You know, I am interested to hear people's takes on this too. I have had both, and thought I wouldn't like the hardwood because of dropping water. I DO wipe up every drop right away. It is not in as good a shape as the HW in the rest of the room, but the flow is great. Who's had hardwood, say, 15 years in their kitchen, and how does it hold up for that long? Thanks!

We had laminate in our old kitchen. I would have loved wood, but the rest of the house is carpet. The kitchen is a main thoroughfare from the entry we use every day to the rest of the house, and we have a 130 lb very drooly dog. Tile was our best option.

I love the way our tile looks, and it holds up great. It's porcelain, and I fell in love with it the second we saw it. It has held up great to traffic, drool and dirt, but glass breaks on contact.

All that being said, next house will probably be wood (or maybe cork). After an hour of baking or cooking, my back is screaming (I'm 35 years old, work out a lot and do yoga, I have no back problems). I've taken to wearing clogs in the kitchen when I know I'm going to be there for a while, but it still takes it's toll.

I kind of knew this was going to happen, after all the research we did. But it was the best compromise for our situation. I think there are pluses and minuses for either option, so you'll have to figure out what works best for you.

My kitchen is open to my FR so I want one floor for both (POs had sheet vinyl in kitchen and carpet in FR, which was choppy looking and a cleaning nightmare). I was planning on cheap HD tile (blew the budget on that gorgeous blue granite) but I secretly lusted for hdwd. I rationalized that I could spend about $2K now and, after the kids go off to college, replace with hdwd later. However, we found that the concrete slab is cracked. I'd be brain dead to put down tile without a slip sheet (another $1500). So I'm getting the hdwd ($8K), and will just have to stay on top of the slobby kids and the drooly dog.

Yes, these home improvement projects do have a way of growing exponentially!

I had hardwood in the kitchen of my last house. After five years, we had water damage around the back door (opened directly into the kitchen), sink, and dishwasher. We had several coats (3?) of polyurethane put on initially, but no "re-screening" or whatever they do periodically to keep up the floor. We also had a leak in the little plastic hose that supplied water to the ice-maker in the freezer, and the floor got buckled and damaged before we realized what was going on. I must say, we were not meticulous about wiping the floor dry, but even as you unload a dishwasher, a little bit of water from the bottoms of the mugs and glasses can get on the floor, and water splashes a bit as you wash dishes. If you do wood, make sure EVERYONE who uses the kitchen will be meticulous about keeping it dry. It did look great, though.

Now, we are renovating a new house and putting in tile in the kitchen and family room, which are open to one another. I have not yet lived with it, though, so can't give an opinion about the aching legs/back issue. Maybe in ten more years I'll be wishing for hardwood, but I'll looking forward to no maintenance issues.

We do love the look of hardwood and will use it in the living room and dining room.

I can second lnersesian's experience with tile -- terribly hard on your back and legs after a while (I'm 43).

I've had Italian tile in a condo rental kitchen for a few years and recently deliberately purchased a house with a wooden kitchen floor. It's heaven after the hardness of that porcelain: legs are singing, glasses don't break as easily, and there's no hideous grout to turn gray and dingy no matter what you do with bleach, etc.

My kitchen floor is 86-year-old douglas fir, and still lookin' extremely good with very little damage. I would maintain that, regularly finished and properly maintained, hardwood is quite trouble-free.

I have seen the abbreviatioin DH on so many of these sights...what the heck does it stand for?

Dh = dear husband

I just got hardwood in and my dh (lol) as already dinged it twice with tools. We got maple and the stain doesn't penetrate too deep into the wood so you can now see bare wood. I have to touch it up already.

Recently had hardwood installed during reno and love it. Chose it over tile because it's easier on the legs. And beautiful. Now the livingroom, dining room and kitchen flow in a way they would not otherwise. I'm telling myself that I'm not going to obsess over every little ding, etc. but so far I'm being pretty careful. And I love that it can be redone when necessary, hopefully not for several years.

Our 75-year-old kitchen has its original long-leaf pine floors (which are technically softwood -- and they are soft -- but whatever). When we moved in 15 years ago, the floors were covered with a layer of stick-on vinyl tile squares and, on top of that, faux-brick sheet vinyl. We are pleasantly surprised to find the pine, in good shape, underneath so we refinished it and had it poly-ed (the rest of the house, also longleaf pine, is waxed). The floors guys were worried about some stains created by water damage along the seams of the stick-on tiles and thought we should cover the floor up but we figured it just added to the vintage charm.

During the ensuing 15 years we have done nothing except mop and vacuum -- no new coats of poly or rescreening or whatever. We do clean up spills but we are hardly fastidious (and then there's our small dog, who routinely tips his water bowl over). The floor in front of the sink has suffered some wear -- the poly is probably completely gone and the grain is slightly raised because of spilled water.

But the floors are still plenty good to refinish and use for -- we hope -- another 15 years at least. They are not pristine but they are 75 years old after all. (And we were quite excited to find virgin, never finished planks of pine under the old cabinets, which the carpenter harvested to do the patches required where various items moved).

One other thing (in reference to my previous post): Our carpenter and I were talking about the pine floors yesterday and I mentioned that the original floor guys wanted to stain it so it would look like oak or maple or something and I told them I just wanted them to look like what they were so no stain.

The carpenter said it was a good thing we didn't stain because if we dropped anything and made a dent in the floor (which as I said in my previous post are quite soft and prone to denting) then you would be able to see the original wood color underneath.

So I felt all righteous and justified in my long-ago decision.

I put in prefinished hardwood (white oak) a year ago. I am very happy and wish I had done it sooner.

Our house is now 12 years old. We purchased it 3 years ago and we have white oak on the entire first floor, which includes the kitchen. We love it.

Yes, it does take a little extra care but we find it worth it.

So I vote for hardwood floors.

Enjoy the journey.
eal51 in western CT

I've had both wood and tile. I put tile in my new kitchen because I wanted something more "heavy-duty" than wood. I've had it for three years and so far I really like it. Fortunately I don't have any pain or discomfort standing on it - and I'm 51!! I was concerned about that and even picked out the cushioned mats I was going to get. But it hasn't been a problem so no cushioned mats. I do have a couple small rugs that maybe provide some cushioning but in my case I can't "feel" any difference standing on wood or tile - they're both "hard" to me.

I currently have about a 15 year old wood floor at my lake cabin - in the kitchen and throughout the main floor greatroom. It is in need of refinishing. It's generally worn and has black water damage near the dishwasher that happened before we bought the place. What's bad about that is that it will require us to refinish the entire main floor and none of it needs it except the kitchen. The idea of moving all my furniture and all that fiasco causes me to just not do it. I think I've been through too many wood floor refinishing projects in my life and that had something to do with my desire to have tile in my kitchen for a change. I also have to say I was really interested in having a floor in a color other than brown.

I have light colored tile since I have very dark cabinets. I will say one advantage of the brown wood floor was that it hid all the dirt and spills.

I knew tile was out from the beginning for the reasons stated. It's very hard on your legs. Doesn't give! So, the kitchen, keeping room, and hallway are wood. The new bath and laundry room are tile.

I've yet to drop a dish or glass on the wood floor, but an ice cube shatters like you wouldn't believe, lol.

I've had hardwood in my kitchen for 13 years and I do not jump in the least to clean up every drip of water that gets on the floor. The only area that is really showing alot of wear is right in front of the refrigerator(I guess we spend alot of time hanging out there!). I also have it in the powderroom off the kitchen and it's held up great. I really am not a tile person and am even considering putting hardwood in my kids bathroom that we are about to renovate(I know....I'm crazy, but like I said, not a tile person).

Here's another vote against tile. My KD talked me into it and I regret listening to her. I wish I had had the advice in this thread. It is cold, it is hard -- anything dropped practically explodes. I've broken the tips off my Wusthof knives when I dropped them. In any other kind of floor, they would have just stuck.

The grout gets dirty (yes, I sealed it)and mine has cracked in places. When I sweep with a broom, dirt sits down in the grout. I have to drag out the vac to sweep.

If I could do it over I'd get wood, bamboo or cork -- anything but tile. My back and legs are killing me after standing in it for awhile. I hate it.

I put up a good fight with DH over this same issue. He wanted tile, I wanted wood. Tile is cold and hard. Wood in the kitchen is definately worth the time to maintain.

Ha! I've also broken the tip off a Wusthof knife on a tile floor! I have had both (and chosen both) through prior renovations, and am going with hardwood again this time around. No particular back problems (yet), and I don't feel we take any different care of wood than we would of tile. I wouldn't recommend letting DH drag the refrigerator out to look at the water line in back too many times (slight drag marks on floor -- we're the only ones who notice though). The wood floors we have enjoyed these past 10 years were prefinished, but in new house we are finishing later, after laid, to match existing rooms' floors. Getting tile in mudroom. For kitchen, I vote wood.

Our house had hardwoods in the kitchen, and we choose to keep them with the remodel. Our house was built in 1920, and although I canÂt confirm that they are original, they are definitely old. Certainly there is wear and tear, but I love the look and really have not had any issues with them. Thing spill all the time, and although we try to clean things up quickly, itÂs really never been a problem. And, having watched our poor floors endure 8 months of a remodel, IÂm convinced they could make it through anything.

Haven't had tile, so can't comment on that. I love the look of tile, and wanted it in our bathrooms, but DH thinks we would require 2 X 3/4" plywood sheets for support under the tile (we have shiplap under our subfloor), so I am vetoing the tile idea, cuz I just don't want that big a step up into the bathrooms. So, tile requires a very firm solid surface to lay it onto- you need to take that into consideration. I do have a bad back, bad knees, bad hips, so I realize at this stage of the game, tile is not an option in my kitchen either.

I do have Tigerwood (so far in kitchen, but soon throughout the rest of the upstairs- can hardly wait!!!). It is supposedly hard, but DH has made his mark- with every appliance- I'm sure most other people wouldn't notice, and it does bug me a little still, but as far as water and food stuff, this floor is impregnable! I even had a plant saucer on the floor crack and water in huge puddles overnight, and no damage- just sat there till I wiped it up in the morning! Have to admit we don't clean this floor as much as I did my vinyl floor- just doesn't seem to appear dirty- though I do microfibre mop it every day.

I've had tile for the past 15 yrs and wood in FR, but not kitchen, for 13 yrs prior. While the wood is warm and beautiful, I much prefer tile for low maintenance. Our tile floors were installed with epoxy grout and still look as good as new. Our soil is very, very stable, so no cracking issues. And just the past couple of years I have noticed a few chips where heavy objects were dropped (iron skillet, etc.). Our tile is ceramic, not porcelain, and I would recommend porcelain as it is harder.

We have had several water "incidents" - malfunction of washer and dishwasher that flooded laundry, kitchen and dining before discovered, that would have caused major damage to wood floors. So I am thankful we installed the tile.

I have no problem with the floors being too hard. If I plan to stand for long periods, I usually wear comfy, padded shoes, but even barefoot is not too uncomfortable.

We currently have tile. It was installed DIY by the previous homeowner. He is an RN, and I can only say that I hope he is a better nurse than a tile installer. At 60 years-old this summer, I haven't noticed any of the back or leg pains people mention. I do hate the HUGE grout lines.

We love wood, which we have everywhere else in the house, except the bathrooms. But, I am a pet sitter. We have 2 dogs of our own, occasionally "guest" dogs, and the main entrance to the house is through the kitchen.

I've also noticed in the 15 years I've been sitting at hundreds of homes, that unless wood floors in the kitchen are protected by rugs or such, after about 3 years you can see definite areas of wear near entries from outside, in front of the sink, and in front of the stove.

So, everything considered, we have decided to look at rectified tile, so we can have 1/16 grout lines, for our new kitchen floor.

Hope everyone is thrilled with whatever choice they've made.

I have horrible feet and knees, so we went with hardwood. It is scratched and dinged in places, but is still very warm and pretty. I just keep my fingers crossed that we don't have any water leaks!

I've had tile in my kitchen for over 10 years, and it is rare that I drop anything or break anything. As far as being too hard, I have one of those foam mats in front of my kitchen sink that are supposed to help you when you are on your feet for a long period of time - I just placed another rug over the top of it to camoflauge it.

That said, I absolutely love my tile in my kitchen, even after more than 10 years, and I would gladly tile again when the time comes to either move to another house, or replaced this tile. So easy to clean, and I love the way it looks.

During our remodel trying to decide same
Here's what I found

Ceramic tile
- cold, hard, things break more easily, grout maintenance
And contrary to poplular belief it is pervious so water can & will cause damage -

HW
- Warmer, less breakage w/dropping, seamless w/rest of 1st floor, can be damaged w/water/dirt - Here's what the flooring guy rec.

4 coats oil based poly
- Every yr - rough up surface & put down another coat of poly - do NOT use any oil based products (murphy's etc) this will impede the ability to re-apply poly - Fr. his experience this is where most people fail in kit - they dont put down reg coats of poly - so the floors get to the pt where they need an actual refinish. I just had him come back to re-poly ours $123 - my floors were installed 2 yrs ago - they look good as new. Grit is far more damaging to hw floors than water

gl

I had oak for close to 30 yrs in our old kit. We had them refinished once. Just getting settled in our 1870 and we did oiled wide pine. Selected pine as it would have been orig and oiled because it is repairable.

Thanks so much for all of the advice! Wow...so many opinions, but thank you! I really think I am looking at moving forward with wood, because that is the look and feel I really keep going back to. But what is the difference between engineered and solid wood? Is there one that is better in durability? Of course cost is a big factor, and I will have to sell the idea to my husband.

I have hardwood in my kitchen and I love it. It held up for 15 years of kids and dogs and my messy housekeeping. At year 15 I had it refinished anbd it looks brand new. If you get a light stain you'll never notice the tiny scratches and dings.

Oh... such a hard choice! We went with 18" porcelain tile (on the diamond). I wanted to create the feeling of a single space between my kitchen & family room (previously carpeted). While I really wanted wood, we have an 80 pound dog, too many cats, two messy teenagers & a fairly messy dh too.

I actually love the look of the tile... I went with a travertine look-alike (not exactly... but it gives you the feeling & goes great with my maple cabinets & granite counters). In fact, we are going to run the same tile through-out the rest of the downstairs entryway, bathroom, dining room & laundry area.

And pain... I'm 45, and while I haven't experienced any back or leg pain (& I have had back issues in my distant past), my feet do sometimes hurt -- so I where slippers &/or flip flops. It works though.

Good luck!

It is a hard decision because I think both are just fine. We've had hardwood in our "old" kitchen for 20 years. We've loved it for all the reasons given, mostly for the beauty.

That said, the refinishing issue is what did us in: Just ONE time, a cleaning person used an oil-based cleaner on the floor, and that one instance prevented us from putting on the required "maintenance coat" of polyurethane to keep the floor looking fresh. We were forced to wait until the floor needed a complete refinishing, and by that time we had decided to remodel.

In the interim, we had porcelain tile put into two remodeled bathrooms, and we love the look and ease of maintenance. The floors haven't been hard on our legs, although we don't spend as much time there as we will in the kitchen. Nevertheless, DH and I agreed to switch to porcelain tile for our remodel because of the lower maintenance. I will follow the advice of a poster on a long-gone thread and wear Crocs in the kitchen for comfort.

One of my biggest concerns with tile is the possibility of cracking of tiles. We have tile on the floors in our bathroom, and because of things dropped (one was just a hair dryer) we now have two big cracks. I am thinking the kitchen would be even more prone to things dropping.

There is a new tile out that looks just like wood. It comes in planks. One is a narrow plank look, and there are 2 others that are darker, have a wide plank look, and REALLY look like wood. My girlfriend just bought this tile for her kitchen floor and everyone says they like her wood floor!!!!!

The one she bought is called Emil Vintage Scandinavian Plank. It might be something you'd be interested in. The look of wood and durability of tile.

We just had porcelain tile installed in our kitchen. I can't believe how much I love it! I wish I had done it years ago. I go bare footed all the time and I love the cool feel of the tile. The upkeep is so easy and it just never looks dirty. As for leg and/or knee pain, I haven't experienced any and I am 59. I spent a good deal of time cooking the last couple of weeks as my son from London and his girlfriend were visiting and I wanted to make sure they had good Southern home cooking while they were here.

Just choose what you like and what will make you happy. I would hate hard wood in the kitchen, but others hate tile in the kitchen. There is no "right" answer. Do it your way and don't look back and second-guess yourself.

I don't know if anyone has mentioned the option of radiant floor heat which can be placed under the tiles and eliminate the cold floor factor. It's just another nice thing to consider with tile. I know a lot of people also install this under the tiled floors in their bathrooms.

Huh, funny how people have differing opinions. We replaced our hardwood floors in our kitchen with slate tile last summer. I have two ruptured lumbar discs and arthritis down the entire length of my spine (I'm only 38) and we'd heard about people having back issues with tile. But I figured cushioned mats and wearing shoes would help. I have had no problems with my back because of the tile and I rarely wear shoes in the house. My kitchen mats are not the expensive gel kind either. When we had hardwood I had to go through 8 weeks of physical therapy (not because of the hardwood, because of my obsessive gardening) but haven't had anything but the normal arthritis back aches since installing the tile. We have a basement though so that may have something to do with it. Tile on a concrete slab would probably not be as good for my back. I think my deep sink is probably harder on my back than the tile is.

As far as maintenance is concerned, we have natural multi colored slate so it hides all dirt. Our grout is gray and doesn't show anything either. And we live in NC, the land of red clay. We have 3 kids, 2 cats and 104 lb goldendoodle. After 6 years in this house, the hardwoods are pretty dinged and scratched, mostly around corners where the dog slides when running for the door. Our reason for replacing the hardwood is because of a refrigerator line leaking while we were away for 10 days on vacation. The floors were warped and had to be replaced. I love the slate and am very happy with our decision. I love the hardwood too, and still have it throughout the rest of our first floor.

We have had tile in our last two houses, and now oak hardwood in the current house. The tile in our first house was very easy maintenance and I loved it; the tile in our second house always seemed dirty (the bottoms of socks would turn gray no matter how soon after washing it) but I think that was a result of the etching on that particular tile. The hardwood we have in the current house is terribly worn near the sliding glass patio door and around the kitchen sink, but every where else in good condition. I seriously doubt that the previous owners ever had it re-poly'd (they were of the "deferred maintenance" types), and the hardwood they put in has those grooves so crumbs/crud gets caught between the boards (duh). I too am torn between tile and hardwood. I like the feel of the hardwood, but it definitely does not fair as well in the kitchen as it does in our other rooms.