I was going to use white marble in a powder room, but the white grout lines scared me off. I use this room often without taking off my muddy shoes from being outside training the dogs. I wanted the modern look of pure white marble and invisible grout lines. I'm going instead with some gray quartzite and grout that matches my entry.

For a bathroom or powder room, that's one thing. Especially if the bathroom is the master, where the only people who will be using it will be those who have a vested interest in keeping it pristine. As for the white grout lines, there's a really easy fix for that-- don't use white grout!

For a kitchen, you're going to see that floor get trashed in no time. I don't care what kind of sealer you use, it won't be enough.

i have scratched marble from the kitchen floor design. maybe I will consider a porcelain tile that mimics marble?

Just a thought. All the marble floors I have been on have been extremely slippery when wet. Admittedly that was a work setting and I haven't had alot of experience with other stones like Travertine, etc.

Good Luck.

I'm also considering marble, or maybe granite, tile for the floor in our master bath. One of my questions is how slippery it is. We like the polished look far better than honed, but I'm worried that it will be too slippery. Is this a major issue?

BTW we're seen some nice-looking ceramic/porcelain tiles that mimic either marble or travertine, which we are considering for the guest bath; they are far cheaper than the real thing. Not sure how well it would work in a kitchen; personally I don't care for tile floors in the kitchen--they are cold (unless you have radiant heat!), hard, can chip or crack if you drop something, and the grout is nearly impossible to keep clean.

"As for the white grout lines, there's a really easy fix for that-- don't use white grout!"

:p~~~

I have marble in my master bath. We used light gray grout and I plan to actually stain it to make it a little darker, I like the contrast. The drawback is it is cold. I mean so cold your feet hurt after standing on it. We didn't do under floor heating (electric mats) because the installer resisted (as did DH) and I regret it. I should have at least put it in front on the toilet and sink.

We used Azuvi tiles ("carrara gris") in our master bath. They're faux marble, white with pale grey veining. It covers a pretty big area and looks great. It also blends well with real carrara marble sash around the shower. I wanted a basically white, homogenous look for the floor without the expense and coldness (temperature) of real stone. (Our limestone floor in another bathroom is noticeable colder). The pale grey (almost white) epoxy grout is darkening. This is the big problem with light grouts, always. In a kitchen I doubt you'd be able to avoid it darkening.

We like the polished look far better than honed, but I'm worried that it will be too slippery. Is this a major issue?

Let me put it this way. Several people have come in here with that very complaint. I've done many polished marble and granite bathroom floors, and never heard of that problem until I came to this forum. Even in my own home years ago in Connecticut-- I used a marble called Pink Argenta (don't blame me-- my WIFE'S choice!! :-) ), and we never had any kind of slipping problem from it. We also had blue pearl granite tile in our front entry (THAT was my choice!), and even with snow and all being tracked in by the kids, never once had an accident.

Our neighbor the decorator did marble throughout her entire bathroom. She says it is simply beautiful, but w/o heated floor it is torture. We have ceramic tile and we hop from rug to rug placed in front of the sink, shower and toilet. Someday, if that bath gets remodeled, the floor will be heated. Regarding slippery issue...I've climbed a lot of marble steps in Italy and Greece in the rain w/o slipping. I suppose you'd call those "honed" after a few hundred years?

Re: slipperiness, you cannot walk on our polished 12x12 floors with bare, wet feet. You WILL end up on your a$$. We have a mat outside the shower and when I use the tub I throw a mat or towel there. The 4x4 (honed) shower floor is no problem. I wouldn't let the slipping issue stop you. Just don't walk on it with wet feet. A little sloshed water isn't an issue. Just can't step straight from the shower onto the floor.

I had a white marble kitchen floor in a condo once when I was young and stupid. I liked the modern feel of that shiny white floor.

That was the first 14 seconds after it was installed. From there it went downhill. It stains terribly, scratches if you breath on it, and is slippery as all get out.

I took that out and replaced it with granite. Ok so it was impervious to damage (didn't stain and didn't scratch) but I do have to admit it was slippery when wet, so I just didn't get it wet :oP In a kitchen it was lovely...but that's not a room you try to have a wet floor in. In the master bath I used another granite and it was slippery since you often are "wet" in there. Since then I've learned to use other surfaces like travertine or honed...or in the new place we'll have the antique tile instead.

One other option is to use a mosaic for the major portion of the floor or in front of area's you'd use a rug. The smaller the tile pieces on any floor, the more grout...which means less slipping. I'm using that in our entry.

I have white, veined marble in the entry (grout matches veins), antique tumbled travertine in the powder room, textured ceramic in the kitchen, and glossy, smooth ceramic in the upstairs bathrooms.

The marble came with the house so is probably 20 years old. It's not pristine but looks mostly fine. There aren't scratches so much as dull spots (which do bother me), but I don't know if those are in the stone or something from the PO. It's the same amount of slippery as the smooth ceramic. The textured ceramic is much less slippery, and the travertine is the least slippery but the hardest to clean.

The travertine does have scratches and stains (which I haven't tried hands and knees for yet) from major repair work done in the middle of the night by a guy who wasn't nice to the floor. It's also not a barefoot friend. Even though it doesn't slip, I wouldn't do it in a kitchen.