Your rug looks nice with the wood floor. Could you find a tile that is similar in colour to your rug and use it in both spaces?

I don't see why you have to keep that small section of oak, can you just keep it to the stairs and then do one new flooring every where else?

I think the oak extends into the whole living room, right?

Grey tile like Beth showed will look great.

Don't rip your hardwood out even if you come into a fortune tomorrow!! There's no point; wide boards will go out of style soon enough too and narrow will be back. It is the cycle of hardwood floor life. If it's in good shape and can be refinished, do that. A fixture like that is intended to last for generations regardless of passing fads. JMO

When looking to work with oak (red or white or european...doens't matter) just remember that blue and green work very well. Gray does not. And be aware that gray is dying very, very quickly as a fad.

You have a dark counter top (which is probably why you put in the dark vinyl in the kitchen). I would work with the tones in the counter top (keeping it lighter than what you have) or go with white that matches the kitchen cabinets.

If you must have tile, I would look at white or something in the blue range (I can't see any green in your setting so I think that's out) - gray is definitely on it's last legs as a fashionable colour.

With the size of your home, the *best thing to do (for the flow of the tiny space and for the value offered) would be to use hardwood in the entrance and the kitchen.

Tile material may be cheap, but the installation is expensive. The narrow strip red oak is stupid cheap and normally pretty decent to install in a situation like this. You might just find that the two projects work out to be just about the same price at the end of the day. And right now is the PERFECT time to do it!

You HAVE to sand/refinish everything else anyway. Excellent! You will be amazed at how much you can save by having new red oak laced in and then everything sanded and refinished all at once. The 'biggest' price tag is the sand/refinish cost. Lacing in 200sf of matching red oak isn't going to be too much more. A hardwood flooring company would be happy to throw in a quote for lacing in matching red oak. It is what they do.

I would get quotes for both. I think you will be surprised at how feasible the red oak can be.

the space is too small for all this transitions, just put hardwood everywhere

You will have a better experience with hardwood in the kitchen then you did with the vinyl that is in there now. And you already use a rug over the tiles in front of the door....so it won't be much different. It would be nice to get a larger rug in front of the door, but that's about it.

As for "no wood in a kitchen" is a personal choice. It may be that the designer had a client who put in hardwood only to COMPLAIN about it later (thus causing no end of headaches). This then clouds her/his judgement as to wood floors in kitchens.

Tens of thousands of people in Canada (probably hundreds of thousands of people if we expand out to the USA) have hardwood in their kitchens and are fine with it.

You already live with hardwood so you know how to care for it. That is 90% of the battle. The people who are complain about hardwood in a kitchen are the same people who have never owned/lived with hardwood.

Good luck. I personally would ask the designer why they are against hardwood floors in kitchens when the design trends have been HEAVY into hardwood floors in kitchens - for more than 10 years! Hmmmmmm. I think the designer owes you an explanation for the bias.

I live in Vancouver...and there are thousands of people who have these old hardwoods in their entranceways = no problem. Rain or melting snow. It doesn't matter. Wet is wet and water is water. A well finished hardwood can take most of the abuse that people think will ruin them. And rugs are used regardless hardwood or tile.

monica, just do a tile inlay portion in the front entryway. do a slate tile if you'd like. it will catch the ick from outside.

they even have porcelain tile that looks like brick. tons of colors/shapes

I have the same problem, but a rug with rubber in the back and a boot tray do their job. The hardwood in the entrance is perfect

monica, email away. they aren't mine. If you want some other ideas, just image search "tile and wood inlay" or 'tile inlay entryway'.

The main thing w/doing the inlay so it's a smooth transition, is the wood/tile should be the same thickness. for the joint itself, he can use a metal edging piece for a neat appearance

click on them to enlarge them and perhaps take a photo w/your phone? or if on laptop or large computer, drag them to your desktop.

Hardwood would warm up your kitchen and look more cohesive with the rest of the space. You can always put down an area rug in front of the sink. A tile inlay or larger size (3x5 or 4x6) indoor/outdoor rug in front of the entry with hardwood there as well could work to eliminate the snow and water being tracked into the house. My sister has hardwood in her kitchen and it was so nice working in there over Christmas as opposed to the hard, uncomfortable tile that's in my house in Florida.

Whatever you decide, I hope you'll post pics of the finished space.

I would use hardwood throughout, no tile at entrance