Hi, first timer here.

My wife and I are planning a kitchen remodel. Our 1200 sqft ranch home has 2 1/4 x 5/16 red oak top nailed strip flooring throughout the living, bedrooms and hallways, linoleum in the kitchen/bath. I sanded and applied multiple coats of Varathane Penetrating Oil Stain when we moved in 30 years ago, and I still like the soft, tough, low maintenance look. Once in a while I wipe some finish on the floors to spruce them up, but for the most part its been fix and forget.

My wife loves the oak in the living areas, but is concerned about water/food/beverage stains if we use it in the kitchen. I maintain that the oil finish will hold up fine if we apply plenty of oil to saturate the wood, like the rest of the house.

I would like to install the same flooring in the kitchen, with lots of penetrating oil finish. No topcoat, just the oil, matching the rest of the house as closely as possible.

What do you guys think?

I am a carpenter, and will probably install the floor myself, but would appreciate any pointers on installation, fasteners, vapor barrier, &etc. There is only plywood under the existing oak, and I suspect 1/4" particleboard under the lino, since the oak and lino are very close to level.

If you install the top-nailed flooring in the kitchen you will be using a slightly different method than the original installation technique. The floor brads that were used are not available today which helps the flooring to hold down and also form together since the brads were diamond pointed. Air assisted fasteners have a chisel point so you will need to keep the orientation of the nail in mind to get the same effect as the brads that force the fibers together across the rows of the top-nailling. Do you see gaps between the rows of your old floor? You can get a tight floor with the chisel pointed fasteners if you have the chisel point help spread the grain like the diamond point brads. Check the collated brads to see how they are put together. A row of brads at least every 12 inches with the brads installed within half an inch of the edges of the strips and butt ends all nailed is the minimum nailing schedule. This is the minimum, but add more to fasten it well. If you have 5 inch wide sub-floor planks then every 7.5 inches is usually what is used. Use the same schedule as the old floor and the same orientation across the sub-floor. Plywood will not matter.which way you go.
This type of floor is my favorite. It is said that you can sand it as many times as a ¾ inch thick floor.
The oil finish will be a good finish and hold up well over time if you are going to be careful noticing wear and replenish it when it starts to get dull from wear. Oil finish will naturally be high gloss, since there is no satining agent added. The more coats that are applied, the smoother it well become and also get glossy. It will be more work over time than using an oil modified finish, but look about the same. You need to notice wear spots and touch up as necessary. The drawback to touching up an oil based finish is that you know that you apply thin coats and will need to wait till the oil has hardened before traffic. Sometimes it takes a day or more to harden depending on conditions. The thinner dries quickly, but the oil needs to harden, or cure to resist abrasion.
If you can get a tight floor and are willing to spend the time on maintenance you will have a long lasting floor that acts like it has a coat of varnish on it.

Generally speaking , a penetrating oil is a high maintenance finish .It will hold up if you maintain it regularly . In a kitchen however , I believe you will be maintaining it a lot more than you would like to and it will be more susceptible to water damage and water spotting than a clear , solid finish would be .