Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - Prefinished hardwood in kitchen?

Is it a mistake to install the prefinished solid hardwood, as opposed to install, then finish. It's my understanding that prefinished hardwood has a more scratch-resistant finish than onsite finishing, and is easier to install. I would be buying a high quality (24-year finish warranty). But, will it be quite easily water-damaged? BTW, this is not a new house. Thanks for any input.

I personally stay away from prefinished because it can be difficult to get a uniform finish and most of all because dirt and liquids can get in between planks. In the case of a kitchen I would definitely prefer finish in place. My 2 cts.

"stay away from prefinished because it can be difficult to get a uniform finish." You will most definitely get a uniform finish with prefinished hardwood flooring. Yes, most scratch resistant than onsite finishes due to additives to finish like alumininum oxide. Dirt & liquids between boards. Most homeowners do not have these issues, because they know how to care and maintain hardwood floors.

We just had prefinished installed through our house including the kitchen and just today, someone was saying how warm everything looked. We love them! I was worried about putting it in the kitchen but am so glad I did. We just have a rug at the counter at the sink and dishwasher and also one by the fridge because the crushed ice dispenser sometimes goes wild. You can not get the floors wet so simple precautions like that have made it easy.

We also heard about dirt collecting in the cracks and chose a "microbevel" in hopes to avoid that problem but honestly, it is so easy to keep clean by a simple sweep or mopping with a microfiber mop everyday. It takes no time at all, waaaay less than the wet mop with our old kitchen floor and I tried everything including the swiffer.

I will say though that the floors, even with the aluminum oxide finish, do dent and ding very easily. If you are loading the dishwasher and drop a fork, it dents, another reason for the strategic placement of accent rugs. The other thing we are doing that helps is making everyone take off their shoes, especially important because we live at the beach. Our "rich" friends had finish in place, top of the line hardwood installed at an incredibly expensive cost and the installer told them they could roller skate on the floors! I don't know if that is true but l just dropped a quarter and it made a dent : (

"I will say though that the floors, even with the aluminum oxide finish, do dent and ding very easily" Some wood species are softer than others prone to dings and dents, and it has nothing to do with floor finish.

So which woods would be the best choice for the average home? We picked white oak because it was supposed to be hard and our friends had pine and it is so much softer that their floors almost look like the high end "hand scraped" ones after just one year. If mine look like that in just a year, I would be bummed! I guess you get what you can afford though because the woods that were highest on the hardness scale were also the most expensive. What would you recommend, twelvepole?

By the way, thanks so much for your replies! You are just a fountain of knowlege and I enjoy reading all of your old posts. I have learned so much here!

Thanks to all for your help! I plan on buying Click Seal, which I read about in this forum. I think it will help seal the grooves. I asked about it in another thread, but haven't had any replies as yet. BTW, exotic hardwoods are usually much harder than oak. BR111 hardwood company has an indicator given with each of its woods, comparing them to oak.

So wishkc, are you going to install prefinished solid hardwood floors and then put the click seal over that? I am interested because anything that will help protect my new floors would be great! I looked on line and all I saw under click seal was a tube of stuff like silicone caulk? That can't be it so can you give me a link, instructions...or link to previous discussion here? Thanks! I know you will love you new floors, good luck!

Here is the link for ClickSeal: http://www.cal-flor.com/html/products/clickseal2.htm
You apply it to the joints as you're installing it.