18x18 will not work very well design wise with a floor drain. You need a much smaller tile to be able to conform to the slope of the room. You don't want to be larger than about an 8x8 with a floor drain, and even then, the cuts around the drain will not be that pretty. If you have your contractor use epoxy grout like they do in commercial installations, then you will have no issues with permanent staining. The only other thing to be sure of is that your subfloor is firm enough deflectionwise to be able to support a tile floor. If you are on a concrete foundation, it's fine. However, if you are on a crawlspace or second floor, you need to look at the size of your joists, their spacing, and their span. That will determine how much "bounce" there is in your floor. Even if your floors feel firm, they still will have subtle deflection. Deflection creates cracked floors if not addressed before install.

I would go with ceramic tile if you have alot of muddy kids, or pets. I have new wood floors in my kitchen and I am now worried that it was a mistake there based on what I have seen at a few friends houses who have had the floors for a few years. Wood is not the most durable surface in a workspace. Another friend has dark blue and white checkerboard tiles in her kitchen and absolutely hates it. It shows every speck. I would get something with a more random pattern that looks like dirt! It won't show anything! I saw some beautiful porcelain tiles at Daltile that look like marble. Just beautiful and the grime would not be irritatingly noticeable. Slate might be great. It just needs more upkeep, sealing it periodically.

Here's a variation on a checkerboard that your DH might like, although it's shown in a bathroom in this picture it would be jazzy in a laundry room. (This picture was posted to the Baths forum ages back, I can't remember whose it was.) I'm thinking I'll use it in the powder/laundry rooms in the new (old) house, although not in a black/white color scheme - that's off the mudroom and it will show every speck of dirt! IIRC those are white 6x6s and black 2x2s, which should be better suited to a smaller space. If ceramics aren't appropriate (due to deflection issues, for example), the same pattern could be made from cut-down linoleum tiles(Marmoleum, Marmorette) or VCT (like Blackcat's Excelon). Another fun look - sometimes laundry rooms and similar utility spaces of 100 years ago had brick floors. Brick is porous and a pain to keep clean but Daltile has a very cute "glazed paver" that looks just like brick called Union Square that is appropriate for residential floors.

Thank you for all the input and opinions. My husband and I rarely are barefoot-always wear slippers in winter or flip flops in summer, so I'm not sure how hard it will be on our joints. And I understand that tile may not be for everyone. I spoke with a rep for Shaw about laminate and our situation and she recommended vinyl plank flooring. She said that even the best laminate could be affected by cat urine if it isn't cleaned up quickly. And thanks for all the concern for the kitty & links to sites to assist us. She has been checked for UTIs. There was one only 1 time. We have 8 litter boxes that are cleaned daily, 3 with Cat Attract Litter in them. We have placed her on anti-anxiety meds and have 3 Feliway diffusers in the main areas of our home. We recently had an animal behavior specialist come to our home. As she sees it, the problem is territorial; that my late parent's cat lived with them for 2 yrs as an "only" pet (and my folks both died unexpectedly 4 months apart from each other). Cat was only 2.5 yrs old when we brought her to live with us; she is 6.5 yrs old now so she will be with us for awhile. We already had 2 cats that get along fine. Older one is now 16 yrs old and the other is 8. New cat wants to be Alpha cat and our oldest cat want to be alpha cat. New cat on occasion marks areas other cats like to frequent-she's even done it while i'm sitting in the same room.Behaviorist has given us strategies" to recognize and correct the behavior (dominance positioning and recreating the "order of the pride") and ways to improve things (including crating the cat at night). We have seen positive results and things have improved but there are still setbacks. Alot of emotional baggage with this sweet (for the most part) cat-my youngest daughter loves her because she is the last connection with her grandparents. I just want my house to look great and be less stressed by this situation.