You ask very good questions. We currently use the entrance mainly for the guests. we use our garage door entrance for most of the time. We probably use the front entrance a few times a week.

I think the main reason I am leaning towards changing the marble is that I really don't like the pink tone in the marble(builder grade). My husband is ok with changing the marble with some other stone like granite or slate or another marble. He feels that a stone would be better with traffic like you mentioned.

I wouldn't put hardwood in a front entrance but that is just me. Do you have any hardwood now? I know that you are switching from carpets to hardwood. We have just put 1400 sq ft of hardwood in our house and I am amazed at the scratches that have appeared in less than a month. Hardwood in a front entrance with just normal street shoes (and the brazilian cherry wood is a dark wood and will show the scratches even more) would drive me nuts. I would have to put an entire mat down to protect them and then whats the point.
I'm with your husband on this one. The style of your house will then probably dictate the type of stone that you put down. Is it elegant (marble), is it post and beam in a hilly forested area (like us -then slate). There are a ton of choices as you know. Good Luck.

We don't have any hardwood in the house now. I think you are right if we do go with hardwood we will have to cover teh area with a huge mat. And in this case I might as well have stone.

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

I replaced my engineered very worn out oak floor in the tiny foyer in the front with the tile I replaced the damaged engineered oak wood floors in the small middle foyer (next to the garage area) with. I replaced the down stairs carpet with Brazilian Cherry Floors. I am so glad I did tile in the foyer since it still looks new and is so easy to clean. I chose a Porcelain Tile that looks like Travertine Tile.

I am thinking of going with tile based on the input.
Thanks to everybody who responded.

What kind of tile is everybody using for an entry way? I am getting ready to have my hardwood floors refinished and we have a small piece of slate in the entryway that is very old and not my taste (I believe it is original from 1957 when the home was built).

Anyhow, right now we are mainly looking at Duraceramic. Isn't tile very slippery when wet? We live in Michigan, so I am factoring rain/snow into the equation.

Each manufacturer should publish an ASTM slip resistance rating/number for their tile, and you want something >0.60 for an entryway.

Could do hardwood w/ a tile inlay- best of both worlds and can be quite elegant.