Porcelain has become popular in residential flooring over the last several years, so one of the big draws is wanting the best and obtaining bragging rights to friends and neighbors, which is great! Most people want to buy porcelain because they think it is the same color and pattern all the way through the tile. However, this is only true on fraction of porcelain tile products that are called through-body porcelain. The majority of porcelain tiles are glazed porcelain and when chipped, the porcelain shows through, usually as a different shade if not color. Porcelain is denser than ceramic which means it has a lower absorption rate. It is frost resistant making porcelain better for outside applications. Indoors, the extra density makes porcelain less likely to chip. But it is a little overkill anf often misunderstood too. Some people lead you to believe that if you're not getting porcelain then you are wasting your money. More false words were never spoken. There are different qualities of ceramic tile. Some ceramics are denser than others. There are many great quality ceramics that are more than sufficient in a house. All tiles, whether porcelain or ceramic, have a PEI rating which will tell you how resistant the glazed surface is to scratching and chipping. A tile with a PEI of 1 will scratch and chip easily and should only be used on walls. A PEI of 2 is good for light residential areas like bathrooms. A PEI of 3 is good for all residential applications. 4 is used in commercial applications and 5 for heavy commercial applications like a mall. It is wise to view the PEI ratings becasue many pei ratings willl do fine in a house because the highest commercial pei rating isnt needed. The average home performance wont exceed those expectations and ratings. If you drop an iron skillet on equally rated ceramic and porcelain tiles, you will probably chip both. If you drop a glass, you will probably will not break either one. Because of the difference in density, there may be some things that may chip one or the other, but in reality, when comparing porcelain to ceramic floor tile, the difference is neglibible. Remember people have been using ceramic tile way before porcelain tile existed and many of those isntallationa re stil laround today, performing perfectly, with zoro problems. Porcelain has been around a while, but has been mainly used in outside and commercial applications. A lot of manufacturers have gone to porcelain tile recently because the price of tile in general has come down. By going to porcelain, the manufacturers can justify not lowering their prices because the insinuation is that its better so it costs more, and they really play up the performance. The bottom line is that in a typical residential application, both porcelain and ceramic tiles will endure comparably provided they have the same PEI rating. A through body porcelain is great, but there are not very many choices and they generally cost more than glazed porcelain and ceramic.

Ceramic tile is a mixture of clays and other natural materials. The special clays are mined from the earth, shaped, colored and than fired in kilns. Traditional ceramic tile can be naturally colored and left unglazed like terra cotta, or they can feature colored or highly designed surfaces which can be glazed (finished with a glass surface) either in a high gloss or matte finish. Most ceramic tile has either a white or red body coloration underneath the glazed, colored top layer. Glazed porcelain has a body made of the porcelain material and then a glaze is applied over the surface much like a regular ceramic tile Porcelain tile is a newer form of ceramic tile and extremly popular among homeowners. Porcelain tiles are composed of fine porcelain clays and fired at much higher temperatures than ceramic tiles. This process makes porcelain tile more dense, less porous, much harder and less prone to moisture and stain absorption than ceramic tiles. For these reasons, most porcelain tiles are suitable for both indoor and outdoor installations. Porcelain tiles are also harder to cut due to their density and hardness. For other information you can check this site Ciciliot

I live in a high rise and there is travertine tile in the common area. It is polished and so it resembles granite or marble. It has been down for at least 20 years and looks as good as new. Periodically the building hires a professional to clean and polish the stone and clean the grout and that it looks perfect again. Porcelain is quite a durable material as well. When I was looking at choices I considered some of the manmade materials but I preferred the look of natural stone. FWIW I went with wood in my kitchen and the newer finishes are amazingly durable. I was skeptical because I had lived with older floors that had either a waxed finish or a less durable finish. Of course it might be difficult to match the pre-existing hardwood anyway.

I would never put faux wood and real wood next to eachother . Why not just choose a 12 x 24 porcelain tile in a color from the hickory .