We have hardwood in our kitchen, brazillian walnut and it's fabulous. Still gets cold (we're in Michigan) but had tile flooring for many years when in California. There is no comparison, I'll never go back to tile flooring.

The scratches will be the same as elsewhere in the house, so that's a silly argument.

If you drop things on wood, they probably won't break.

If he wants cold feet, he can go to the basement.

A cat can't hurt wood floors unless it pees on it repeatedly and you let it sit.

O, tile requires a much stiffer subfloor and your kitchen will be higher than the neighboring floors.

Keep the tile in the mudroom!

Fori, thanks for the point about the subfloor, I hadn't thought of that!

My tiled kitchen connects to my family room, w/ a wide step down. It has a doorway to the foyer and a doorway to the dining room.

I think wood everywhere might get a little tiresome. I dislike that my wood shows dust so quickly. Maybe a light wood doesn't, but mine does, especially in the sunlight.

I have porcelain tile in my kitchen, it is basically a base of shades of grey with lots of other colors such as browns and golds running through it. It looks like natural stone and each tile is different. We used a medium grey grout and it's the best thing I ever did. Nothing can hurt this tile. I hardly ever have to wash it and can even skip lots of sweeping if I want and nobody can tell. Big crumbs are noticeable, but not dust, hair and little drips. The grout is dark and I didn't seal it and it is still fine over 2 years later (or is it 3 already?). I would NOT get a light color grout, so if that is your only tile choice, then get wood. I will try to post a pic.

It connects to a mahogany hardwood in the foyer and looks so nice together,much like granite looks nice on wood cabinets. The installer shimmed the wood up a little to match perfectly evenly, but installers should have many options to match levels as this is their job. It matches the cream carpet in my dining room and the green in my family room. It is a color that matches all and really grounds my kitchen. I needed it to blend my darker counters with my white cabinets.

My master bedroom will become my kitchen and it currently has hardwood. Partly due to budget reasons, we are keeping the hardwood for the kitchen. I was worried about upkeep, but have been assured by many it won't be an issue.

I would stay away from tile. It is very unforgiving and will be awful on your knees and legs. I spend a lot of time in the kitchen and can't imagine having to stand on tile all that time. Also if your toddler falls, there is less of a chance of injury on tile than on hardwood. And ceramic tile (porcelain is a type of ceramic tile) can be slippery if it becomes contaminated with soil, oil, grease, water or other foreign substances.

Also, since your kitchen is open to the other rooms, keeping the flooring the same will give a sense of flow and the rooms will seem bigger. So if you ever sell, people will think the house is bigger than it is and you will be able to get more $$.

I agree, your DH can go the basement (or the mudroom) if he wants cold feet.

Why not go for the best of both--tile that looks like wood:

http://homeimprovement.lovetoknow.com/Wood_Plank_Look_Ceramic_Tile

:)

Carla in Sac

I went with tile and love it. We put oak floors in the living room, dining room and hall. You go around a corner to enter the kitchen and my porcelain floors looks like natural
stone. I am not the best at not dripping water and I just don't care for the spots on the wood.
I am happy with my tile as for being cold I wear slippers in the house in the winter, live in California.

I highly recommend wood in the kitchen. In our old house we installed white oak (to match the existing wood floors in the rest of the house). We had zero issues with maintenance. Easy to sweep or mop up and much much kinder to the body. My legs never ached even after standing for hours in the kitchen.

In our current house we have tile in the kitchen. I absolutely hate it. After a short amount of time my legs ache me and my feet hurt. Anything you drop breaks. My husband dropped a plastic Thomas the Tank Engine cup this morning and it broke! My almost 3 year old fell back on her chair and hit the tile floor. We had to go to the emergency room and have her jaw x-rayed because her teeth literally shifted from falling backwards and hitting the tile (she is fine now). She sure could have hurt herself falling on a wood floor but it is much more forgiving.

I an eagerly awaiting the day that we can rip out this horrid tile and install nice warm rich wood floors.

Another vote for hardwood. I live in a cold climate, though (chicago). I've had kitchens with laminate, tile and hardwood. I find the wood easy to maintain and stand upon all day long. I currently have your basic builder-grade oak floors and they have withstood tons of abuse our family (2 adults and 2 toddlers - who seem to drop things constantly). I personally like the continuity of flooring in a home.

How do I post a photo without linking to another site?

Another vote for hardwood :) We have been living in our shop until our house is finished ( one more month, yeah)and it has a concrete floor. I have broken so many glasses and just today I came home with a 12 pak of light bulbs which promptly fell out of the bag and hit that concrete!! Now I have 3 light bulbs instead of 12 :( Hardwood is very durable and if you get a satin finish you won't see so much dust, scratches, etc. Love it!!!

How about laminate that looks like tile? It would be softer and warmer underfoot. Another option is vinyl tile.

If you spend any amount of time standing in the kitchen I would go with HW. I have HW in my kitchen and I cook a lot so I know standing would kill my back and feet on tile. I have tile in a bathroom and I like it but it does get cold. I don't spend nearly as much time standing in the bathroom as I do in the kitchen.

My HW was already in my kitchen but I might consider cork or linoleum if I was doing a new floor.

We just replaced our 18 year old tile floor in the kitchen with hard wood. I love the look of the wood but so far I'm missing the very easy up keep of the tile. The water spots, dust, everything seems to show on wood. Part of the reason we chose hard wood was the tile was killing my legs and back on long days of cooking. I hope this compensates for the lack of easy up keep.

Okay, everyone - I won! Was able to convince DH that hardwood is the way to go. I think if my kitchen was less open to the family room I would have been more torn. Thanks so much for your feedback!

Here are my reasons (similar to the others)
against tiles:
1) grout is annoying to clean
2) tiles are very hard and cold

for tiles:
1) can withstand water accidents very well (this is the primary reason we went with tile in our old home-- had some problems with our main line from time to time.. tile does not get water damage)
2) colors other than variations of brown.

The reason I went with hardwood is its timeless quality. Tiles can go out of style and date your home. Hardwood won't. Tile will be much more difficult to replace.

O, tile requires a much stiffer subfloor and your kitchen will be higher than the neighboring floors.

Sorry, but I strongly disagree. The ONLY flooring that needs a stiffer subfloor is natural stone. As for ceramic and hardwood, both require a subfloor with a deflection rating of L/360. As for being higher than neighboring floors, check these pictures out and tell me that again:

I've got alot more, but I think I've made the point. If tile will be higher than the other floors, so will hardwood. As for grout, using a little common sense with reference to grout color will go a long way. You obviously don't want white or bone colored grout in main traffic areas.

The ONLY valid argument I've heard is for those who have a hard time standing or walking on hard surfaces. If you go to the mall and within no time, your back or knees are hurting, then tile probably isn't for you. For the rest of us, though, this isn't a problem. I've got arguably what could be the very worst knees in this forum, and I've got no problem standing or walking on tile for long periods of time. There ARE those, though, who do.

I have ceramic...it is NOT comfortable to the feet, especially when barefoot. If I could justify the expense of pulling it up and replacing it with wood, it would be gone.

I doubt hardwood is real pleasing to bare feet either after a while. I always have slippers or my sneakers on (to keep feet + socks clean.) I'm not a big cook, except for Christmas cookie time. I just can't see standing long enough to get sore from tile. Obviously buildinginva knew she wanted wood. People either like tile, or not. I really like wood, but in my kitchen I love the tile and the wood would have annoyed me, especially with spills. What if you drop a knife? Scratch or cut in wood...no good repair there. I was more concerned about damage to the floor and ease of maintenance, than about the very rare dropped dishware. Dishware is easy to replace. Scratched up wood? Not so easy. Both will be lovely to look at.

I love my new tile floors. I always wear real shoes or decent slippers - can't do bare feet on any surface for very long.

Several folks had recommended wood for our kitchen, mostly for style/fashion reasons. As it transpired, wood was a no-go from the start. During demo, our contractor uncovered original asbestos sheet flooring under the 90's vinyl. Tile can be laid over top of, without disturbing asbestos, while hardwood would have required a costly removal process.

buildinginva - I'm guessing by your name that you live in Virginia. Maybe you're already working with someone, but if you've definitely decided on hardwood and live in the Northern Virginia area, I can recommend a great company for your hardwood installation. We just had red oak installed in our kitchen and had the living room and dining room refinished so they all match, and they did a beautiful job. I've talked to many people - both construction types and diy-ers - and all agree that this company is the best. I have no connection to this company. Let me know if you'd like their name and info.

Happy, thanks so much for the offer. Yes, we are in Virginia (Fairfax County). We are buiding a new home so will be using the same contractor the buider usually uses (our contract is fixed price). However, I may take you up on it in case we decide to go to a more exotic wood and need to find another company.

Do consider using a water alarm and the new Flood Safe water connectors for your fridge, DW, and sink with hardwood. If you have a pet, especially a drooly dog, consider making a pet eating area with tile or some other type of water resistant flooring for that area.

I personally find the hardwood with the beveled edged just as uncomfortable under bare feet as I do the grout lines in tile, but that's just me. I don't have any problems with the hardness of tile either. I work on concrete floors with a ton of walking around, but I wear proper shoes for that so it doesn't bother me. I usually wear Crocs or Birks at home rather than go barefoot too.

Live wire, how do I put in a water alarm? Is this a feature I could get with a regular alarm system? And what are Flood Safe water connectors? Where can I get those and who should install them - the appliance installers?

I'm glad you won, VA! Not because one is better than the other, but because you're the one asking us for arguments in favor. :) (If there are foot/back/knee problems though, tile really shouldn't be considered...)

I love both surfaces, and I walk barefoot on them both. I'm not biased (except I won't do tile in the kitchen because I am REALLY clumsy).

I think even DH will be pleased when the floors are all in.

Hardwood in living room. travertine in kitchen. each is best suited for its function in the respective rooms.

During demo, our contractor uncovered original asbestos sheet flooring under the 90's vinyl. Tile can be laid over top of, without disturbing asbestos, while hardwood would have required a costly removal process.

Not for nothing, but most quality tile installers would also balk at tiling over vinyl, asbestos or not. I know I'd refuse.

We put hardwood (natural mahogany) in our kitchen and throughout the entire house except for front/back entry this summer. After having tile in the kitchen for about 9 yrs. it's a huge and welcome change. I am on my feet alot during the day and do not have back aches or anything and it's much warmer than tile. Maintenance is easy too..........

I have had a lot of tile floors and a lot of wood floors in my house and at our weekend lake place. Weekend place has the greatroom type thing with wood floor throughout the main level including the kitchen. House at home has tile throughout the lower level and wood throughout the main level except foyer, bathroom and now the kitchen - which previously had wood.

I like both but the thing I really prefer about tile over wood is the durability. The tile floor in my lower level (which is where we come in from the garage) is 36 years old and it looks like new - and requires no maintenance except washing it. It's impervious to water and slops and that's what I wanted in my kitchen.

Wood floors are lovely when they're new but they do wear and they do need refinishing if you want them to continue to look good. They are not impervious to cat claws - I know from experience. Water is not the greatest thing for wood floors so I always use it sparingly when cleaning them. I don't want that kind of surface for a floor that gets very dirty - I want one I can scrub with as much water as I want.

So I've had tile in my kitchen now for four years and could not be happier with it. Fortunately I don't experience the pain and agony some people seem to have standing on tile. I find it to be no different than wood in terms of comfort. It is colder but I wear something on my feet so that's not a big factor for me. My adjacent wood floors are completely even with my tile.

Good luck coming to a consensus with DH. Both kinds of floors are nice but have their pros/cons.

Hello,
I also am in Fairfax County. I now have hardwoods in my whole home and love them in the kitchen. We have a step down family room in carpet. At my new home We are going with travertine in the kitchen and hardwoods elsewhere.
I think either way you win. Water damage to woods is very rare, esp in a new home. Good luck