Interesting post - we have laminate tiles in the kitchen that I absolutely love. Black and white checkerboard. We haven't had any problems with them in about 10 years of use. I love the way they feel on my feet and I am a dropper, and things don't shatter as much as with tile. We do spill liquids. Maybe because these are the older ones that are glued together - we just wipe things up. We put porcelain tile in the bathrooms when we redid them 2 years ago. Nice looking, but I don't enjoy walking on them as much as the laminate.