I'm probably a little late but here's my $.02 on wood floors in the kitchen. We just remodeled our kitchen including new wood floors, almost identical to what you're considering, but I would do it different next time. The wood floors look magnificent, but every time I wash veggies or do dishes I spill a little water on the floor. Whether it's justified or not I drop what I'm doing and mop up the spill. When we had tile in the kitchen I never even gave a few drops of water a second thought.