Personally, I adore Terra Cotta tiles, but that look is not for everyone, admittedly.

We have hardwoods in the house we are selling; have enjoyed that for 8 years, w/ no discernible damage/problem/splinters at all, and we spend ALL our time in that kitchen, I cook and bake a ton and it is integrated into the family room. I would definitely consider putting in hardwoods again if I were redoing a kitchen.

Our new house has large white square tiles (think large, square subway tiles) in the kitchen and I really like their look, too...haven't moved in yet, so I guess we'll see how comfortable and durable they are!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vinyl is by far the most practical. I know people don't like it because it isn't fashionable, but it looks great, is comfy, perfect for a kitchen.

Totally agree.

I really like Marmoleum. Haven't used it but love the look of it.

We had tile and it cracked. Definitely a problem with the sub floor. Any stone will do the same until you fix the sub floor. We replaced the tile with hardwood and like that much more. It will need to be refinished at some point but it looks great, is softer to stand on, no problems with staining (it's sealed with polyurethane). It also looks better in our more open floor plan not to have a transition in the flooring.

We have marble in a bathroom and it's held up pretty well but I don't think I'd do that in a kitchen. Definitely easy to stain.

What about cork? I am not a big fan but people who have it seem to like it.

Anonymous wrote:Vinyl is by far the most practical. I know people don't like it because it isn't fashionable, but it looks great, is comfy, perfect for a kitchen.

Totally agree.

We have slate - easy to clean and hides dirt, no slip, no cracks, no wear, gorgeous all the time, goes with any counter/cabinet combo - heated pad underneath ... LOVE it.

OP here, thanks for helpful advice! I am now leaning against the marble floors in favor of either ceramic tile or slate of some sort. I am still not entirely sold on ceramic because of the bad experience with the existing remodel done by previous owners. We are looking for advice what type of tile were you using, those PPs who had no damage and are happy with their floors for many years. I am also looking for low maintenance floor, that wouldn't show every speck of dirt, footprint, spilled water. I am not really enthusiastic having to wash my kitchen floor twice a day to keep it clean, not even once a day if I could avoid it. Something that needs to be wiped every other day to keep clean looking is better

Does anyone have experience with travertine or slate?

I would Avoid marble in the kitchen, it's great for foyers and for formal rooms but not so great for a kitchen: cleaning it is hard, it stains, and it can be slippery. It sure looks pretty but it's not practical. I would go with tile, linoleum or cork.

Whats better ceramin or porcelin, or how about granuite

Standing on stone/ tile floors is miserable. I would do cork.

Anonymous wrote:Is honed marble less slippery? I also don't like ceramic tile as it requires larger spacing between the tiles and more grout and grout started to fall out in our kitchen - a constant PITA, plus cleaning stains from it is not so much fun either. I've looked at some examples of tile and lots of it is made to look like marble, so why not just get marble? Or is the honed marble still slippery or high maintenance?

My parents have marble in parts of the foyer. One problem is that unless it is sealed very often, it is actually very hard to clean some stains. One of my kids vomited on that marble floor. Obviously we cleaned the stain immediately, but the acidity created a faint stain that did not disappear until a couple of years later when the entire floor was professionally scrubbed and resealed. I would hesitate to put it in a kitchen where you can easily get oil stains and accidental spills of lemon juice or vinegar.

ceramic tile!

Anonymous wrote:If your tile is cracking it's most likely because it was not installed right, the underfloor must not be even. We had no problem with our tile floors. Our neighbor has marble floors and they have cracks due to incompetent installation. If the floor is installed correctly it will be durable, no matter the material. The wood floors can buckle if there a leaks, my friend has that next to her dishwasher, so I would not recommend wood, other than that any tile or stone floor will work.

Marble is a very soft stone and cracks because there is deflection and movement in the floor not necessarily due to improper installation.

Anonymous wrote:I still think hardwood's the best.

Yep, this!

Is honed marble less slippery? I also don't like ceramic tile as it requires larger spacing between the tiles and more grout and grout started to fall out in our kitchen - a constant PITA, plus cleaning stains from it is not so much fun either. I've looked at some examples of tile and lots of it is made to look like marble, so why not just get marble? Or is the honed marble still slippery or high maintenance?

I've had ceramic for over 15 years and it still looks new. It's all in the installation which I did myself. You have to have an even and strong underlayment. At least 3/4 ply with concrete board on top. We wanted to do wood, but with young kids, and cooking daily, and traffic, it would of never of held up to the wear and tear. Wood is great, but for low traffic and for people that don't cook..I mean really cook now.