I have hard maple floors in the kitchen and had them coated with a high quality omu when new. We even used about 4 coats. I like the oil because it gives us the nice amber color that we like. Kitchen and mudroom area wears out very quickly. The area in front of the dishwasher lasts only several years because the water splashes get on the floor when loading the dishwasher and the water gets in the scratches. These areas wear to bear wood in only 4 years

My question is this. I have a friend in the automotive detailing industry and they apply a heavy plastic sheeting to the nose of expensive automobiles to protect the paint from inevitable rock chips. I was wondering if they made anything like this for high wear areas on wood floors. They are not areas where we can put an area rug as we already have rugs close at other areas. I was thinking a self sticking thick plastic sheeting. Does this exist. Just an idea.

Just another off the wall idea. Why couldnt I paint on a coat of boatbuilders epoxy. This would leave a thick protective coat. Why is this not done??

There is no floor finish tougher than polyurethane. However, there are many brands and different qualities of floor finishes. If you are referring to fiberglass epoxy resins, they have some "custom" floor finishes that are similar I used once many years ago. They scratched and were damaged just as easily, if not more so, than polyurethane. Floors are not boat hulls and cannot be treated the same. Floor boards need to expand and contract without the finish breaking and chipping away. Urethanes allow for this whereas epoxies do not. If you want the floor to show less scratches, consider having them recoated with either BONA Traffic in satin or Vermeister IDRO 2K in satin.