how can you stain linoleum ?

I don't know ! Maybe with a colored wax? Wash? Can anyone help?

The nature of stain is just that -- stain. Stain needs something porous to go into, like a raw wood. Linoleum is not porous, so would not accept stain. You could probably go over it with stain, but I would think the results would be very short term. I have heard of painting lineoleum, but again, nothing I would do. I can't imagine it would hold up long term even with coats of poly over it.
I had a friend who had an ugly linoleum floor, I mean really ugly. With kis in college, she was a few years away from replacing it. I suggest she get a large area rug for under her table. She did that and maybe had another by the sink. I can't remember, but the rugs were so pretty, you hardly even noticed the ugly floor underneath. Might be a suggestion for your friend.

Thanks for your thoughts. I know she doesn't want to spend any serious money on it, and would probably rather save the $ to go into a new floor rather than buy rugs that will hard to clean around in the kitchen. She was hoping to ''make it do'' for now, having more energy than dollars for the moment.

Perhaps a transparent paint wash would suffice? (With a sealer on top of course.) It's a horrifying surface to try and keep clean all the time, and I absolutely see the problem she's having with it. I thought surely someone here might have had some experience with a similar situation...

What about the $1/sf vinyl tiles? They're easy to install (DH and I are pretty useless when it comes to DIY and we did a great job on the kitchen and bath in our previous house!), unless she's got a monster huge kitchen would probably cost little more than fooling around with layers of paint and polyurethane, and look surprisingly good. Lowes has particularly nice ones, between the Cryntel stone-look and the Novalis wood-look which is startlingly realistic, and Lowes/HD (Lowes takes HD coupons) coupons are fairly easy to get hold of.

In addition, though, there are many sites online about painting vinyl flooring. Google "paint vinyl floor". It's time-consuming, may render the kitchen unusable for days as the paint and polyurethane cures, and isn't likely to wear very well (especially if she has a dog, family/friends who wear shoes in the house, or she's an enthusiastic scrubber) so she'd better start saving up for a new floor now because as it wears it may well look even worse than the original floor did, but as a temporary measure it may work ok. She could tape off the black squares and just paint the white ones, or paint the whole thing and add a stencil or something.

IMO a stain would just make the floor look dirty, defeating the entire purpose!

Oh boy, I had one of those floors for 14 years up until last March and was all too happy to get rid of it. Honestly, I can't think of anything to do to tame it other than rugs. Those floors are a bear to keep clean.

Sorry I can't help. One suggestion is to call a floor place and ask if they could recommend anything.

Is the floor layed out on the diagnonal, or is it square to the walls?

I vastly prefer the dynamic of the first lay out; it is the quintessential "classic" floor. It's been in use since the days of the Greeks and the Romans.

Rather than attempting to paint or stain it into "submission", I'd be more inclined to embrace it, OR add a polyproplynene rug over it.

(Incidently, that's the very pattern I used for the painted floor in our living area... a perfect background for pretty rugs!)

I can see where stain would never work and was about to say the same for paint until I saw the link below.
But..........she needs to first calculate the cost of primer and paint, and the cost of eating out since she won't have the kitchen for awhile. Then there's the issue of the fumes from the recommended oil paint or varnish.

She should then take the total cost and compare it to the price of a large area rug or a poly rug.
Costco, Lowes and HD often carry washable runners for under $20 in several colors, so she may want to consider those also.

Here is a link that might be useful: Painting linoleum

Thank you ALL ! I appreciate your advice/efforts on my friend's behalf. I know they want to replace the floor at some point and think they are still trying to figure out just what to do first. I'll share your thoughts with her and see where it may lead...

Oh, and Chelone, the floor is laid out in a square pattern. The house was built in the late 60's and never been remodeled so there's a lot to deal with, one thing at a time. (It's a slightly rough diamond.) There's no embracing this floor however. I think whomever picked it initially had somewhat of a split personality! They were also trying to tie two areas together and there's a slight floor pitch between the two rooms. Personally, I think the best thing would be to get rid of it and start over IMHO, instead of stacking one more thing on top of another. At this point, I'm just glad it isn't my decision!

If the linoleum will take a poly finish, maybe make a glaze with poly and put a few coats on?

Is linoleum a solid product? where you could sand the thing first? even with a floor sander, lol.

Try Debby Travis too, she refinishes everything!

DO NOT sand the vinyl/linoleum tiles. Prior to 1979 they may have asbestos in them.

Why is this floor so hard to keep clean? It's half black, right?

Or is it that the lino itself is hard to keep clean?

Thanks for clarifyint. :~)

It's probably hard to keep clean because a true black will show *every* speck of light colored dirt, and true white will show *every* speck of dark colored dirt. Add to that footprints showing up on both, and my guess is that they're ready to scream.

Thanks for the tip about asbestos!

catkin, black and white are the colors that show dirt the most. Black shows anything dusty/muddy and white shows everything. It would drive me mad to have this floor. It's not hard to clean, it's just hard to keep clean!

I'll let her know what you all had to share. Thank You!