My oak floors are 25 years old and look great. I wipe up spills, spot clean, and not much else. I was once cautioned against using Bona products because they eventually leave a dull film, so I do not use them. Kitchen chairs have those felt pad bottoms. I have pets with nails, and had kids at home (now grown). About 12 years ago, I had the oak refinished, as it was time, and I don’t plan to refinish again now that the kids are gone.

I do not worry about the floors, or give them much thought. We are a no-shoes-inside house, though that is not because of the wood floors, but that has probably helped in keeping the floors looking good.

I like oak floors better than any other kind of floor for a kitchen, especially tile (cold climate here). Just MHO.

Until the finish has fully cured (usually 30 days for 3 coats of oil based finish) you will want to be quick with spills. A few minutes isn't going to make a big difference....but several hours (ie. until the water evaporates) is not good for an uncured finish.

And to be clear, it isn't the WOOD that has issues with water sitting, it is the UNCURED FINISH that gets upset. It can discolour. This also includes a cleaning routine. You want to keep the damp cleaning to a minimum (and leave the chemicals on the shelf for now) until full cure.

So be careful until the full cure has been achieved and then go ahead and relax. Live your life and let the polyurethane take care of the wood. Your job protecting the FINISH is over.

Once they are cured, you won't have to baby them at all. I have wood with oil based poly even in the bathroom and sometimes water drops end up not getting wiped up at all (I only know that because I'll see a dried spot where water obviously evaporated and left a bit of mineral haze. I just wipe those spots with a damp rag and it looks like new.

I even have had a cat pee where I didn't see it right away in the bedroom and even that did not penetrate or affect the finish - cleaned right up with a damp rag and some white vinegar and water. So it's pretty impervious to most everything.

Mainenell - that would be with any type of floor. I once had a flood in an apartment with wood floors in the living room and tile in the kitchen. The flood was from a storm, not from plumbing or appliance issues. The amount of water wasn't that much, but there was a film of water all over that sat for hours. The tile floor underlayment got soaked, and the tile buckled, and that tile floor had to be replaced. But the wood floor eventually dried out and levelled out, and was fine.