I live in the Pacific NW so plenty of rain and an occasional snow. I've had solid red oak hardwood floors with a medium stain in 2 homes here for 17 yrs and never had any problems with any discoloration from water. I have a rug in the entry and have a covered porch outside where really snowy boots are left, or I shake them off before bringing them in (most of the time, but there's likely been some occasional water from kids things--nothing major). We also have the same wood in the entry from the garage into the house and no problems there--that entry sees more traffic than the front door. I've always had an entry rug and people use it routinely (if the rug's background is dark, I've found they'll use it even if it's oriental--when I had a light one, they did like Lindac said.). If kids were running in and out a lot dropping water or snow all over, I don't think I'd leave big puddles or piles of snow on the floor, but that's just me. I wouldn't leave that on tile either. I'd never want a little patch of tile in the entry personally. I have tile in my laundry room and when the shedding of snow clothes happens, I send them all in there to put things in the dryer or to hang things up to dry. When we had medium/dark engineered hardwood throughout another house in a drier climate--it didn't seem to be a problem either, but again, I used entry rugs. I can't recall the brand or thickness, but know we were told they could be sanded and refinished about 3-4 times if needed. I happen to love wood floors--can you tell?

With black and white tiles you don't have to use black or white grout, you can choose a dark gray that will have less issues with dirt and staining. Also, depending on the style of your home, you could consider some natural stone. I don't have a picture, but I used Ostrich Gray Slate/Quartzite in my entry and I love it. It's a natural stone with a lot of pattern in gray/charcoal/black and it's honed smooth. The dark gray grout never looks dirty. (I have the same tile and grout in my mud room/laundry room too.)

Ok, thanks all, I'll use the Soltiere stainless sink on the main island with the White Macaubas. Question below on other sink... Kirkhall - The (now) stainless sink on my island will be my everything sink. The other (undetermined) sink with be everybody else's everything sink, and I'll make it just big enough to be useful if needed as an extra prep sink. lascatx - Both are undermounted sinks. And, thanks for the reference points on stainless! a2gemini - I am a total Silgranit fan. I wish I could make my own color. I waited to see what the Cinder would look like, and there is now a sample Cinder Silgranit sink in a local showroom, but it fell flat with both the black and the WM. The backsplash that will be on the wall behind the "extra" sink is a warm gray glazed brick. (YAY FOR HAVING A BACKSPLASH ALREADY SELECTED!) But, the metallic gray Silgranit looked bad with the backsplash brick. So, if I do Silgranit, it looks like it will be black on black... Oldbat2be - Every time I see your backsplash, I think that you are probably a really fun person to know. Not old-bat-ish at all. Thanks for the pics. In case anyone is still reading... I am including an architect's rendering of the space we are building. The room is built now. Staining will happen shortly, and cabinets are just now being built. You can see the main sink (now stainless!) on the middle island. The islands and also the wall behind the range are the White Macaubas. The cabinet stretch on the left wall (perpendicular to the islands) will be the breakfast/serving/drink/etc space, and will have the leathered black countertop with the extra sink on the far end. Backsplash is warm gray glazed brick. Cabinet stain and beams are a darker walnut. Floors and ceiling are natural. You can see the proximity of the sinks. So, picturing that serving space, are you still seeing the anthracite sink, or does this sink need to be stainless given that the main sink (thanks!) is now stainless? Next time I start a thread? I'll try to include the pics up front! The rendering looks "dark", but the two walls you can't see are mostly all glass. IRL, there is lot's of natural light.

So you are removing all the tile and replacing it with vinyl plank is that right? As for flooring color if you are painting the cabinets then anything will work . BTW I would strongly suggest you get the cabinets done by a pro unless you have done a lot of cabinet painting and spraying . BTW gray and beige rarely work together and wall color is the last choice you make and the floors the first then you decide cabinet color, then counters then backsplash.