I think the first question is: do your tiles look dated? Be honest. Unfortunately tile looks don't seem to stand the test of time. We had the 12x12 tile in our kitchen demo-ed. I would say that it is VERY awful...we were moved out while that was going on. The demo-ing only took a couple of days though. In our case the tiles were extremely bonded to a concrete subfloor so I would guess it was worse than usual. OTOH, floors are too often neglected in kitchen renos. It's sad when people spend crazy money on cabinets and appliances yet leave dated floors in place. It's not good when you can *tell* that they left the old floors in place. My flooring budget (replacing the kitchen tile with hardwood and refinishing the hardwood in dining/living/hall areas) ended up being 25% of our kitchen reno budget! It was a huge hassle as we had to move everything out and we are a family of four. We had to find alternative accommodations for a week because the flooring area included our home entrance. But I would say it was a critical element to the kitchen reno and I have no regrets now that I'm on the other side. I don't imagine that grout refreshing will be simple or cheap either. $3000 sounds like a great price to me if it includes demoing the old grout. I would add to that budget the cost of moving items and staying out of the house during the demo part. I do love a white kitchen. Personally I would not choose a white floor to go with that - I agree with comments that a mid-tone would "ground" things better. I think earth coloured ceramic would look great if they were VERY good quality - some are quite vulnerable to chipping. I also love this look: If you're considering resale, do consider alternatives to tile if you do not live in a warm climate.

I've got pets with their food and water bowls in the kitchen. They do make an icky sticky mess on the floor! I know some people use water on their hardwoods but the manufacturers say not to, including Murphy's oil soap which leaves residue. The steamer sounds interesting if it dries immediately without wetting the surface. I wouldn't worry as much with a solid wood. I wish I could get the real solid wood floors but will have to get engineered. I don't think they will wear and last like the floors which can just be refinished down the road if need be. If you have to do prefinished, the finishes they put on these new floors are a problem long term, imo. If you've got pets and kids they mar pretty easily but without getting the nice patina from wear like the old floors did. They seem fragile to me in that way. The companies also say no water so they're really not made to go that route. I'm looking for an unfinished 1/2" solid to go on my lower level slab after reading about a product called Monocoat today. It's a one coat onsite finishing product, oil I believe, that I hope will test out as good as they say it performs. It looks doable if you have to live there at the same time the floor is being finished and touchups to reseal the surface are easy, like tung oil, for the inevitable damage pets and kids will do. You can even sand an area and wipe more on, good as new.

If the "paint store guy" could not give you the name of his product which he knows for a fact has been done successfully many times, how are we supposed to know? There are epoxy garage floor paints. they look like painted garage floors at best. You sprinkle the little colored chips on while it's tacky. Otherwise it has one flat unbroken color. There are kits sold for simulating granite, etc, but they are not suitable for floors. The Sherwin-Williams article in the link below specifically discourages the idea of painting tile in high-traffic areas. Casey Here is a link that might be useful: Refresh tired tile with easy 8-step painting technique

Looks totally like the 70's. Here's Sherwin Williams' take on colors of the time https://www.sherwin-williams.com/homeowners/color-through-the-decades/1970s Not likely it contains asbestos. Lots of articles about that if you google. I posted some old tile on Craigslist for free. Had a lot of takers. If you have a lot of it, you might be able to get some $ for it. If not, check to see if Habitat ReUse near you will take it. They are getting sort of picky about what they'll take around me.