I much prefer wood over tile in a kitchen. Although it may not be a deal breaker if I loved a house, if I had to choose between two that were comparable, I would be more likely to choose the one with the wood floor. I spend a lot of time in my kitchen and find that it is much more comfortable to stand on. My back just feels better on the softer surface.

Strictly a personal preference though. I'm not really sure that either one would "hurt" you, per se.

I agree with Viviain for the same reason, although it's hard to judge how jarring the 2 different woods might be together.

I would go with whichever one gives the greater continutity from room to room. If the kitchen floors adjoin wood floors from another room, the wood floors in the kitchen would make the space "flow" better.

From a DIY'er perspective, if I didn't like either floor, wood floors are much easier to take up than tile. Neither one would turn me off from buying the home, but since you're replacing the floors I'd vote for the wood.

I'd prefer wood over tile too, but that alone wouldn't be a deal breaker for me.

I think one thing to consider in using a wood floor (aside from the looks) is you are in an area where there is going to be moisture. Ask the sales person if a bucket of water spills on my wooden floor where will the water go? I think you know the answer. Since the joints aren't sealed, the water will flow under the flooring. If a pipe breaks or leaks, where will the water go...again, under the wood flooring. To dry out the flooring and the underside, there is an easy solution....tear out all the flooring.
I think you can see where this is leading. In my community apartments must have bath and kitchen floors are impervious to water. That means wood floor are not allowed.
The house that I moved into a few yrs. ago has a wooden floor in the bathroom that is being torn out because it has water damage.
I have ceramic tile in my kitchen and it is the best thing going.

In our new home we're putting wood in the kitchen. Also, we've had wood in our current home's entry, kitchen and dining nook for over 20 years. We're putting our home on the market this weekend so as I type the wood floor is being refinished to have that first impression "WOW" factor for prospective buyers as they enter. Based on how it's turning out it will too! LOL
I've had detached achilles tendon in each leg. If the homes were equal, for me tile would be a deal breaker.

If a bucket of water spills on your kitchen floor, then you mop it up. That's the same thing you'd do if it spills on your living room floor or anywhere else in the house. The water damage is caused by water setting on the floor for some time, such as if there's a leak in the roof or from upstairs plumbing and the owner is gone for some time. But this could happen in any room.

I think I'd put in whichever kitchen floor is more common in the neighborhood. But personally, I'd strongly prefer wood because tile is so hard on the feet.

After installing tile in our bathrooms and laundry room recently, I've decided I hate tile -- namely the grout lines! Even though they're sealed, I can't seem to keep them as clean as the tile and it's annoying to sweep the cracks. I'm SO glad I have wood laminate in my kitchen and plan to always have solid surface coverings in all of my future houses.

WOOD! For sure!! But it wouldn't be a deal-breaker for me either.

I vote for wood also, btw the joints are sealed in a site finished flooring, I've had hardwood kitchen floors for years, they look good and are very durable.

another vote for wood.

I'd go with the wood, but I'd pick a different cabinet. We have oak floors in kitchen as well as most of the rest of the house, and it's great. Much better than tile, I think, which I've always had before.

But I wouldn't put a golden oak floor in with cherry cabinets.

I also vote for wood, especially since that is what you already have on the rest of that level. I have natural oak floor and cherry stained cabinets and they look great together. You wouldn't want the floors to totally match the cabinets. The contrast helps the cabinets to stand out, and there is enough variation in the oak flooring that enhances the look of the cabinets.

If you wanted to do the oak to make it continuous (which I agree is a nicer look than having two different wood match), and you won't or can't change from the cherry cabinets, you could probably get rid of the yellowish tone by having ALL the floors sanded, and then either stained to something that would look good in all the rooms, or simply coated with a non-yellowing poly or other floor finish.

Oak doesn't HAVE to look yellow. A lot of the yellowing on oak floors is actually the aging of the finish. You said "mellow yellow stain on oak"--are you sure it's a stain?

Ask over at Flooring for some input on how to change the tone of your current oak floors.

Tile would actually be my last choice of flooring. It is hard on the back and feet. I prefer no grout lines at all in the kitchen--I don't like cleaning them and with kitchen grease, well, I'd rather not go there. If you drop a glass or plate on a wood or vinyl floor, it has a chance of not breaking. On tile, it would be a goner.

Tile can break if heavy things are dropped on it (good friends had their tile floor two weeks when their toddler dropped a can of soup on it and cracked a tile).The tile could be replaced of course, but it would be a hassle. Tile is also cold, which is a factor here in New England.

Here is a picture of my kitchen with cherry finish cabinets and natural oak floors with a polyurethane finish:

terriks, how did you add the pic to your post?

We did hardwood in our kitchen/living/dining to keep the smallish main level consistent. I don't think I would do it again unless it was a darker color. The microbevels tend to attract the dirt and show REALLY BAD! I also notice the floor is MUCH more beatup than the living/dining so the consistency effect is sort of lost. However, I don't like the feel of ceramic/por. tiles. We will have the same dilema in our new home.

Our kitchen has hard wood floors, white oak. I wouldn't change a thing. Looks great!!!!!!!!!

Enjoy the journey.

eal51 in western CT

Jubilee, you have posted this question before on another forum. On that one, the majority also voted for hardwood in the kitchen. I have many friends in your town, one a realtor. You will not make a mistake going with hardwood.

It would also be nice if you came back and acknowledged all the responses. Good luck.

jeff, I uploaded my pictures to a photo hosting site, I use Photobucket, which is free and easy to use. Photobucket provides you with an HTML tag that you simply copy and paste into the post.

My floor was site finished, and has no bevels. I have a friend with darker floors, and every bit of dust shows up on the.

Terriks, the color of my floors and cabinets are about the same. I think that it looks great and very tolerant of my family and the yellow dog hair. I think that the two woods work well together since they are significantly different. It's when they get too close in color that the problem begins.

Ours was also site-finished. I like it MUCH better than pre-finished. No bevels!

What's there now? (Presume you are selling.)

We just returned from a month at our condo. I love its' tile floors for cool and clean, but my joints don't like it much. (It's not only feet and ankles, but also knees and hips that get sore.) Our Illinois home has wood throughout except in baths and mudroom. Our kitchen floor looks just as nice after six years as it did first day.

The enemy of wood floors is grit (scratches) more than water. The new poly finishes make a spill bead up so it is easy to mop up. (A prior poster may have been thinking of waxed floors or long-standing water.)

Hi guys -

Sorry for the lack of response - there has just been so much going on at once for me this past week, including my mom going into the hospital on Thursday, and I think that I forgot that I posted here.

I really appreciate all the considerate responses, and especially the picture, Terriks. I think your combo looks very nice, but I don't think mine would, as the mandarin is so vibrant.

I had decided upon a Mercier birch flooring that would be a lighter, pre-finished floor and yet pick up tones from the other floor as well as the cabinetry. However, I didn't like the higher gloss of the sample, and found that satin would take too long to get in for my contractor's schedule. A friend came over and was completely horrified that I would consider putting in a lighter floor - the only one I had felt good about colorwise - and a realtor echoed that sentiment - about the lighter floor being bad. So in frustration, I ordered tile. Yes, guys - I ordered tile, and am still in a bit of shock over it.

I have an urge to do a last ditch order of enough red oak to create a combo - an option discussed recently with GC. Putting the tile (mingled gray slate look) around the L perimeter 42" wide (with it angled in the inner corner) and that would serve as a buffer to the rest of the wood floors on that level. And the rest in the red oak. But I will probably just go with the flow now - the tile has been delivered- because it would still be where people stand the most in a combo.

I hope you don't feel as if you've wasted your posts. They are appreciated, and I do apologize for not checking back in.

Julie

I prefer tile in the kitchen because it's practical. I know it's harder on the feet, but you can use a mat.

I'm a SLOB in the kitchen so tile works better for me. Also, I can gate off my dogs in the kitchen just in case they have an accident (they're getting old).
Someone told me that the wood floor gets worn out too quickly in the kitchen, so you have to get it re-finished often.

However, if I liked a house with hardwood flooring in the kitchen it wouldn't deter me from buying it.

Thanks, dabunch. I am today reconsidering my GC and designer's suggestion to have the work triangle and L perimeter done up in the tile, and the rest of the floor in a red wood. A good reminder about dogs, though. It could be a godsend for future families with large dogs to have the entire area tiled - and I've got to go back and check how much longer the time est. is for doing the combo. Might be better off adding some white cabinets on the gray tile on the back wall if it would cost 1-2K more to do the combo.

I am today reconsidering my GC and designer's suggestion to have the work triangle and L perimeter done up in the tile, and the rest of the floor in a red wood. A good reminder about dogs, though. It could be a godsend for future families with large dogs to have the entire area tiled - and I've got to go back and check how much longer the time est. is for doing the combo. Might be better off adding some white cabinets on the gray tile on the back wall if it would cost 1-2K more to do the combo.

Again, tile would kill my back. Can't do tile. So any potential buyers with bad backs or knees......

tile, i much prefer tile over wood in the kitchen. we had wood and ripped it up. our entire downstairs was done in brazilian cherry floors last year except for the master bath(ceramic tile) and kitchen,(ceramic tile). tile is much more practical in the kitchen. for those that complain about cleaning the grout,we used the stain free grout, i can't remember the exact name but it is more expensive and works great. no cleaning of grout at all and no sealing either. it was worth the extra money. we used it in the bathroom and the kitchen. lowes sells the one we used.
ladybugbaby

on the bad back and bad knees thing, i have a bad back and bad knees before we did tile, no problems from me. it is the same on any floor for me, carpet, wood or tile no change.
ladybugbaby

If you go with tile get dark grout. We installed tile in our kitchen last year and I went with a light colored grout. I've had the grout professionally cleaned twice in three months and it still looks like crap.

We are building right now and because of this very issue I want NO GROUT LINES on my floor. We are doing wood and stained concrete only.

Good luck!

I put in site-finished maple flooring in my kitchen in my previous house. It looked beautiful and was easy to maintain. But, in my new house which we built 7 years ago, we put in ceramic tile. Why? The wood floor was a constant worry about denting, etc. So, I covered it with rugs. What's the point of having wood if you have to cover it up to keep it from being ruined?

But, I believe, with the cabinets and the rest of the kitchen, it sold the house. The buyer, upon moving in (I was there to get some last minute stuff) told her visiting mother when she arrived to "come into my sanctuary" and led her into the kitchen.

I have had ceramic tile in all kitchens but that one. I don't notice that they are any worse on my feet and they certainly are not a worry as far as damaging them. Cleaning them is easier too. (I cleaned my wood floors on my hands and knees with a damp cloth).

We are putting ceramic tile in our new home we'll be building this summer for those reasons. But, were I to buy a home, it wouldn't be a deal-breaker if the kitchen had a wood floor, as long as it didn't have bevels on each edge (pre-finished instead of site-finished) which would just attract grit and be difficult to keep clean. Ease of cleaning is my first criteria when considering anything for the home.

Wood.
Tile is more practical in the kitchen obviously then again so is laminated counters but I'll take the luxury over practicality in this case.

What's the point of having wood if you have to cover it up to keep it from being ruined?

But, you don't need to cover it, I never have, not even a tiny mat, it is so nice and comfortable, why add a mat?

Since I have wood and love it, that would be my first preference. HOWEVER, if you're trying tho maintain the continuity of the flooring, that's another story. You want them to flow, and if it's a totally different color or style, if might look like an afterthought. After I put wood in the sitting room/kitchen areas, I realized I should have put it in the DR. Doing it as an afterthough would have required a wood strip between the two roooms instead of a continuous running of the strips. In this case, the carpeting looks best.

If you have any of the wood left, you could always use it in the center of a ceramic tile as a design feature to bring the two rooms together. It would look as though it were planned.

If you do use the ceramic tile, have it installed on the diagonal to give the room more of a special look. Don't use a dark grout~my best friend let the installer talk her into a dark grout and it was more noticeable that the tile! She ended up painting it a year later(there are grout paints). A color close to the tile looks best, but keep it sealed. ;o)

patty_cakes

Mary, ladybug, kelly, dockside, quirkyquercus, cmarlin, and pattycakes - sorry to be so long in responding. When in a hurry, which I have been, I tend to just jump onto kitchens - will try to check back more often here.

Your varied input is comforting, because it shows that it is not the end of the world that I decided in a given direction, which was tile. It was a last minute panic decision, as a friend with a great sense of style who consulted with a ton of decorators for her remodel exclaimed often that a "yellow floor" (referring to my consideration of maple or birch or white oak to sort of match the site finished)would be a disaster with the mandarin cherry and blue pearl, and to keep the color scheme all together.

Between seeing posts about the continuity of the wood (especially as we have the rest of that level as well as the upstairs in the site finished, my GC recently told me it was a stained red oak, but it looks like white oak), and talking with a shop owner KD who also was a tile fanatic, I caved. Don't know why, because terrik's looks great. And - it cost 3-4 more days of labor for the extra joist sistering and floor prep to go with the tile. That alone should have made me stay my ground!

I try to appreciate the gains from it - and it will look great if and when I add some white cabinetry for an island and perimeters (I chose American Olean Highland Ridge mountain), but I should have trusted that the look I was going for - downplaying the bluepearl into a more casual, country look with a birch floor, would have been just great - not for everyone, but maybe for those who would like my woods abutting the large backyard.

It is hard to know when to give yourself over to others advice or to keep your stand, but hopefully I can get better at discerning this, as I have erred in both directions.

Anyway - thanks for letting me vent! Someday I will find my digital camera and learn how to post pix!!! Honest! (Probably long after project is tucked away :-( )

Ciao!