First of all, Hello, first time posting here. Thanks in advance for any advice. I have purchased a home here in Virginia that was built in 1950. It has hardwood flooring throughout. The kitchen had linoleum over tile over hardwood in it. I pulled the linoleum and thin tile off. The tile was adhered with what looks and smells to be some kind of tar resin. I have refinished the wood floor in the rest of the house and wanted something different in the kitchen. However it looks by all that I have read, nothing can be put over the wood floors, and they are absolutely ruined. There is a fair amount of water damage near the sink and dishwasher. The previous owner didn't take care of this wonderful house. Anyway, other than tearing out the wood floors, what can be done? I am sure the floors run under the cabinets and don't want to tear them out also. Not yet anyway. Thanks again, Shane

 

Got the perfect storm going on there.
One floor looks bad so why do it right, to much work lets just go over it and save time and money.
Sounds like it's time to pull those lower cabinets and start over.

 

Before you do anything drastic, have a floor guy look at it. I recently had my hardwood floors refinished. They had been under carpet for almost 30 years and they were in terrible shape. I was ready to commit to replacing them but the flooring contractor convinced me that they could be refinished. He was right.

He had to replace a couple of heavily damaged boards but in the long run we got a really nice floor and it saved us a lot of money and work.

 

It's black, 1950's want to bet it's asbestos laden cut back adhesive?

 

I did all the refinishing of the hardwood floors throughout the rest of the house which were under carpet and in very poor shape. I'm a woodworker so this was a DIY I could do and did a damn fine job. Looking at these floors, even with the black tar on them I can tell the sanding back would take off at least an 1/8" or better to get to bare and stainable wood. The huge section of damage by the sink would need replacing. There is also a 4'x3' section that is a small hall, between the kitchen and a bedroom, not original to the home, that is covered in pine planks that had just the linoleum on it.

 

Yea, I suspect something had asbestos in it. Didn't think the tar could also.

 

If you are ok with the height change, you could install a layer of plywood, cement board and then ceramic tile or are you wanting to stick with wood to match the rest of the floors?

btw - welcome to the forums Shane!