Pine is considered a soft wood, but I love it! There are many guru-kitchen-type experts here; I am not one of them, sadly.
You will get lots of feedback!

Heart pine is I believe much harder than wood from other parts of the pine tree. It would be gorgeous as long as you don't mind the knots and swirls (I wouldn't) -- it would look more casual and less formal, I think.

Can you still get new heart pine flooring nowadays? I was thinking it was only from companies that deal in reclaimed wood.

Thanks! Yes, the heart pine isn't as soft as others. It will still show some dinks and dents. However, we are realizing that we like a wood floor with some lovin' (character)!

I undertand that most of the heart pine is reclaimed, as they harvest trees before they get big enough now adays. However, there are some places that still do have new heart pine.

We may look at walnut too. I thought I wanted guartersawn white oak, but are realizing we like a more rustic look. I just hope I can pull all these different things together and make a kitchen and home we love.

In our previous home we had 15' long pine boards in the 15x 15' living room and the equally large dining room. They had long been covered with rugs, but we refinished them. They were BEAUTIFUL. Each board ran the full length of the room! If I could have taken anything I wanted from that house, it would have been those boards. Very old, they were not even tongue and grooved, but the gaps between were small and they were not warped.

I don't know how comparable modern flooring might be, but my experience with those floors would suggest it might work fine.

Bellsmom, that sounds wonderful.

We have new-lumber pine floors and love the way they look, Mommyto4. I would gone for the richness and quality of heart pine in a second, but we just couldn't afford it, so we had a company specializing in pine floors lay and finish plain old 5"-wide tongue-and-groove boards. The kind you can pick up at any lumber yard. They were beautiful from the start and just get better and better as they darken and look somewhat more like heart pine. I personally don't care for really busy woods, and the knots and markings in these are just enough to add interest without grabbing attention. They look good with everything, and the color is lovely. So yes to your question. Absolutely!

We provide reclaimed heart pine in two different options: select grade and common grade. The select grade offers more heart and 20-30 growth rings and knots smaller than one inch. It is softer when compared to our Oak and Hickory and other products. We also offer common grade which offers 5-15 growth rings per inch and knots from 1 to 1-1/2 inches. Please visit our website to see these products and our other flooring options. Please feel free to contact us if you need more information.

Here is a link that might be useful: Reclaimed Designworks

Reclaimed heart pine is far harder than the typical pine softwood pine seen now.

Pine trees are not allowed to grow large enough to develop significant heartwood, and have been bred to grow faster further reducing the harness of the wood (thicker growth rings, far fewer per inch).