I only know one person in real life who has wood. It looks really nice, but I still hate it. I think there are parts of the country where people ordinarily have wood, and parts where they have tile. Where I'm from everyone has tile, linoleum or vinyl. I have very lovely wood in 3/4 of the house, but tile in the bathrooms, kitchen, and entry hall. The wood isn't any easier to stand on than the tile because even upstairs there's a good, solid underfloor, and there isn't any give. It's very solid! And while I do believe that other people have had good luck with flooding, and agree that flood-stop devices are worthwhile, I also know that not everyone has good outcomes from water on wood. We've had members here who have had to have new wood floors replaced. The condensation from my airconditioning drains in my dressing table sink line. The weld didn't react well with something and broke. My beautiful plank floor warped. There's no way I'd ever, ever put a wood floor in a kitchen, given a choice. AKChicago makes a good point about the underlayment. Tile has to be installed right to perform well. It's not always practical on a raised floor. I agree with Marcia B to pick what YOU like best. Just be aware of the pros and cons.

I only do wood but have slate in my kitchen/family/dining area. I love that I can be a little careless about what I'm dropping on the floor as I cook. The rest of my house except for one bathroom, has wood floor. Some of it is over 40 years old and I expect to outlast me. The upsides of wood are more comfort under foot, the look of true wood and the potential to refinish as trends and tastes change. Downside are wear/scratching, maintenance and moisture/humidity sensitivity. The positives and negatives of tile are almost completely reversed from wood. While some tile might look like wood at a glance and some fakes are better than others, it will never stand up to close scrutiny and it's harder to stand on for long periods. I either stand on a soft mat or wear slightly cushioned shoes while doing food prep. Tile will withstand water and spills better and is generally harder to scratch. If you tire of it, it's a big job to remove and replace.

Given that we have actually attended the World of Concrete convention, I’d say I’m quite comfortable with the material. What you’re describing is pretty much a failure of the material in design or install, not typical. Even your average garage floor, which is the cheapest of the cheap in install and quality, doesn’t have the durability and etching issues you’re describing. The costs you’re describing are also WAY out of line for anything I have seen, even with fiber reinforced and stained, with multiple sealing passes. Especially on a slab, you’d be hard pressed to hit $12 a square foot all done and done unless you’re being seriously ripped off, especially on top of an existing slab - that makes everything easier :) Over timber framing the costs go up and the mitigation needed to create a good base becomes more complex, but still not significantly beyond a tile product. And the possibilities for design are vast (props to WoC again, I didn’t know half those techniques and products existed!). I agree it’s not a budget finish in some circumstances, but having a good mix design for residential finish application is NOT difficult to obtain, especially if you’re working with a good contractor and not just directly with the batch plant (easier but only if you know what you’re doing, like with any fabrication mill). I wouldn’t be scared off OP - if it is a look you want go for it. If you’re ‘meh’ about it, a cheap tile will be easier to manage, especially in a small space. But you can do a very nice job, even DIY, if you have a slab already and like the material. What can I say, I’m an optimist and concrete is fantastic stuff.

We have gone back and forth on this as well- we are doing a major dining, living, kitchen remodel. We have decided to go with a beautiful wide plank engineered hardwood (French oak) from Bella cera called “Monza” bivio. It’s just light and natural and I think will look beautiful with our white cabinets. It’s a wire brushed engineered hardwood which I like more than the rustic hand scraped ones. It was very affordable at less than $4/SF. We have had a few people try to discourage real wood in the kitchen but my parents have had knotty pine floors for 30 year and they’ve held up fairly well and have been refinished twice. The only thing with engineered wood is the top layer is fairly thin with plywood underneath, so you can’t really refinish them but most wont need to be since they have a 25-50 yr residential warranty. I chose one that had some knots and grains and looked like it’d be forgiving. Some of the new lvt is more expensive but really pretty, I can just tell it’s not real wood and it feels a little plasticky and I just like natural materials. My friend has it in her yoga studio and for that application I think it’s great. The only thing I am nervous about is not being able to steam mop my kitchen and having to use wood cleaner with a microfiber mop. But I like rustic and genuine surfaces- we went with granite and are refinishing Saltillo. It’s not perfect but I’m just a natural materials person. You really can’t go wrong! But I think wood floors are always better for resale personally. The new vinyl is great though, and I would def do it in a bathroom, playroom, mud room, but don’t love it throughout the main house. Laminate is ok, but I don’t like the clickety clack sound when you walk on it, and I can almost always immediately tell something is laminate vs wood.