Tile. Porcelain tile. Affordable, not too difficult to install, lasts forever, many options in colors and styles. I think tile -- in any of its many incantations -- will always be the item of choice for bathrooms.

If budget is a concern, of course, there's laminate. Looks good, easy to install, cheap to buy, but it lacks the wears-like-iron function of tile. And it has positives: Being softer, it's easier on the knees and ankles than tile, and it's not so cold as tile.

I think wood is the worst choice. Oh, it's beautiful, but so impractical for a bathroom, where water isn't a possibility -- it's a certainty.

I don't like marble personally. Too cold. Old, and not in a good way.

I do think larger tiles are "seeing a lot of use", but I think you might find more rectangles (10x18 or 12x18) instead of 18x18 squares. This, of course, is a function of the size of your bathroom -- you can't rock these large tiles unless you're building a large room!

Porcelain tile, laid on the diagonal. Similar tones in shower, etc. Wood, marble are not logical.

We used 12x12 soapstone tile (wood in the powder room).

2" hex for shower floors, except the curbless shower where they used cut soapstone tiles.

Have fun deciding!

We're doing tile in all of ours except the powder room will be wood. But if you like the look of wood, what about a wood-look tile? I've seen some pretty nice looking ones. Maybe that would be a good compromise?

We're using tile....marble mosaic in half bath, 12x24 grey tile in master bath with marble hex is shower, 18x18 slate (set in brick pattern) in mudroom, laundry, and foyer, wood look grey tile in boys bath and 12x24 large format stone tile in girls bath.

I am going to be purchasing 18 x 18 ceramic tiles for my bathrooms. Well, the other one is getting 13 x 13 ceramic tiles.

A lot of people do like wood -- but I'll have wood just about everywhere else -- including the exterior walls as this will be a log home! (The kitchen/laundry will have a nice wood-look tile, which is 6 x 24.) I like the no-worry of tile in rooms that can get wet.

With pets, it is also kind of nice to know you don't have to worry about over-exuberant slurping out of water bowls, either!

Tile. One of the bathrooms has tile that looks like wood. Here's a photo while it was being grouted.

Sounds like porcelain or ceramic tile is the way to go.

Amber - I like your wood look tile. I will have to take a look at some of that in person.

We're going with vinyl flooring, because I hate the hardness of tile, cleaning grout, or fixing the inevitable broken tile.

Personally, I struggle with the concept of the 'wood look tile' - wood doesn't naturally come in short stubby 'planks', so it always looks fake to me.

Laminate flooring isn't made for wet areas like bathrooms, so it's also a 'no' for me.

Unless it's really tiny I am one that thinks larger tile does not make a space look smaller but actually larger. But I love that hex floor tile in marble. Sooo pretty.
There are so many options with tile. This is what we did.

12x24 in the master that is 8'8" x 10'1".

Same tile cut to 12x12 in the laundry. Laundry is shiny because it was just wiped down from install - I never took any other pictures I see.

18x18 in the kids bath (6'10" x 12'4") and 1/2 bath (3'6" x 7'8") which is part of the back hall. We actually liked that slate look tile enough that we used the same for the back entry mud area as the boys bathroom upstairs. It is very forgiving and hides a ton. This is the back hall. :D

Porcelain vs. Ceramic ...

I said porcelain for one reason: When I had my girls' bathtub ripped out /replaced with an all-tile shower, the wonderful handyman who did the work came over to measure, and he told me to go to the store and buy ___ number 12x12 tiles for the walls, ___ small tiles for the floor, and ___ number bullnose tiles.

He gave me advice on this and that, but he only gave me ONE strict rule, ONE actual restriction. He said I had to buy porcelain. I trust him, and the work turned out great; thus, I say porcelain.

we have slate in the guest bath and a marble look porcelain in the other bathrooms i really like what we have but i really like the vinyl plank we have in our great room also i would like to have it all over the house it's a Karnadean product which mimics heart pine i've never met anyone who didn't think it was "real wood"

I poo-pooed the idea of wood tile, too, until I saw some in a model home. It was right next to real wood, so there was no fooling anyone. But in an application that clearly required tile (a foyer in that case), it looked really good.

And real wood doesn't always come in random lengths. I was considering having it laid in herringbone like is done with real wood in Europe, but is really expensive to have done with real wood. But the irregular shape of my bathroom made me decide to just have it placed in random strips. Mine is only 2' long, but you can get some up to 4 feet long. And as long as it's not placed in an even pattern, it's not obvious that it's all the same length.

found the link regarding the (non) differences between ceramic and porcelain tile.

Also has good info on how to choose a tile that isn't slippery, etc.

http://starcraftcustombuilders.com/porcelain.or.ceramic.htm

I am putting in 12 x 24 groutable vinyl tiles in my bathroom. Love them so far. Warm, cleanable and inexpensive. I am putting them in myself.Link to my tile

lookintomyeyes83, thank you so much for sharing that article on tile. It's extremely helpful!

We did porcelain tile 24" square downstairs and upstairs used glue-down cork (with a layer of finish applied afterward). Opposites, really, but I like them both.

I have commercial grade real linoleum in a single sheet. It is a light driftwood pattern which harmonizes well with the antique heart pine floors in the small hallway just outside the bathroom. I love it because I can dry and wet-clean it with a Swiffer easy peasy.

We're doing porcelain tile planks that look like wood throughout entire house (except bedrooms and bedroom closets).

I put in Marmoleum, in greens and blues: "Marmoleum is a natural and environment friendly floor made from 97% natural raw materials along with a 43% recycled content. The Marmoleum sheet collection presents authentic marbled visuals and exciting new designs that resemble subtle concrete with fine color nuances, and a vintage stripe design."

I should add: I absolutely love Marmoleum. We have it in our kitchen and bathroom right now. Of course this house has something like 7 or 8 types of flooring spread out over 3 floors, and we are trying for more continuity in the new house, otherwise I'd have it again.