Have you thought about Cork Flooring?

Our house was built in 1873. We have wood plank floors throughout the house. I initially wanted wood in the kitchen but we had the issue of "matching" the dining room and entryway floors. These floors are well used and would not be easy to match. So we elected to go with tile - 18x18" travertine. We like it very much and it cleans up well so far. We sealed it really well before it got any real traffic.

I must admit I am going to have a similiar kit and I am putting in wide pine planks but if it were in my budget I would go with Soapstone tiles. There are a few porceline tiles that sort of resemble soapstone.

What about slate? I have a friend who has a similar color scheme as you in her kitchen and her slate floor looks fabulous.

We haven't moved in yet, but we love our Marmoleum Click flooring in our kitchen. We have kind of a medium gray (in 2' x 1') strips with some creamy colored squares sprinkled in. Others do checkerboard or other pattern. Marmoleum also comes in sheets and is available in SO many colors...The click together kind comes in only 18 colors, but is DIY friendly, if that interests you. The Click is attached to a cork layer for comfort.

If you do a search for Marmoleum at the bottom of the kitchens forum page, you will find previous threads with photos of the different ways people here have used it.

Here are some photos of ours when it first went in...Not great, since, as I said, the kitchen's still under construction. The lighter part of the top photo shows the color best, but it also makes it look like the seams are obvious, which they aren't. They are so nice and tight and blend really well. It may have been because it just went in when I took the photo.

Here is a link that might be useful: forbo marmoleum flooring

I'm another vote for Marmoleum. It's appropriate for your house and there's lots of colors. You could also do a pattern with it, too. There's tons of options....plus it's environmentally friendly.

Thank you for the ideas.

Slate or random fieldstone was what I was thinking but I was worried about the dark floors and the dark counters being too much with the deep red. The only pictures I have seen with similar color schemes have wood floors -- and I don't photoshop.

I would love to do brick but am worried the brick will fight with the red.

vwhippiechick - very, very cute pup! The fur matches the floor!

There are so many different shades of slate, I'm sure you could find something that would great with your colors.

We had the same issue with so much wood in the rest of the house and not wanting to attempt to match it. We also had brick in the adjoining sunroom, so that added another competing flooring (although I did consider trying to match the brick). Here's what I really wanted to do in our kitchen:

Reclaimed antique French tile

This tile was subroofing tile from very old French homes. As the homes are restored, they remove all the tile, replace the subroof tile with a more energy efficient alternative, and reset the curved tiles. These subroof tiles that have such a long and interesting history are then sold to be used for flooring.

I could get them from the link above, but I would have had to wait a few months. I could get them from somewhere else and pay much, much more (and they were pretty expensive to begin with). I did find a very similar version from Austria for a really good price, but it had to be cleaned. Anyway, I went with travertine. It looks great, and I think it will go nicely with the cabinets, but it will never be as cool as tile from the roof of a French chateau.

yandj - he was the inspiration for the color of the floor! Much less sweeping when the fur matches!!

Holligator - I found some very similar to your french tiles and fell in love with them but the cost was well let's say . . . high, really high, like altitude sickness high.

Borngrace - We considered a random slate tile also. I thought it look would be appropriate for the age of our home. I forget what it was called but saw it at The Tile Shop. They have a website.

Holligator -- too funny.

17th century reclaimed French Chateau tile is the running joke in my family.

In 2001 when we did our first house's kitchen I walked in a tile store, looked down and fell in love -- the guy who worked there said, "of course you love it -- it costs more than anything else in the place" and told me what it was. I ended up with a terra cotta ceramic that had the "feel" but not the feeling.

We just met with the archtitect about the kitchen addition this week and were talking about floor choices and also controlling costs and they were teasing me about wanting the French Chateau tile again :-)

Maybe I should match the floor to my golden too . . . hmmmmmm

My brother calls it dog "zest"

That French chateau stuff is irresistible, isn't it?! I got a sample from that company and, even though my travertine was laid last week, I keep picking up that sample and caressing it longingly. If you're still interested, I can find the very similar, but less expensive (and uncleaned) Austrian version in my e-mail again. It was very tempting.

I will say, though, now that you all point it out, that the travertine matches my pooches much better than the French stuff. That's a plus! :)

Borngrace, before I found your second message I was thinking flagstone for that old a house, a similar look to the slate you showed. Here's some nice creamy looking flagstone that should go with your cream backsplash and walls. There are all kinds of tones of flagstone that range from light and warm (reddish) to dark and cool (blueish).

It's a very traditional kitchen finish and it shouldn't be hard to find flags that will enhance your kitchen.

I like the flagstone site also -- I'm getting quite a good list here -- thank you

Ooh, I have still not found my digital camera linky thing - so cannot show you a pix, but - I ended up because of a similar floor matching issues with a mountain dark bluish gray slate tile that matches my blue pearl countertop and is a cool contrast to the mandarin cherry cabinetry (Omega).Though with soapstone, I would definitely look for something warmtoned -like slate. A friend talked me out of going with a yellow-toned wood floor - said I needed to stick with just the two basic color tones.

Many days I miss my inclination to "lighten up" with the wood, other times I walk in and exclaim to myself how chic it looks, and, have to say I love the tile everytime there is water sloshing. Can hardly wait, though, until I can get in an island or back wall cabinetry to break it up a bit.

Two points of concern about tiling with an older house:
1) if you have a large kitchen over a basement - you have to get a consult to see if there is enough support, not too much flex in the floor (see tiling forums and John Bridges), and you have to worry about level floors.

Vwhippie - love your golden doggie AND your large tile pattern of matching color!

Though - that's another thing to consult contractor about - is size of tiles with an older home. Smaller is easier for them to be flexible with in leveling.

Holligator and borngrace, LOVE the French reclaimed tile. Your post and link sent me on an internet search (I did find a couple of other resources, including one with Austrian tile, in case anyone is interested). Um, how astronomical is this stuff? As I plan my own kitchen reno, flooring is still a TBD and this would look great in our house, which is about 100 years old.

Holligator and borngrace, LOVE the French reclaimed tile. Your post and link sent me on an internet search (I did find a couple of other resources, including one with Austrian tile, in case anyone is interested). Um, how astronomical is this stuff?

I found the Austrian tile ranging from $10 sq ft (for the uncleaned) to $14 sq ft (cleaned). The Austrian tile is smaller (10"x6") and a bit more uniform in color, and since two of the things I liked best about the French tile were its size (14"x9") and color variation, I decided against it.

The French tile ranged from $14 sq ft (wait three or four months to get it in) to $24 sq ft (get it in 10 days or so). I could have swallowed the $14 (barely), but not the $24. I'm really good at rationalizing an expense like that for something I'd love that much. :)

Sadly, the wait for the $14 was too long for me. This is very, very thick tile (1"), so I would want it under the cabinets. I just couldn't see it looking good butting up against the cabs, and I didn't want to lose a full inch in counter height. My cabinet schedule wouldn't accommodate the wait.

I'm happy with what I got, but I will probably always regret just a little bit passing up the opportunity to get the French reclaimed tile.

He(?)'s cute, borngrace!! Yours too, Holligator!! Yep - I'd say it's important for him to match the floor, for exactly the same reason vwhippiechick & Holligator gave - you won't see the fur.