I would be wary of the vinyl planks as they can be slick, especially when wet. Scatter rugs on vinyl are exactly that...scattered around, slid somewhere you don't need them. We recently did a living room and hall with the vinyl flooring from Home Depot and the flooring is surprisingly slick, noticeably more than the oak floors in the dining room or the sheet vinyl in the kitchen. I normally wear soft soled shoes but had on a pair of boots with a harder sole and nearly fell on my rear just running into the room to grab something. I have solid rubber floor tile and also cork tile in my basement and I would pick either of them over vinyl for a kitchen. I do like the vinyl and will use it again just not in a kitchen.

The stain is just that...stain. The FINISH is the stuff sitting on top that gives it a sheen. Stain is always matte. Your finish looks to be a satin or a semi-gloss. It is *possible you can find a 'finish pen' (a small metal tube with a brush tip that is full of polyurethane/urethane) and give your finish a touch up. A flooring professional will have a 'job minimum' for a quick visit. That is to say they will charge you 4 hours of work for a 15 minute visit. If they bill out at $50/hr (a common hourly amount) and then charge you 4 hours for the visit. Go and visit a Home Depot, Rona, Lowe's etc and visit the flooring section. See if they have a finish pen in satin and semi-gloss. Purchase both of them. Try out the satin on the stain. Let it dry. See if the finish matches. If it doesn't then try the semi-gloss. Repeat the repair. If you botch it up completely you can always call the flooring company to repair the spot. At that point you will get a little bit more than a 15 minute visit....which makes it worth the while. As for dark wood floors...they are HE!! to live with. They always look dusty. They show the lighter wood if you have a large dent or a heavy scratch (that gets through to the wood). They are the least forgiving of all the wood colours. A natural wood colour (ie. no stain at all) or a medium toned floor (like mushroom brown) would have been the most forgiving wood floors you can imagine. And yes wood dents. A pot. A pan. A mug. All will dent wood if dropped from a standing position. It's what wood does. The dents are removed the next time you do a full sand and refinish (in 25 years from now). Other things crack/break. They need to be removed and repaired.

Hello, I don't know about the other flooring companies, but I have had dozens of people put in Preverco flooring and love it. I think it is one of the best companies out there for hardwood. They make a great product and provide great customer service

We used a Supercore product. Couldn't be happier! I think they have brought in new colors. Ours was from the Xtreme line with the 5G lock. Website here: weshipfloors.com