains and marks and all and I find them beautiful. You can't convince me that would be true of prefinished floors.

And I've had site finished hardwoods in my kitchen for more than 10 years and never had an issue.

I agree with the plastic feeling. We have site finished. If I had to do it again I would go with the tile wood look just for durability, it has come a long way. My mom has an entire room in her showroom just for those.

DH wanted engineered hardwood in our first floor remodel, including kitchen; I wanted site-finished. We opted for site-finished for all of the previous reasons plus the fact that they can (if needed) be refinished many, many times.

I would vote for pre-finished.

I had site-finished walnut for 5 years at my last house. There were scratches everywhere from the dog and we had to have the floors re-finished before selling.

We have oil finish at a lake house. While I love this look, had we known the maintenance involved with re-oiling on an annual basis, we would not have chosen these floors.

We have pre-finished in our current house (going on 2 years, same floors my parents have had in their great room for over 10 years) and they still look brand new. Our finish is relatively matte and I don't think they look like plastic at all.

Good luck!

I'm pretty sure both are fine. Just pick whatever you think looks nicest.

Prefinished is going to be a more pleasant installation as well as faster. Site finished requires a more skilled installer--you don't want your GC doing that.

I have site finished, mostly ~60 years old with a few 2 year-old patches after a remodel. If I had been starting from scratch, I probably would not have had a preference (except I don't think you can do the nifty border patterns as well with prefinished).

Engineered is another subject altogether. I wouldn't want that.

Is my concern about crumbs, dirt, etc in the plank seams an issue with a pre-finished floor?

I have a good friend who owns a small hardwood flooring mill. He manufacturer both, and swears a factory finish is superior and that new manufacturing techniques are vastly improved. I think if you go with a non-shiny finish -- and a slightly wider board -- it is hard to tell the difference. That said, an old, original floor with patina can never be mistaken for anything else.

I currently have a prefinished wood floor in my kitchen, and am switching to site finished in my remodel, in order to match the wood in the rest of the house. After I decided to do that, my contractor pointed out that I would no longer have to worry about crumbs, dirt, etc getting stuck between the planks. I was really happy to know that, it was something that I hadn't thought of. The downside of site finished, as I discovered when I had the hardwood floors refinished in the rest of my house is the fumes. We had to move out of the house for several days when they were doing the work. Hopefully it won't be necessary this time because it's only the kitchen. As far as the sustainability of kitchen wood floors, I've had mine for over 15 yrs and it looks really great. I love it because it is less hard on the legs/back when standing cooking/baking for long periods. Also dropping something on it does not have to lead to the item breaking, another benefit.

Is my concern about crumbs, dirt, etc in the plank seams an issue with a pre-finished floor?

I don't have this issue, but do have a Roomba that runs every day :)

I think they both have their pros and cons, so you may as well go with the look you love.

i am worried about the likelihood of slight unevenness from plank to plank; I think that will bother me. I can live with the look of either one. I know the amount of unevenness (called lippage in tile?) will depend on the skills of the installers to a great extent but understand that it is impossible to avoid with a 35 year-old house. Does that bother anyone in real life?

I have site finished on the main level and prefinished upstairs. I did prefinished upstairs because there was no way I could get all the furniture downstairs.

The prefinished surface is harder, but I like the main level look better. It has that old fashioned hardwood floor look. The main level is natural oak and while it has more scratches (it is an older floor) the natural hides scratches and wear more. The upstairs is not that old and is gunstock oak - a bit darker and doesn't scratch as easily, but shows scratches more. Prefinished solid hardwood can be refinished but it is usually a little more expensive because they have to use more sandpaper and a heavier grit - longer process to remove the finish.