First we always recommend testing before doing the whole floor. Generally finishing a floor requires more experience and sometimes more professional equipment than the install. We always recommend lower sheens such as a matte or satin. When choosing a finish consider the whole life of the floor. With this consider the durability of the finish, how it will be touched up or repaired, and if one has to hire a professional finisher to do touch-ups. This is too hard to answer completely in this forum but we will give you a handful of thoughts, opinions, and generalizations on finish types. Waterborne finishes such as Glitsa Infinity II or Bona Traffic- low VOC, may take 3-4 coats, does not darken or enhance the color of the wood as much/ more natural appearance, requires buffing between coats, quick dry and quick application, do not use over pickle wood or any wood that may have oil, salts, brines or other contaminates in it. Swedish or oil based poly urethanes- higher VOC, takes longer for smell to dissipate, 2 coats, harder to refinish or do spot touch ups (usually have to sand an refinish entire floor), darkens and enhances the color, requires buffing between coats, most common type of finish and what majority of the professionals use, not our preferred product for textured floors or "healthy or green concerned" applications. Waterlox or tung oil- requires less buffing or no buffing between coats, 4-6 coats, long time to cure and for smell to go away, long finishing process between coats such as up to 10 days depending on conditions, easy to touch up, easy to apply, enhances and darkens color. Here is an excellent application guide. Rubio Monocoat or one coat natural oils- low VOC, one coat, lots of color options and unique dyes, high coverage, easier for amateur to install, only recommended over smooth sanded floors, not recommended over textured floors because finish will not build or protect from slivers, easy to repair, natural appearance, moderately slow cure time, less expensive when factoring in number of coats and labor. Hard wax oil or Osmo- slightly more difficult to install than previous two, low VOC, easy to repair, may not be as durable as previous two, expensive. To summarize, we generally prefer penetrating oil finishes or "repairable" finishes over traditional film or polyurethane finishes. The penetrating finishes protect better from within the board by bonding with the wood fibers. Touch-ups and repairs are easier and less costly. A floor is going to get damaged and need to be repaired; this is why we like a site applied finish that is easy to work with. Our flooring gets sent out unfinished, so you can choose how you want to finish it after installing it.