Hi-I've got natural cherry cabs, soapstone counters, stainless and black appliances. We used sheet vinyl--believe it or not--in our kitchen. Hubby and I both have joint issues and cannot stand on tile/stone for longer than a minute.
I LOVE this floor and everyone thinks it's fieldstone when they see it in person. It was a high end Mannington so not much cheaper at all than the real thing--but better for us. Here are some mediocre pics of it...
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Funny thing, I never really had a thing for slate floors in the beginning. However, we ended up moving into a house and had a kitchen and family room with slate floors (which were great for the snow which inevitable came in). I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THEM!! They were comfortable, they were easy maintenance, always looked clean, were durable, etc. Next house we moved into had hardwood floors in the kitchen. Hated it. Showed dirt, seemed higher maintenance, etc. For our current kitchen renovation in this third house, we have just put in slate floors again. My look is more "English Country" or "French Country"--slate floors, stone walls, cream cabinets, some beadboard, copper sinks, etc. I highly recommend them. The bonus is that the water from the pool (main entrance from the pool goes into the breakfast area) doesn't bother the slate either.

We did a small section of slate in our entryway. I followed mongold's directions about cleaning it with a stiff bristle brush until the water ran clear. Lot's of elbow grease and this was only a 5' x 6' area. We then sealed the slate before grouting with the intention of cleaning it up with a swipe of the sponge dampened with water (after all it was sealed right?) Wrong. I'm staring at that square of slate and hating the idea that I'm going to have to get back down on my hands and knees and scrub the grout out of every nook and cranny. I must have used a bad sealer or something. . .

Unless you're leaving it to a professional to install and seal, there's a lot of work to DIYing slate. Not to mention the boxes you go through to find colorful pieces (though that was fun too!). But it's lovely to look at when it's down and sealed, no doubt about it.

We also used a vinyl flooring with a slate look. I'm not a fan of real tile in the kitchen since it's hard on the feet and hard to clean (IMO). It has greys, browns and white in it, and hides the dirt if that's a positive for you. This vinyl is extremely comfortable and cleans up like a dream.

We get alot of compliments and people think it's real tile - go figure!

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Best floor I've ever had. Durable enough to withstand two adults, three kids, two cats, a one hundred pound goldendoodle and NC's infamous red clay without ever looking dirty. No muddy scrubbing, I vacuum when needed and mop every now and then but mostly stuff just sweeps up easily. I have two ruptured discs in my back and we've had this floor for over a year now with no issues. We do have a basement below us and I wear slippers or crocs around the house though.

Natural multicolored slate with natural grey grout:

Hi.
We have it on our fireplace hearth so I can't speak to its durability in a kitchen. While I think berf's vinyl flooring is pretty good looking, I am generally against faux surfucing (Corian that looks like soapstone, vinyl that looks like hardwood floors/slate, etc). I think it never looks as good as the real thing and would personally search until I found "a real thing" that would work for my situation.

Here is a picture of our slate hearth. We bought 12" x 12" slate tiles from Walker Zanger (about $7/ft which I didn't think was too bad) and had the tile guy cut them to 4" x 12" pieces. I did go through the tiles and pick my favorites... the tile guy laid it out after he cut them and I made a few minor adjustments to the pattern.

I think slate is stunning and if it is really what you want I hope others will let you know if it is a good choice for a kitchen. I would like to know too!

good luck.

I've had a black slate floor in my entryway for 15 years. It's soft and scratches very easily. If I'm having something heavy delivered, I always put down a sheet of masonite I keep in the garage so no more scratches appear on it. It has to be sealed, or it will stain. The grout will stain too, and it's got some type of old type sealer on it that the previous homeowners used. I would use a different type sealer today, but that doesn't obviate the need for sealing. Black slate is different than multi colored slate in that it doesn't shale quite as badly (or after 15 years, it's done with shaling) but because bits of it have flaked off, it's not a level and even surface to walk on at all, even if it started out that way, which I doubt. I can't imagine trying to put chairs and a table on a slate floor and getting them "non tippy" unless you had screw out levelers on the table, and just didn't care about the chairs. The rougher slates are a bear to clean. Just as any cleaning lady! (I actually am redoing the kitchen of a cleaning lady who told me that's the reason she stopped cleaning a house when I asked her about her choice in flooring! LOL!)

I do think it's gorgeous!

There are some porcelain tiles that are really great. It is hard to tell that they are not really slate.

Here are some slate lookalikes that we considered bc I like the look of slate, but not the unevenness of it. About $8/sq ft. We are now considering a travertine lookalike...We can't make a decision to save our lives lately. Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: REX Ceramiche Slate Solutions

I chose a flat porcelain tile for my kitchen that looks a little like slate from a distance (well, if slate came in brown). There was another tile that had the uneven slate texture, but I decided I didn't want to have to scrub gunk from the crevices... My kitchen isn't finished yet, so I can't comment on whether my easy-care hopes are really panning out ;-), but I'm really happy with the way it looks:

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Thanks for all the great feedback so far! Guess I'm in good company on this road.

mama...your hearth is very close to the slate I'm looking at (see link below). Daltile also has an "Imperial Forest" slate that looks just like yours.

Actually all the floors here look very good. My head would like to stick with the real thing, but my gut clearly says I might regret it...even though it would look gorgeous.

Merimom...do you know of any USA distributors of the Rex tile?

thanks to all..

Here is a link that might be useful: Daltile slate

we are looking at the Rex tiles as well (but for our masterbath), getting them from Prosourcefloors.com

I was looking at a color-body Porcelain by Emiliana, series is Rt 66, and color is "Los Angeles". It is quite authentic looking, comes in a range of sizes and runs about $9 SF online.

But after seeing Mamadadapaige's slate I think I may have to do that! It is just beautiful! Can you please share where you got the Walker Zanger slate tiles?

MamaDada, do you recall the color name of your slate? Was it Brazilian multicolor? Indian Multi color? Silverbrook? Kota Brown? There are half a dozen choices on the Walker Zanger site?

And while I'm at it, and thinking of unabashedly copying your colors and choices, could you please tell what the beige subways surrounding the hearth are? They look lovely with the slate and the wood.

sayde...if you're looking at mama's tile then here's an additonal option that is very close.

Here is a link that might be useful: Daltile Imperial

I love slate: (the real thing) Natural stone absorbs sound vs. porcelain or ceramic. Slate and Quartize comes in so many different colors! I wouldn't put bold colors in a kitchen. That is my opinion. I would want bold countertops. Quartize comes in more suttel colors. I would seal very well!
Bacon grease, butter, oil on slate in kitchen: not fun to get out! (FYI)
Also cleft slate 'can' chip over time. Seal very well.
My advise! I love travertine as well. Those are the two type of flooring material I would use in my new house.
I love the look of slate in an entire bathroom: for shower, walls, floor. Very rustic looking to me.

Hi Sayde,
Thank you!! I am glad you liked my choices!

The slate by WZ is Autumn Mist... I just looked at their website and it wasn't on there, but as far as I know it is still available.

The beige subway tiles are also by WZ and are from the Gramercy Park line. the color is Brownstone. Sometimes I think they are too shiny, but I was pressed to make a decision in a hurry.

I forget where you are... New Hampshire I think. The place where I bought my tile is in Danvers, MA and right off of Rte. 95 at the Rte. 114 exit. It is called Tile By Design. I will post a link. The guy I worked with is Chuck. He is great in case you are in need of a nice place to buy tile.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tile shore

Mama,
Thanks for sharing your colors and sources! I'm in Rochester NY but have a store nearby that carries WZ.

Thanks also to guy in newhouse for the suggestion. And petra -- I didn't know that real stone absorbs sound better than porcelain! Thanks!

I hope more people will respond to this -- would like to hear more opinions.

Also -- there were some threads about slate for countertops. Several people said that for counter top slabs, it is preferable to get the slate from Vermont. I was wondering if that also applies to slate for the floor -- it seems much of the floor slate comes from India, Brazil or China. Any differences among these?

I was in Lowes the other night and saw some rubber tiles there that had a slate look. I researched them and didn't really like the reviews but then ran across another brand that is supposed to work well in wet areas because of how well it seals. I ordered samples to see the quality and if I like them, I'm going to be using the rubber tiles for my kitchen and butler's pantry area. I had tile floors before and they kill my back. I don't want hardwood because it won't match up with the hardwood in the rest of my house. My dog is a freak and won't walk across tile so my options were limited.

Here's a link in case you are interested. The ones I saw in Lowes did look nice in the picture they showed of kitchens although most people think of this as a garage flooring. The Tuff Seal does use virgin rubber so I'm hoping it doesn't hold an odor.

Here is a link that might be useful: Tuff Seal Tile

oops...the first Daltile link I posted was the wrong one (Imperial instead of Autumn Mist)

Autumn Mist is the one I'm considering...or would like to replicate in a non-slate option

Here is a link that might be useful: Autumn Mist

We used 12x12 ceramic tile that sort of looks like slate if you squint at it from a distance. At 99 cents/sq foot from HD, it is perfect. It is dark grey with bits of red.

Here it is ungrouted and still a bit dusty (sorry, haven't taken my 99% done pics yet!):

The REX tiles are sold at Virgina Tile. That is where I first saw them for $8/sq ft. Then I found them online for around $6. Can't remember the website though - Sorry.

India slates at Lowes are very nice, MANY colors. We used it in the bathroom.

if I was to use it again I would try to find honed slates / quartzites which installs more flat and even, but a good installer should be able to overcome the lippage of the non-honed.

As much I love porcelain easy maintenance it does not come close to mimic the vibrant colors of natural slate.

I would be careful with that in the kitchen if you are a messy cook. I would use a very good commercial sealer, solvent based that is like a lacquer and very smelly, which will protect the slates from virtually any stains. The drawback is it gives a shiny finish. But you don't even need to seal your grout with that stuff!

We used a laminate, Touraine Slate by Berry Floors. It's a wonderfully textured charcoal color. I couldn't be happier, and so proud when everyone compliments us on it.

Here are the pictures of my slate bathroom floor, not sealed yet.

We saw some beautiful slate mosaic squares and decided to incorporate them as an inlaid centre section in our hardwood floor. They are not perfectly flat and I expect that they'll chip easily and probably not be a lot of fun to grount - but they are really, really beautiful next to acacia hardwood.

We put slate in our foyer and laundry/mud room and just love it! We used earth multi so the colours are the greys, rust and browns. It is so easy to clean and to keep clean compared to the white ceramic tiles we had in the foyer previously. My husband and I did do it ourselves and yes, there are several steps to installing slate but it was well worth it in the end. To clean, i vacuum and when necessary, i use a very slightly damp mop. There are slates that are more irregular or rough in texture and some that are a bit smoother. Ours is the smoother one so we don't have a problem with the tiles being too uneven, etc. We enjoy the slate so much that when we remodeled our kitchen, we used the same slate to do a "mat" in front of the sink and in front of the patio door off our family room. The rest of the flooring in the kitchen and family is hardwood. We then used matching 4x4 slate for our backsplash. Our counter is uba tuba granite, we have stainless appliances and wood cabinets in a medium stain. I'm told the look is very warm and rich.

Good luck with your project!