What an adorable kitchen!

My first choice would be marmoleum.

I think vinyl with a coved edge sounds fine. Maybe in a shade of yellow?

Vinyl/linoleum squares would look nice as well. I think a yellow/white checkerboard would look good.

That kitchen is extremely cute, and just shouts "Mom!" :-)

You can cove sheet marmoleum, too. My mother is also particular about her coved Congoleum for the ease of sweeping.

Coved Marmoleum with a border, perhaps?

Or coved Marmoleum Click squares:

She could even reproduce her current vinyl in lino:

Most of these photos are from the collection of Barry Carlton, the Zen Master of Marmoleum; link to lots more of his work below:

Here is a link that might be useful: Marmoleum installations

Totally cute kitchen!

Does she actually need a new floor? Maybe it's hard to tell from small photos, but it looks fine.

I second (third, fourth, whatever) the Marmoleum/Congoleum vote if she does get the new floor.

I think that nice marbled Marmoleum would be great in either plain yellow or yellow with blue checks. Plain blue might sort of better ease the transition to the dining room, but as of now the two rooms seem to be from two separate although equally charming universes, so I would stick with the yellow and close the door as needed.

It's great that your mom has the house she is so attached to and that she decided to largely keep the vibe.

Oh, I did not know that the Marmoleum Click Squares could be coved! That might be a good option.
I think that her current flooring still looks good, but she keeps complaining that it is hard to keep clean. It has probably been down at least 20 years.
My siblings and I were thrilled that she decided to remove the carpet and refinish the original hardwoods. They came out beautifully. She had originally wanted off white wall to wall carpet, but now loves the wood.
I imagine that the kitchen originally had linoleum, so I thought that would be the most appropriate choice, unless it is too spendy.
The problem with redoing in vinyl is that it is very hard to find period appropriate designs.

I had very similar yellow/green squares to what circuspeanut posted in my former kitchen which was 40's or 50's remodeled.

I found a box of them in the basement dated 2005 so they were put in right before i moved in. Vinyl I presume, or maybe lineoleum? They were 12x12 layed in a 24x24 pattern.

Wood would certainly be appropriate too.

I was thinking of Amtico as well, which is solid vinyl. Its a European product so their aesthetics are a bit different than ours. They have a "Pure Plain Canary" and a "Pure Plain Ocean" but unfortunately they don't have a pure white. The white has silver glitter in it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Amtico

Love that cobalt and yellow tile!

How about a vinyl flooring that's like what she has now, but with a dot of cobalt?

Love that cobalt and yellow tile!

I have always loved that tile also. Unfortunately, it really should be replaced, as there area quite a few areas where the glaze has worn away completely.

How about a vinyl flooring that's like what she has now, but with a dot of cobalt?

That would probably work, but it's hard to find that type of vinyl pattern these days. Most vinyls are trying to emulate stone tiles. Hopefully my mom can get some real linoleum installed at a reasonable price. I like some of the examples shown above.

One reason that sheet vinyl tends to be hard to clean is that even though all of them have a polyurethane top coat, the embossing that has become popular has small 'valleys' that trap dirt. Scrub too hard (especially if it's lower cost or old sheet vinyl) or accidentally use ammonia-based products, and the problem gets worse because now the top coat is scratched and traps even more dirt in minute crevices.

Your mother needs to understand that all flooring products now have poly top coats. That does NOT make them shiny, it makes them durable. You always want that topcoat to protect the actual flooring product from the abrasive grinding that shoes and feet make when they step upon dirt - every little particulate is like sandpaper grinding on the surface.

If she wants shiny, you use a floor polish. BUT, you must periodically strip it off. Otherwise, the build-up yellows and makes the flooring look....dull and dirty again! A pernicious cycle ensues.

My vinyl floor tiles look much better (richer, deeper color) when polished. But I won't do that whole wax/wax/remove; then wax/wax/remove again, cycle. It's best to come to terms with what the flooring looks like, no matter what she chooses, and let the whole advertising-driven "shiny is clean!" idea lapse.

Well, at least the coves make it easier to clean the corners! Using anything but lino or vinyl might be a problem because decoving can be pretty nightmarish. Very cute kitchen. I'm surprised that the glaze is worn. That's unusual...

Well the tile has been there since about 1945, and has seen lots of scrubbing over the years!

Here's an example of one of the worst spots:

The whole thing needs to be regrouted, and I'm not sure that anything can be done about the worn spots.

My mother refuses to think about replacing it.

Marcy - thanks for posting the large checkerboard. We have been having a tough time coming up with how to re-do our kitchen floor and that is a nice look. I do not care for smaller checkerboard as that looks visually too busy for my taste. I also do not want a one color solid floor either. I am considering copying yours with a border around the edges of the cabs. Dh liked your pic, so now we need to speak to the floor guy about it. You may have solved a big problem for us, so, thanks again ;)

yay! I'm glad it was useful for you dianalo!

It is all replaced now with my new kitchen, so steal away! (and not that it was my idea to begin with - came with the house !:)

I did like a lot of things about the kitchen, but it just wasn't very functional for us.

I don't believe that Marmoleum click can be coved. The yellow and green checkerboard kitchen floor posted above is actually Marmoleum MCT tiles according to the installer's flickr album.