As a family we have been very hard on surfaces. One approach is to pick surfaces that are "distressed" to begin with. Buy a vintage cast iron sink that already has chips that you love...and know that you can live with the chips and you won't have PTSD when the next chip happens. Get recycled wood flooring and get it finished but know that they never were "perfect" in your home. Another approach is to get materials that get a beautiful patina as they age. I would include marble, stainless, zinc, limestone, soapstone, counters, site-finished wood floors, etc. in that category. For finishes that *stay* perfect - I have seen many polished granite counters that look perfect after many years of use...I've chosen that for my kitchen. My ceramic floor tiles were in great condition after 12 years. Cabinet doors with complicated moldings can get damaged because they are hard to clean - using tools to get into crevices, etc. can damage the finish. That's why I'm doing slab fronts this time. Pulls should be large enough to not require "scrabbling" with fingers/nails to use - that causes wear on cabinet fronts. Panels used to hide cabinet boxes should be made of the identical material as the fronts, or they will age differently - that happened in my former kitchen and it really looked awful. Cabinet hardware is pretty important. I adore the Blum hardware that comes with my new IKEA cabinets. I prefer heat resistant counters so I wouldn't do quartz or corian, but Trebuchet makes a good point that at least corian can be refinished. I have seen corian age nicely in our local public library - the checkout counters. A different issue is looks. Painted vs wood cabinets go in and out trend-wise. There have been times when painted cabinets have looked dated. Right now they look fresh and as you say they can easily be refreshed. Factory painted or finished cabinet doors are NOT simple to re-paint - do-able but a big job. My sister paid $1000 to have her wood cabinets painted white by a professional in a smallish kitchen. DIY is a major job to do properly, and a misery with complicated door styles. Frameless cabinets are MUCH easier to freshen - you only have to refinish or replace the fronts rather than dealing with the boxes as well. Tiles do seem to look dated after a decade - I don't think it's realistic to do "timeless" in tile. Stone floors may stand the test of time if not "on trend" when installed. I believe that lower quality engineered wood and laminates will look dated pretty quickly.

.Minwax owns Duraseal, Duraseal is easier to apply so we ususally use it unless we can't get it, I cannot say that (if done properly) there has been much difference other than the ease of applying duraseal (and you can thank the EPA for these finishes becoming harder to apply over the years...and more expensive). I'm 60, over the years I really don't recall much of a difference other than that. I did talk to their chemistry department years and years ago,..(to find out the difference between their duraseal vs. minwax), after that call I realized that in the end, there was probably a minimal difference ..other than duraseal is much easier to use. As far as duraseal being a lot more expensive than minwax ...My cost on Duraseal is really not much more than minwax (actually, I haven't used minwax for a long time,..so I cannot say that is still the case today). Waterborne finishes are quite expensive, and in my opinion,..not better in most cases. They rarely yellow much, if at all. The only times we have gone with waterborne is because the wood is bleached, whitewashed, or otherwise very light and we do not want to darken or amber it with an oil based finish. If you really want to go with the best finish,. have them use a conversion varnish,..Sherwin Williams makes conversion varnish, but I highly doubt they make one suitable for floors. You will most probably have to go with "Glitsa" if you want conversion varnish. If your flooring guy is not aware of Glitsa, he is NOT a seasoned professional. To me it smells a bit like lacquer. Conversion varnish is oil base,. and also has the property that it does not yellow much over time. It stays looking the same (more than other oil based finishes). If they use glitsa in your house, they will probably want you to to stay at your mother-in-laws for a day or two. So be forewarned.

Or jack out the tiles. Once they are gone they are gone for good. If you cover them up, you will always have to deal with the tile. Check floor heights and door clearances before you purchase any type of flooring.

Thank you @Mary Elizabeth that is very helpful in filtering out a bunch of options. i never realized how confusing the world of “leather” is as ive done all of my prior research snd purchasing w performance fabrics. for a newbie, all of the leather types are overwhelming and they never state caring for it. i definately dont have time (or im just not organized enough) to treat the leather.