The original kitchen had linoleum, and while planning our reno we debated between hardwood, laminate or porcelain tile. I hate having hot feet, so radiant heating has never been a consideration. I live in southwest British Columbia, so it doesn't get too cold, and our forced air ducting runs in the crawlspace beneath the kitchen, so the floors don't get that cold regardless.. Anyways, hubby, the kids love the ice machine in our fridge, and they are always dropping crushed ice. The kids are always having spills and the floor almost always has at least a drip of water here or there. It's a well used kitchen! Because of my concern about water, we ended up installing porcelain tiles. I have always been aware that I should wear shoes in the house because I have a mild foot deformity that is at risk of worsening without appropriate support, but I've always gone barefoot in my home. The tile changed that, my feet become painful if I don't wear my house slides if I'm spending the day baking, but I suppose it's a good thing for me to support my feet. Hubby has dealt with plantar fasciitis prior to changing the floor, so he always wears house shoes as well. We haven't noticed any pain in our hips or knees, but we are still quite young, and I'm sure wearing shoes helps with our alignment. Right after we installed our dishwasher on the new flooring, there was a big leak, and I'm glad I went with the tile! It's easy clean, I don't stress about the kids sliding their chairs and stools across it, and it's an attractive tile. I prefer the warmth of wood, but I know for our family, tile was the best choice, and we are willing to wear house shoes. I've brought wood into the kitchen in different ways, with the stools, utensil "pots", cutting boards, etc.. There will always be pros and cons, you just need to decide which has the least cons and the best pros for your situation :). Also, when you are considering cost, find out if you need to install subfloor. We ended up having to install ditra, which definitely added to the cost. Good luck making your decision.

Skippack Tile & Stone, thank-you... we looked more into it and will only be sealing the grout lines... which are 1/16 spacing. My question is does the grout have to be sealed under where my cabinets will be installed?

Daltile's Natural Hues tile comes in a wide variety of colors including 8 or 9 greens. They are solid colors, though, not variegated.

Believe it or not, when the rubber hit the road, we decided to keep the original slate floors. We will be cleaning, sealing and enhancing them. I'll post photos when we're done.