Oiled versus lacquered floor in kichen

[aimum]

I'm in the middle of renovating kitchen/diner and have decided to use engineered oak flooring. However I keep getting mixed reports about whether to get oiled or lacquered. I have samples of both and i prefer the look of the oiled (but not brushed) and it seems to be better at withstanding scratches. However i have heard that lacquered is better in a kitchen. Does anyone have any advice?

I prefer the look and feel of oiled but some think that it will stain easily and also get scruffy quickly. I was told that the UV oiled ones shouldn't have these issues but in the end I got the matt lacquered.

Just put it down and it looks great. Almost went for good quality laminate for durability but couldn't resist a bit of real wood.

I went for oiled. If a bit/patch need resanding I can do it and reoil that patch...you cannot do that with lacquered - it is more like nail varnish IYSWIM it need a professional to fix it.

Living with mine for 3 weeks now. I love it. Already a few scratches, but to me that is the charm of the real stuff. We have sander original floorboards in our bedroom. A bit beaten up, got filled in gaps...beautiful to me. So I think you have to go into it knowing it will not stay as "perfect" as the fake stuff. Get samples ,test them for "toughness", see what you like the best and work out if you would be happy with the wear element.

Thanks for your replies. I don't mind it being a bit scuffed and expect things to be dropped so I know we will get dints so from that respect I'm happy with oiled. Where did you both buy your flooring from. I'm tempted by the online places, they're much cheaper and we have a floor fitter. I think I'm going to try and phone some up today and get their advice and see if I can get a few more than 3 samples to compare.

Have oiled engineered in kitchen diner. It's been down 16months now. It still looks fab and new. Easy to clean and keep clean.

And I have two DC aged 3.5 and 18 months who both do their best to wreck the house and they have not managed yet.

Mine is a rustic oiled 180mm wide board. Whether the rustic ones hide marks better I don't know but it certainly still looks amazing.

I got smoked oak from ukflooringdirect.co.uk - great product, service OK - just a warning though - they only deliver to kerbside - so I was lucky I had a houseful of builders on site to move the palletful of wood from the end of my drive into the house.

Hi there, I had the same dilemma last year. I definitely didn't want lacquered as the sun shining on it shows up every mark in my kitchen. I went for unfinished engineered oak and finished it with osmo Matt oil. A year on and it still looks fab