There are rectangular tiles that look like wood now...they are frequently used in bathrooms and kitchens where you want a wood look but need durability and water resistance. Here's a link to one site, but if you google "wood grain tile" you'll see a lot of options.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wood Grain Tile

Hi Sayde,
We have beautiful solid wood brazillian cherry in the rest of our house. For our kitchen we wanted something more easy-maintenance. It turns out that laminate is much more scratch-proof than wood. Much, much more. I got lots of samples, gave them the scratch test and found that many were amazing. Also, get a low-gloss finish and any thing that does eventually get to them will show much less. I was absolutely stunned at the realistic look of some of the high-end laminates today. Truly amazing. Much different than when we looked just 5 or 6 years ago.

look at the janka scale for hardness - pick the wood first, then the stain and then the finish. I REALLY wanted old growth cherry, but it would have scratched too much. We went with quarter and rift sawn white oak in random widths with a medium stain (called indian summer). We got the wood and the stain from Carlisle and I am very happy with the quality. We finished with tung oil (low sheen). We've only had them about a year but they still look brand new despite the kids whizzing around the house on their little wheely cars. (no dog though).

I love the figuring in the quarter sawn oak - I still notice it all the time.

check out Carlisle's website for some ideas and perhaps give them a call. They were negotiable.

Here is a link that might be useful: carlisle

Thanks for the responses! I so appreciate it.

Mamadadapaige, you have answered my questions so many times! I can't tell you how grateful I am for the information. You have been so generous, sharing all your sources in this forum and the FKB. I am hoping to sign a contract with CP in the next week or so. Though I've gone round and round on choices it seems I keep coming back to your beautiful and serene kitchen. Gerrity is working on finding some Ocean Green and I have a sample of the CP Antique White here . . . .Now I will contact Carlisle.

Now that your kitchen has been done for a while, I suspect you are eager to move on but I hope you might let me email you -- please let me know!

We have prefinished Brazilian Cherry, which is great if you judge by the Janka hardness scale, but I'd pull it out in a second and put in oak, especially quartersawn and rift cut, site-finished with a satin Waterlox finish. That's my dream floor. Easy care, hides things enough to look good between cleanings, and the Waterlox is easy to refresh/repair. I would put character, regular cut (rotary cut?) Red Oak over having the Brazilian cherry again...or a good quality laminate, like the Wilsonart Estate Plus we had in our last house that wore like iron and looked brand new after about 7 years.

Don' want to hijack here but... rhome410 - can you tell me what you don't like about the Brazilian Cherry? I am trying to pull the trigger on Brazilian Teak in the kitchen because we already have it in one room. My designer keeps pushing me to do a slightly distressed oak and engineered at that. I have 1100 sq. ft. to do so this is a big decision.

I have had two kitchens with wood floors. One was finished in place solid oak with a mahogany color stain. It was excellent and worked really well. After about 10 years we had to refinish the area near the sink and fridge before selling the house. The second was prefinished oak in more of a cherry stain to match cabinets (it was installed by original owners) and I loved it too.

Neither was distressed look and that was not a problem.

odiegirl: This might be a topic for a thread, but I wonder if distressed wood has run its course as a style trend. It seemed overdone and tired at the last home show I went to.

Odiegirl, the Brazilian cherry is pretty and people comment positively, but I see every bit of dust and pet hair, and if it gets any scratches, they are whitish, so really show up. I have just purchased (yesterday) a new vacuum and a steam cleaner out of frustration with sweeping, dust mopping, and our other vacuum, and trying to get it to look clean. I didn't really think of it as a dark floor, and thought it had enough variation...but as far as appearance and upkeep, it's like having a solid, dark color.

We have prefinished oak in the living areas and prefinished Brazillian Walnut in the kitchen. We're happy with both in regards to care (and ease there of), but what is really cool about the walnut is not only is it one of the hardest woods you can find, but it's not stained and is dark all the way through the plank. We're pretty careful with the floors but still the scratches and dents we have don't show. Eventually when we have to get it refinished, we will just have to lightly sand and varnish, no stain.

It's not the wood that shows light in the scratches of our floor, but the finish...When the finish is scratched, it doesn't damage the wood, but shows up light, and is a contrast to the wood color. Hope that explains what I mean.

lukkiirish - do your living areas but up against your kitchen? I would like to put Brazilian Walnut in our new kitchen. The problem I am having is that it would be up against the Red Oak I have in the front hall and the dining room. A floor guy I had out yesterday said it would look fine and I would not need a transition but I am having a hard time picturing it. Thanks!

Thanks rhome - that is exactly what I have noticed with the existing flooring in the family room. The wood is fine but scratches in the finish really show up. I have an medium brown stained oak floor in the kitchen that shows absolutely nothing.

Thanks for all the responses! What I'm hearing: pick a hard wood (oak), use minimal or no stain so scratches don't show, use tung oil so it can be renewed. At least take a look at the new wood-lookalike products. Use a rug here and there, careful with shoes, and keep the dogs' nails short! I have the Carlisle brochure but have been reluctant to seriously entertain wood til now.