This is looking into the dining room

I agree, but even if Hubs would agree to wood, it wouldn’t match. We installed pre-finished hardwood, and it abuts the kitchen on 2 sides. For a kitchen we would need to install the floor first and then sand and finish it so it is water tight. We are not about to refinish all the rest of the floors in the house so it would match. We are total DIYers (very perfectionist professional grade) and in our 70’s.

Stone-look luxury vinyl plank is DIY friendly.

i know you are just asking about flooring, but do you have any wants and needs already figured out? are you keeping the same footprint? what is beyond the door next to the back door? are you keeping an eat in banquet? vinyls have come a long way, tile is nice, I'm with your husband on not having hardwood in the kitchen. I would remove the soffit, replace the countertop, maybe think of more cabinets instead of an eat in kitchen. remove wall partially into dining room to give you counter seating and an actual Bar area for you liquor. my new home has a breakfast area and a separate dining room an I wish it were only one larger space. we never use the dining room. my kitchen is basically 2 Ls. excuse the mess we were still moving in

it works well for us. move the refrigerator to the banquet wall for pantry similar to this photo without an island since you don't have the width

The Great Spaces! Kitchen · More Info

We are actually removing several walls and refuguring the whole space. The big question is the floor. We use the formal dining room a lot and also eat in the kitchen. As for the bar, we have a large formal bar elsewhere in the house. What you see is the “leftovers” from a deck party.

Sheet vinyl is still around and if you find a pattern you like, why not use that again? It is waterproof, economical all around, gentle on the joints, and easy to clean. The limitation is that the rolls are no more than 12 feet wide, so depending on the dimensions of your space it might not work well since you probably do not want a seam in your kitchen. The popular option for vinyl floors these days is the LVT (click tiles), despite its high price. If you don't want the fake wood look (which I wouldn't recommend next to your real hardwood floors), you will find limited choices in LVT, with some patterns that imitate stone or ceramic tile.

I would vote for LVT. It is harder to find non-wood styles, they exist but it seems like only 10-20% of the options are not wood lookalikes. We put it in our kitchen and guest bath, I love that it is waterproof. It also feels really clean after it is vacuumed.

I think some kind of stone or porcelean tile if you can do it without a transition. Something in a tone that blends with your wood or maybe a soft dove gray. If you have more of the existing hardwood you could use it to frame the kitchen and then tile in the frame or you could use the wood in a design to pull it all together like this.

Century Home Kitchen - University City, MO · More Info

I second the vote for cork. It's a natural product, goes well next to wood and some can be refinished.

I thought cork wasn't supposed to be good for water splashing places like kitchens and baths?

Good friends have had narrow cork plank in their kitchen for about 20 years. They cook a lot and adopt greyhounds.

Splashing is no problem, assuming you don't leave it wet. Everything has pros and cons. Here's a pretty fair sounding article: https://www.thespruce.com/cork-flooring-pros-and-cons-1314688

I second the vote for a stone-look vinyl (LVT) or SPC.

Your sheet vinyl looks similar to what I had in my old kitchen. I really was not sure what I wanted until I got everything "redone" - I left the decision on the floor until I was done with everything else.

This is before I finished painting the island, but you can see the flooring better here.

I had a customer in Palm Beach for whom we replaced a floor of 6" x 6" cork squares in a bathroom that were about 50 years old, laid over wood subfloor. We bought 12" x 12" tiles, cut to 6" x 6" and installed. Haven't had a complaint. We've done some of the floating 1' x 3' panels but I think many of them don't recommend in a kitchen. I'm thinking more of the classic cork tiles and sold by companies like Expanko and APC. I have slate in my kitchen now but if it fails I intend to do a three color checkerboard of 12" cork tiles.