The mistake people make with a modern kitchen table is buying one that looks right in the showroom and then spending the next five years annoyed by it. Too small once the second kid starts doing homework at it, too delicate for the spot where everyone drops their keys and a hot pan at the same time. I get why the clean lines pull you in, I just think you need to be honest about what actually happens at your table before you commit to one.
The tables I like most live in kitchens that double as everything else, the spot where mail gets sorted, coffee gets made, someone does their taxes while someone else is frying eggs six inches away. A round or oval top in that kind of room earns its keep because it lets more people squeeze in without anyone's elbow in the next person's ribs. In a smaller apartment kitchen, a narrow rectangular table pushed against a wall works better than people expect, as long as the chairs tuck in flush and don't eat the walking space. Pale wood tops, the ash and oak kind with a light finish, keep a small room from feeling closed in. Dark walnut or a matte black metal base reads calmer in a bigger kitchen with more going on visually already.
How it wears depends almost entirely on the top. Solid wood will pick up the occasional water ring and a scratch here and there, and honestly I've made peace with that, it starts looking like a table that gets used instead of one that sits for photos. Wipe spills fast, use a mat under anything scalding, and every few months go over it with a little oil if it's an oiled finish, not a sealed one, you can usually tell by whether water beads up or soaks in. Laminate and quartz composite tops shrug off almost everything, including the red sauce situation and the inevitable crayon, but they never develop that softened, lived in look, they just stay exactly as they were, which some people love and some people find a little cold after a while.
Where it stops making sense is anywhere you need real flexibility, a table that has to seat four on a Tuesday and twelve at Thanksgiving. Most modern kitchen tables are fixed in size, no leaf, no extension, because the whole look depends on a clean, simple shape. If your numbers swing that much, you want something with a leaf hiding in it, not a table that photographs well and starves half your family on the big nights.
The mistake to avoid is buying on shape alone and skipping the actual measurement of your kitchen walkway, because a table that looks sized right in a listing photo can still leave you sidestepping around chairs every single day.
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