michellee

be carefull with laminant..My daughter had it put into new salon. We were not there when they installed it. The next day, I found all this green felt like powder all over the walls and everywhere else...It took me a week to vacuum it. The installers sawed all the wood inside the newly painted salon...The room had a cloud of dust from this....Two weeks later my eyes and face burned and after many visits to so many drs. and many months of intense burning finding nothing wrong... I later found a warning on side of the box that warned to use certain eye cover, face mask and certain vacuum that it is toxic...My eyes and face skin absorbed it and it attacted my nerves system...I was in bed with ice packs on my face for 3 months...that was back in 06 and I am still having trouble with burning...Now I am very sensitive to formaldyde, nitrates, and paraben in makup....I would never get lamanet floors in my house.......P.S. the drs. do not know anything about chemical sensitivity. My new eye dr. gave me information of a dr. that delt with it and had the test....and found the problem that this toxic compound left me with....I think if the lazy installers would of cut all the pieces outside, I wouldn't have this problem....I'' stick to tile.

tipesh

you can find information about ceramics in here:
קרמיקה
http://www.meir-hamair.co.il

tutt

We put down luxury tile and love it. It cleans easily and looks good. In fact, we put it in my craft room, our bedroom and the kitchen. We have engineered wood flooring in the rest of the house and love that too, but didn't want it around water in the kitchen.

Wintersewer

We have unglazed (guarry) tile in half of our first floor and I LOVE it!!! We put it in with gray/tan grout and after 30+ years it still looks great. None of them has cracked, either. I'm sure we would have had to refinish wood several times by now. We have a farm and bring all sorts of "stuff"....LOL! I'm a clean freak and I find this super easy to clean. Dirt/grit cannot damage this whereas grit on hardwood will wear the finish away and then work on the wood itself.

This floor wil last a lifetime. My parents put the same floor in their large family kitchen and after raising 5 kids it still looks good and they have passed on.

IAmCatOwned

I prefer linoleum, but if you want to go with wood, you are better off with wood-look laminate. The kitchen has water on the floor all the time, and it stains the wood. One person I know yelled at her kid for dripping water on the floor (in the kitchen) because it would wreck the floor. Now, it seems obvious that it is not a good choice for a place with water, doesn't it?

Ceramic, while nice, is death to dropped plates and glasses. Linoleum for home use (I mean the tiled stuff you put in yourself) is poor quality compared to what was available in the distant past. Maybe they've improved it now, but we put it in 8 years ago and it was crap in 2 years and this was Armstrong brand, so certainly a company that's been around a long time. I think it pays to talk to a professional who has worked with flooring for years to find out what to stay away from, because the sales people are NO HELP AT ALL! I have never done stained concrete, but this link shows a bunch of beautiful examples!

mom-6

The kitchen in the house we've had for the past 10 years has the vinyl square tile on the floor (several have had to be replaced for various reasons - mostly due to the house settling) and white ceramic tile on the counter. The grout between the ceramic tiles is always dirty, bleach scrub notwithstanding. The rest of the house is hardwood floors, even under the carpet (which I absolutely hate and have started tearing out). Love the hardwood, even though it does need a bit more TLC than I've given it so far.
Our cabin has laminate floors throughout and they are wonderfully easy to take care of.

johnn34

For kitchen flooring I would prefer ceramic tiles and limestone tiles. These tiles are good for both kitchen and bathroom flooring because these tiles are hygienic and long lasting.

Sandygirl

I'm having wood-look sheet vinyl installed in my. Kitchen next week. The new vinyls look lifelike. We have dogs that enter the house through the kitchen so I am always cleaning the floors. Water is always an issue in a kitchen. I need and wnt quick clen options. Love my Swiffer!

They make vinyl wood look planks that install like laminate. I've been known to drop to my knees to see it closer and verify if wood vs laminate. It is awesome looking and I would love to rip out our carpet ad have it installed throughout the house. I first saw it in a quilt shop and was immediately smitten.
Sandy

BeverlyH

I grew up with wood floors and wouldn't have them. I put a dark tile in my kitchen and love it.

NJ Quilter

Not sure if you're still shopping or not but here's my 2 cents. I have ceramic in my kitchen and love it. Tiles are 6 sided and motteled brownish. Dark brown grout. Floor is over 20 yrs. old. We have large dogs and a DH that is in/out constantly. Lots of dirt/stones outside. Floor still looks like new. Tile shop did recommend sealing grout with 10 (yes 10) coats of sealer. We've had several litters of puppies with some heavy duty cleaning going on then and never had a problem. Had new dishwasher leak several times, no worries. Would do it again in a heartbeat. I don't really notice a back/leg problem even working in there for long periods. Don't really notice that the floor is particularly cold and we don't have alot of heat in that room (baseboard hw heat and only a small undercabinet section of heat in that room). We also just replaced our dining room carpet with the Allure wood-look vinyl. Love that as well. It's a dark walnut color and has some 'distress' marks built into it. The Allure comes in 2 versions. One (more expensive) has a life-time water warranty. The other (less expensive) has a 20 year water warranty. It's a 'floating' flooring system, so no glue, nails, etc. DH installed in in a day for a 10 x 15 room. Younger dog is afraid of it but older dog doesn't care. More expensive version is also a little thicker than less expensive one. When it's time to replace the carpeting in the LR, I'll go for the Allure in here as well. Do need to get an area rug for the DR as it's a little 'echoey' and would have to do the same in the LR prolly. But you can't tell that floor is not wood. Clean up is with a water-dampened mop or dry mop. We have vinyl sheet flooring in upstairs bath. Had that in previous kitchen and due to outside elements and lifestyle was toast in about a year. Upstairs its fine as most of the offending elements are already off your feet by then. It's 20 years old as well. Except for color fade, it's just peachy. It is Armstrong brand. The cost of it and the cost of our ceramic was the same per sq. ft. at the time. My only advice would be to consider your lifestyle and the outside elements you have to deal with before deciding which product works best for you. As well as cost, obviously. Good luck!

FYI The Allure can also be installed over existing flooring provided it's stable. Friends installed it over their existing ceramic and love it.