If you go over to www.johnbridge.com you can find tons of information of tile and tiling. I have a feeling that marble will not be encouraged for a kitchen, certainly not for kitchen counters, but I'm only recalling what I've read over at that site.

We have recently-installed maple cabinets. While my wife and I like the maple, the wood (probably because it needs sealing before staining) has the pecular property of appearing a different color depending upon whether the grain is horizontal or vertical. Must be a characteristic of the way light reflects off the grain.

We have recently installed cherry cabinets in our master bath and I really like the look of this wood. I'm not sure of the natural color, but I would think almost any finish could be achieved.

I have maple cabinets stained a dark red(might be Merlot) Water based Minwax stain. I didn't have any problem putting color on the wood.
Marble will require a much more rigid floor then a ceramic tile. Any natural stone will fall in this category. You can't just slap this material on a flat surface like sheet vinyl. The floors with stone will be at least an inch higher then the floors next to it, maybe higher.
Hopefully you have an experienced floor contractor.
Ron

Whatever floor I go with will be going down on top of my slab. Currently it has vinyl on it, but the vinyl is just glued directly on the slab.

As far as the wood choices go, I dont really know how to choose which one to go with, because once stained, they are very similar in appearance. How should I decide on material choice?

Alder and cherry are basically the same wood visually. Price point wise alder is the most reasonable and is generally used as a substitute for cherry. They have a subtle grain pattern much like maple. Oak on the other hand has a pronounced grain pattern that will be much more obvious.
You decide which one based on what you like and what your budget is.
I had a customer who just "had" to have cherry cabinets...until she found out the price. Then maple was okay too.
Ron

Thank you for the info. How tough are these different woods as far as being susceptible to damage (dents, scrapes, etc..)?

Oak and hard maple are harder than cherry and alder.
Ron

I will put in my two cents regarding a few things:

We went with Silestone Quartz specifically because it's maintenance free (not installed yet). Whenever I purchase anything, I always think about the cleaning and upkeep aspect. Those who have Quartz, love it. Consider a somewhat rounded edge so there's less chance of chipping from dropping things. I've heard of those who have a squared edge where this happened.

And speaking of cleaning, the floor you chose is beautiful, but will show ALL THE DIRT. Hope you like mopping almost everyday, especially with dogs.

The color combo is very rich looking, and I like it.

You may also consider putting your post in the kitchen forum where it's always very busy with informative people.

Good luck,
Deb

Thank you so much everyone for the input. It is much appreciated!

After all of my reading, I am 99.9% set on Quartz and Silestone is indeed one of the ones I have looked at. I was looking at the bullnose edge option for whichever brand I go with.

The cleaning daily part is not a good thing for me. I dont like things that are extrtemely high maintenance. I am completely up in the air as far as what type of flooring to go with, but I love that marble tile so much. Decisions decisions : )

I will take your advice and post this in the Kitchen forum to see if it helps at all. Thanks for the advice!

I would also caution against marble floors for 2 reasons - they get very slippery when wet and are hard surfaces to stand on. How about marble tile as a backsplash material (I agree that it is beautiful - I just wouldn't want to walk/stand/slip on it) and putting down wood floors? What other types of flooring do you have?

This new flooring will go throughout the kitchen, dining room, and foyer. I have carpet everywhere else in the house. I have tossed around running the new floors into the living room floor as well, since it is directly and openly attached with the rest of whrer the new flooring will be, but I think it would just be too much, so I changed my mind on that.

I disagree that there is such a thing as "too much" wood. I personally love the look of wood floors throughout and actively dislike carpeting (in part because I have allergies).

Wood floors thoughout a house gives a continuous flow to the areas and creates a more unified feel, IMHO. I generally dislike the look of tile kitchens abutting wood/carpet living/family rooms. It just looks too chopped up for my taste.

That said, I just saw an amazing combination of stone, wood and carpeting over in the flooring forum. One poster -- chiefneil - who has impeccable taste, ran a border of dark wood flooring thoughout his house and did insets of different materials in different rooms. I think the reason I liked this way of doing it is that the wood is still the unifying element that gives a cohesive look. Check out the photo's of chiefneil's floors (there are a couple)

Here is a link that might be useful: flooring

That is interesting indeed. I have to say, it is very beutiful. Thank you for the link!

I would say skip the marble even though you love it...very slippery when wet (do you really need to fall?) and I think it will be a lot of unnecessary maintenance. I seriously would consider wood, either the real thing or the engineered, either would be wonderful and it looks so much warmer (easier to stand on also in the kitchen). My 2 cents.