You could place heating grid under kitchen tile floor. But I think all wood everywhere would be just grand. Did you pick out your cabinets yet? Get real wood floors not those manufactured ones. The place is going to look great!!!

I think you could go either way.

If you're worried about the tile being cold, you could always install a heating system but that would be pricey with such a big area. A large sized tile would be the best for your space.

Wood could be broken up with various sized rugs. Also, think of a contrasting hardwood or one with different tones like a tigerwood. That would also provide contrast.

For me, if I had wood going through the entire house, I'd pick tile for your kitchen. With the step down, you won't have an awkward demarcation point.

We have picked out our cabinets. They are cherry rose with an ebony glaze. The tiles we chose awhile ago (not bought yet) are a warm carmel color. We are happy with the tiles themselves with the cabinets. The wood we have choosen (not bought yet )is a 3/4" santos mahogany.

Part of the problem is the santos mahogany doesnt look "wow" with the cabinets which has us re-thinking the wood selection.

Please keep the suggestions coming..it is so helpful. I cant wait to get this house done and be able to help others based on my experiences

I also have an open main floor with kitchen/dining & living areas. I wanted hardwood and some ceramic but decided to go all hardwood & I'm glad I did. The wood adds warmth and brings the areas together.
http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos3896/3/64/38/28/51/6/651283864306_0_ALB.jpg; http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos3896/3/64/38/28/41/5/541283864306_0_ALB.jpg; http://images.kodakgallery.com/photos3549/2/69/77/55/94/8/894557769206_0_ALB.jpg

Wood flooring would look really beautiful in your space, add some rugs for pops of color and you can't go wrong! I'm just thinking the colors of the two woods may be too similar and you just need to change the floor color to one that offers more contrast. Personally, I'm more partial to darker floors in large spaces, I just think they look amazing.

We decided to put tile in the kitchen of my new home (that is almost finished). Currently in our house we have wood everywhere, including the kitchen. Granted, our house is 80+ years old, but the wood in the kitchen is a diaster. It is chipped, stained, gouged, and even splintered in some spots. So, as I have already mentioned, we chose tile for our new home for three reasons. 1. To advoid bad looking wood in the future, (2) To break-up the whole house wood floor and offer some different type of flooring, and (3) So I wouldn't have to stress over matching my wood floor to my cabinetry or stain hardwood all over the house a color I didn't *love* just so it would match my kitchen cabinets. Honestly, #3 was the deal breaker for the wood floor.

I have ceramic tile in my kitchen & bath floors and hate, hate, hate them. They were like this when I bought the house and I will be ripping and replacing with wood whenever I get that far.

I don't hate the look, it's just everything else about them:
1. They are cool in the summer, and just plain cold in the winter. It's the afternoon before they are not chilling on bare feet.
2. I hate the time spent cleaning the grout. I've sealed the grout, but it's worn down in high-traffic areas in less than a year. And, I do use natural cleaners.
3. I've lost more glass bowls & glassware in general by dropping accidents in this house than anywhere I've ever lived.

I'm sure I can think of more reasons if I sat here a few more minutes, but those are my top 3 thoughts on ceramic tile...and purely my opinion.

In all our previous houses we had wood floors in the kitchen an I loved them except for the scratches. Our current house has dark tile in the kitchen and baths. At first the hardness really bothered me, hurt my feet and back. But I loved not worrying about scratching the floor with the chairs and stools, or about water drops damaging the wood floor. To remedy the cold and hardness I wear slippers or in the summer have a good pair of flip flops with a good sole just for wearing in the house. Now I don't think I would go back to wood in the kitchen because ceramic is more practical. And I think the tile and wood cabinets look great together.

I will have natural cherry cabs uba tuba granite and red oak floor ss appliances, any pics of paint choices? I am getting pressured to paint before cabinets are in but I have no granite yet to get my ideas flowing
thanks

Can I put in a vote for slate? It comes in many colors besides just gray. We've had slate flooring for nearly five years, and I still like it. I have never cleaned the grout (the floor was sealed just after installation, and not once since then) by itself; it gets mopped along with the tiles. Yes, dishes will break if you drop them, but most will break if dropped on a wood floor.

Anyway, there are pros and cons of slate floors, which I'd be happy to post if you're interested.

My floor (16" tiles):

Another slate floor (12" tiles):

{{!gwi}}

uxorial-thta looks just like the tile we are gonna put in our new MBath-if we ever get done with it!!lol.. is it form lowes?

We have wood floors in our kitchen, through the eat-in part, and into the dining room. All I can say is you have to not have pets. They are so scratched up and we are anal about clipping toenails. We've only lived here for a year and I am so embarrassed of our floors. We will be replacing them in the next few months. Maybe we can have them redone but I don't want to put money into fixing something that's just going to recur. If we didn't have the 2 dogs, I think they would only be partially scratched from normal living. I never realized how sensitive wood floors can be.

I have tile floors in my kitchen and I like them now but sometimes I wish I had gone with wood because I'm afraid that in a few more years the tile will look dated. I think that is a problem with tile. It dates fairly easily. I chose a slate look alike although it doesn't have as much variation as the slate in the above pictures. But, I think with tile regardless of what you pick it will date whereas wood is always classic. And, to me it seems like a huge effort to replace tile (although maybe I think it is a bigger deal than it is) I think wood with wood cabinets might be much though and would maybe choose painted cabinets over stained. Also, if you get the tile, I do highly recommend installing radiant floor heating if you can. It cost us a bundle for a hydronic system but it is so worth it in the winter when I walk in there in socks and can feel the heat on my feet! An electric system is much cheaper to install, but costs more to run so I guess it just depends on what system you will have in your home to begin with. Good luck!