The right vacuum with the right attachments can do the job. I would suggest investing in one especially if you have more hardwood in your home and its not just your kitchen. Good models from different price ranges that are designed with the right attachments to clean on hardwood are : BISSELL Zing Bagless / Eureka Mighty Mite / Dyson DC39 Multi Floor / Electrolux Sanitaire / Miele S2121 Capri / Miele S8990 UniQ. These models cost from 100$-1500$ so it is up to you and how much you want to invest in a new vacuum for your hardwood floor. Use the right attachments as well. Of course you can also just do what others suggested and simply not use a vacuum.

Adding to above comment: this is why Dyson told me a few weeks ago...for what it's worth? "Thank you for your inquiry. Yes, we do sell a separate attachment for hardwood floors. I have included a link for your reference showing the sale price of the soft roller cleaner-head assembly which is compatible with your V11 Animal. There is a slider knob on the front of the roller head that when opened allows air to enter and makes the roller head easier to push on carpet. https://www.dyson.com/support/journey/spare-details.966489-12.268893-01.html Have you experienced scratching of your floors? The design of the Torque eliminates the need for the soft roller-head, but if you prefer that tool because you are concerned about possible scratching, you are welcome to make that purchase using the link above. The cleaner head on the Dyson V11 Torque Drive vacuum features an integrated digital motor which spins the brush bar up to 60 times a second. It drives stiff nylon bristles deep into carpet to remove dirt, and carbon fiber filaments capture fine dust on hard floors. This vacuum also features three cleaning modes for a variety of household tasks, so you'll have the right balance of power and run time where you need it. The cleaner head will self-adjust to seal in suction no matter which flooring type you are vacuuming."

I just went through the same thing. But then I'm a rehabber and get my fixer uppers at foreclosure sales at half their final market value. Hand the contractor a copy of your photos, and then simply lock the contractor out of the house. Ignore any payment the contractor thinks they have coming. And start over. Document what's there. but it looks like you have plenty of pictures in hand in case the contractor has the gall to complain later formally or try to take credit for someone else's work. Moving on, the first thing you'll want to do is change your mindset to only contracting out a room or two at a time. If the contractor doesn't work out, there is less money involved. I've never seen a floor contractor who would or could show the work of his last job, especially with old rehab floor boards. I'm sure it is difficult since they often times got fired from their last job. It is true that a good contractor can take one look at your floor and assess it on sight. The problem is that you can't, and you can't tell a real contractor from a poser, and you can't believe anything that you are told by a poser. Next you'll need to assess a room of interest. You'll need to drum sand at 36 or 40 grit. A Home Depot $75/day drum sander will work fine. Always spread lowering the drum control over a 12" long rolling movement to prevent burning the floor, which is the term for a hard drum drop. An untrained millenial with that instruction could do it if you take away his cell phone for the day. You'll need the millenial for the day anyway to lift the sander. Subsequent sandings at higher grit numbers will follow. End with an orbital 12x18" sander finish buff at 100 grit starting with pencil marks on 5 separate occasions then twice with the 12x18" screen buff with use of a $1 carpenters pencil to scribble on every sq ft of sanded oak between every grit number. Any floor contractor could do it, but few will do it piecemeal. A 6" 60 grit disc on a Harbor Freight $130 Hercules Sander is used for edge sanding and to feather out any accidental drum drops which are simple to find after the first coat of stain is applied. Stay clear of professional edge sanders, which homeowners often times call the Tasmanian Devil. Stain and finish are applied wearing an FDA Approved air pressure mask fed by an air hose from a $500 HobbyAir machine plugged in outdoors. The proactive approach is more like feeling out the unstained floor with finger tips like Helen Keller or shining daylight or hallogen light on the bare sanded oak before staining to find any dips caused by hard drum drops. Using a flooring contractor, probably the best you could do would be an option to quit at $1 a sq/ft or two if the drum sanding doesn't yield accceptable results. If the floor gets too thin or the marks you wish to lose are too deep to sand out before making the floor too thin, then you have your answer, and you are ready for new wood. New wood doesn't cost much. I paid $3.20 sq/ft for the wood material plus self installation. Always pay more for longer boards in the mix. And your floor looks beat and pet or plant water stained half to death anyways. New red oak of dubious quality is widely available on Facebook for $1/sq ft in any sized quanity. You'd think you died and went to heaven if $1/sq ft new oak flooring in 2.5" width was installed in lieu of your existing flooring, moisture content, acclaimation time, and warpage aside...start really small. Dark stain like Minwax Jacobean, two or three coats, and a 15 minute wait time will cover almost anything in minimally acceptable fashion on really beat floors. Once you pull that thread in the sweater of rehab, the whole sweater often times unravels. Replacing wood flooring is not an all or nothing proposition. In one house with 1700 sq ft, I had 2 sq ft replaced in 4 different rooms, before final drum sanding. They can reweave in a repair for about $300 a spot and if the carpenter is good, you can't even tell. It is a refinish contractor who knows the good temp floor carpenters that do good spot repairs. In another house, I paid a demo contractor to remove all the existing boards and then nailed in 3286 sq ft of new red oak using a $160 floor cleat nailer from Harbor Freight, a $50 jig saw, and a $90 Porter Finish nailer from Harbor Freight, and a $160 air compressor from Harbor Freight, and a $110 10" framing saw from Home Depot. It took weekends for a couple of months. Cleats are about $10 a box at Harbor Freight. Any handyman with access to youtube videos can do the installation. The trick is hidden female-female join strips available over the counter from Lumber Liquidators for 50 cents /ft and special order nose pieces for $4/ft that have the 1/4 female grove for level drops like stairs. Works just like lego. Cleats only go in the male connection or tongue side. I hired an unsuspecting millenial handyman through Angi's List by asking for floor leveling and trained him using youtube videos to do the leveling, sanding, staining, and polyurethane paid one day at a time. Even that has to be limited to a room or two a day. Cost was less than half professional estimates and few flooring contractors will do anything without a contract for everything, and you never know which steps he can do well, and which he will fail at. In Chicago, a good flooring contractor has a cost of $1.5 sq ft., but they only like to work in the city limits. In Ohio, it's more like $10/sq ft for just the finish contractor even on simple unfinished new wood installation, which is what they all figure they are worth. You'd have to do a room complete yourself to qualify for project managing others, but then you'd be very capable for knowing when to fire someone. 90% of professional flooring installers fail at floor leveling or rather floor smoothing in older houses. After talking with the president of the NHWA, and the all of the most expensive flooring contractors in my area, it is obvious that I'm the most knowledgeable in leveling or smoothing out 20 year old big box Homes believed to have been built by the cheapest contractors in all the land. Don't allow removal of any wood strips or other underlayment pieces especially those glued or stapled in place under the existing flooring or you risk entering into the wonderland of the next level of skilled craftsman, the floor leveler who will offer to remove your floor boards to the rafters and install new underlayment plywood in lieu of leveling on top of your existing floor underlayment.

Your cleaner will be a pH neutral hardwood floor cleaner. Bruce, Armstrong, Bona, etc all make hardwood floor CLEANERS. Do NOT purchase the "polishes" or any product that promises to REVIVE or REJUVENATE your hardwood floors. These are to be avoided. They are polishes without the word "polish" in it's name. If you are concerned (while standing in the cleaning aisle) go ahead and read the back of the bottle. You are looking for the words "Does not leave a residue". That is the definition of a cleaner. You will want to use a microfibre mop. You will apply the cleaning solution to the MOP HEAD and then swish the mop around. The amount of cleaner is VERY SMALL. Here's how your cleaning routine *should look like: 1. Vacuum/sweep 2-3 times per week (turn off the beater bar if you use a vacuum...suction only) 2. WATER ONLY damp mop 1 per week (microfibre mop that is almost dry) 3. Use your cleaning product 1-2* per MONTH instead of the water-only damp mop I prefer to see the cleaner used 1/month...with the occasional 2nd application done after a particularly dirty month (like in winter or after a pool party). That means your cleaner will be used 12-18 times per YEAR! Yep. Per YEAR! The sweeping will be your biggest form of cleaning. The water-only damp mopping is the NORM...And when I say slightly damp...I mean JUST THAT. The amount of water in the mop will be so little that it will feel 'almost dry'. The only way you will 'feel' the water will be the fact that the mop will feel a little cooler than the air. That's it. That's how LITTLE water you need to care for a hardwood floor.