Wood floors have been around since sliced bread, but they are some of the more tricky surfaces to clean. This is because of all the different types of wood and finishes people like on their floors. I have personally done extensive research with wood floor installation companies to be able to provide you with the most effective, safe, cleaning treatment for wood floors. The guys most helpful to me are Boatright Hardwood Floors.
First, kitchen floors are always cleaned on hands and knees, even on wood floors. We use our arms and a clean cotton cloth for the tool. For larger areas, we use a shmop. No, I didn’t misspell it. It’s a flat surface with a clean cloth so we don’t leave excess water behind and we can be sure we’re always using a clean cloth each home. Check it out by clicking here.
For unfinished floors, we use Murphy’s Oil Soap. For finished floors, I find that most finishes are polyurethane. It seems that builders recommend Bona-X.  Back in the day, Bona-X had ammonia, so we went with Zep, which is basically the same thing, and without ammonia, which is not a healthy cleaning chemical and can even eat finishes off surfaces after a period of time. Bona-X has since reformulated to leave out the ammonia.  From my years of experience, Zep does a better, safer job.
We safely vacuum all floors, dampen the Shmop, or cloth, wring out excess water and then spray the Zep onto the Shmop or cloth. If the floor has a wax finish, WE VACUUM ONLY! I have not found an effective way to safely and effectively clean wood floors with wax.
I have personally trained our team leaders to be able to identify the types of wood floors they come across. The more information we get from you before the cleaning the better, but you can rest assured that you have a trained eye watching for the appropriate cleaning technique. And if we’re not helping you maintain those floors, I hope these tips help give you great looking floors that will last many many years.