Seriously..............................??? Three kids and oils, What do YOU think? I'd suggest you lay down white butcher paper in your kitchen, and see what it looks like at the end of a normal day of living in your home....

Now.........still want a white floor? ANY white floor?

While white floors “ don’t get dirtier than any other” they SHOW dirt & everything else more than other flooring . I have white large format tile throughout my second home in the desert, trust me, it shows every little speck of dirt, lint, water spots , & whatever else lands on the floor. It looks great because my home is very modern & minimalist, however, it would be a nightmare to maintain with children around.

: : ) Three kids and a white floor........Got a 24/7 MAID?. I have a white floor. I live alone, and am a clean freak. I clean as I cook. There is no traffic THRU my kitchen, it's a galley. I wish you luck .

Why would you want tile all through your house? maybe you live in the tropics. That looks cold and hard on the knees to me!

Worst idea ever. Unless you’re into extreme patina and obvious worn paths through the house.

I have a beautiful blue marble tile in my laundry/mudroom and unfortunately unless you clean it every 4 hours it doesn't stay that way. I love it but if I had to do it over I would not choose marble in such a high traffic area with two large dogs, children, life, etc lol...

I have marble floors in two of my bathrooms and I am a big proponent of them generally, but I would never do it in the kitchen. Ever. Omg my floor would be a complete nightmare. I struggle just to keep my hardwood floors clean in the kitchen. And the floors would etch and never look clean even after you’d cleaned them.

Look again at porcelain. There are some companies putting out amazing look a likes!

I understand the beauty of what you are looking at and that is wonderful! Marble floors are impressive in hotel lobbies. But these are cleaned every day and sealed frequently.

Really think through your choice...

Here's some nice porcelain tile pics:

Good luck!!!

If you want stone, then get stone. BUT BE AWARE of what you are doing (to yourself)!

Marble is POROUS. It grabs oil and holds it close to it's heart (veins...wherever the oil drops). A properly installed marble tile (not some cheap stuff from Home Depot...go to a stone importer or kitchen/bath store and purchase the $15/sf marble) using a properly paid stone mason is one of the MOST EXPENSIVE floors you can get.

The mason will seal the marble BEFORE the tiles are installed. S/he will seal them TWICE MORE after they have been installed but BEFORE they are grouted (don't even ask how many stone/concrete floors have been ruined by grout stains...it is heartbreaking). The sealant will be TEMPORARY. They often need to be redone every few months to every few years (depends on which one the mason uses). So be prepared to do the maintenance yourself OR you pay for it to be done (making an expensive floor even more expensive...and stinky).

Now to the sealant: they REDUCE (but do not stop) stains from happening. They do NOT prevent etching (gloss level changes due to acids and/or water...yes....water).

So to recap: Marble is POROUS, it is EXPENSIVE and it requires MAINTENANCE. It also requires a LAID BACK homeowner. Marble is a 'living' finish. That's a nice way of saying "it's going to change each time you use it". It's going to stain (as the sealant wears off the protection against spaghetti/Mac & Cheese stains reduces). Red wine stains AND etches....Don't even get me going with beets.

I LOVE marble. Love it. I love the cool feeling of it. I would NEVER have it as a floor. Not unless the Vatican loaned me one of their maintenance guys every three months.

Travertine = a type of marble; see above

Limestone = very delicate; needs more love than marble

Cement = worse than marble; more porous than marble

Marble is a counter top material for me. After that I will work with porcelain tiles to get the right look I want without the maintenance requirements of real marble.

an old neighbor with a very impressive house came home one day to find that a new cleaning person had cleaned her marble kitchen floor with ...you guessed it vinegar water. Uh boy.

i would not want stone in a kitchen..too hard for my taste. But I definitely would not choose marble.

Marble dings if anything gets dropped on it. You should get a sample tile and practice dropping things on it (including food) and see if you are cool with the patina. Drag chairs across it, too!

I currently have slate in my kitchen and greatroom--a smooth, non-flakey, uniform colored gray. It's holding up well to everything, unsealed. It's not as glorious as marble though!

I do not like the fake marble porcelains. They are getting better but they still look fake. They even look fake in photos due to the repeats in the tiles. They always look cheap even though they probably cost more than the real thing.

Thank you all. I really appreciate it! You all make a lot of sense.. where I am coming from, is that, my designer thinks a light color like cream Limestone with a good sealer that penetrates into the stone would make it all just fine. But I am worried because my friend says that she has limestone in her master bath, and says it stains and she pays $3,000 to have it resealed every few years?!! My designer said she has used limestone a lot before and everyone loves it. She said that most people only seems to seal it when they first get it (which I believe) and then leave it and it looks good. She said that real stone is better for resale and just feels better. I think she's right, when YOU know it is real, it is kind of more luxurious feel and kind of like a pet! (haha!) think live Christmas tree? haha

My parents put in white marble as a kid and my mother thinks it was fine BUT they were just like 10x10 pieces with loads of grout and kind of a busy look perhaps....I would think and know that a kitchen countertop would be even worse because even water marks mark it up and everything else like coffee, oil, red sauce.....We heard about Marble- now, do you all know anyone who has ever had LIMESTONE?

My designer said none of her high end homes do porcelain nor do her other designer friends use in them they only do real stone as well. :-/. My husband is leaning towards the real stone and the designer also gets a steep discount (and does not mark up as we even pay direct) because she is a commercial designer, too, but we haven't compared her pricing to the porcelain yet. Maybe we should start there! If it adds $20,000- we will have our answer, right?! (but don't think it will)

My initial plan was to do shiny white large as possible white tile floor (although mall shops are now even doing that so maybe I'll go more understated) I have been nervous especially, did I mention that we are getting a puppy? lol. But that's just dirt not red sauce and butter..Designer said you have a Roomba vacuum and will be fine with dirt...Thank you all, I feel blessed. Ok so what about limestone? Or even light beige or gray if I do decide to do it may be better? I wanted to do a white modern kitchen- so don't mind adding a tad of warmth or gray color to the floor- (as much as I love them, I worry about doing those beautiful brown and white modern kitchens because they'll totally time stamp my kitchen verses all white or almost all white is the only timeless kitchen (with a lot of added accessories for color!. .Thank you all for the awesome help and ideas..hmm... my designer wants me to do the almost white limestone/natural stone throughout main level..including kitchen- my pool decking is white porcelain so would tied into the indoors with the future bifold doors- we have a bit of ocean view behind modern pool..so we want the continuous inside and outside living feel...would be neat to match the outside but not the end of the world..could always consider white washed wood, too. just wanted more sleek and rich initially than beachy nor tad shabby chic-ish..

Look into terrazzo, either tiles or cast in place.

I just put in a slab quartzite floor in a kitchen and it looks great. Can’t get the pure white look with quartzite but it is very durable. People do wood floors in open concept kitchens all the time and it’s not like that is an ideal material. It can get damaged by water/oil and gets dinged by high-heel marks. My parents had 24 x 24 white marble in their entry gallery for 40 years and it stayed gorgeous but nothing gets more wear than a kitchen. Not saying I am a big proponent of marble floor in a kitchen and porcelain is certainly a safer more durable choice but people do less durable materials and marble can be beautiful. I don’t think your designer is crazy, I just think you need to make an informed decision with your eyes open.

Thanks June. Hopefully the puppy will be trained within first 4 months that we get it, we can gate it upstairs where there is orange/normal 90's oak wood as their currently is downstairs, the area we are talking about then also do the fence yard and take it out all day (during the renovation- designer says floor goes in first) we were actually not going to even do the floor for a year to be sure we had plenty of funds for the mass amount of work we want to do- like the bifold doors and all new high end appliances and new European looking modern "hardwareless" flat cabinets/paneling on appliances, large island..anyway, I do think it will need to be done so we may as well try to do it all at same time...but ok, yes I see what you're saying about the puppy...maybe not realistic to keep it upstairs for the most part unless it just went outside...God help me! And yes, I suppose I could keep the retainer money we gave and have not used ($700) for the designer for the furniture steep deals after the reno if I need someone else or to just figure it our myself. I kind of wanted more opinionated with the design. I feel like the stress is all falling on us...I do see what she is saying about not doing the super shiny porcelain look verses matte. It seemed more striking before everyone started using it even mall shops and every hotel lobby. Thank you, June.

I will look into Terrazo- thank you for the help, Fori!

HU-686: Did you say SLAB quartzite flooring?!!! Isn't that about $10,000 per 10x5 slab? Wow. How many did you need? Maybe I am mistaking that it is really expensive way to go. I know a lot about pool design and materials, but not kitchens. Yes, we currently have wood floor maybe what the 3 inch regular ol size in oak all over the house but then coming from front door there is like a runway cutting the house in half and going into the kitichen of a dark brown super funky busy marble! You can never see dirt so cleaner cannot even get it clean half the time! Maybe medium color is way to go- I know gray is kind of going out, but maybe that is smarter then do white kitchen,,hmm seems sterile.. thank you. Wow quartzite would be beautiful- would love to see a picture of that one!! Thank you everyone..hope I get this worked out so I can move on in life! ;-) by the way, kids are 10, 10 and 11 so theyr\'re good and trainable..kitchen is a "rushee" busy place though and kids learning to cook and bake independently. so drips will happen..but with huge island, guess if few tiles get ruined we can pop them out and change in a few years..?

Thanks acm- we live in Southern Cal...its HOT June-Nov.. yes tile IS hard, but seems like a clean beautiful look..but nostalgic for me since my beautiful Persian Aunts had shiny tile in Spain when I would visit in the summers... in Marbella, Spain, they even have real marble on the sidewalk everywhere! I could always be safe and go with white washed wood that everyone is doing and loving. Probably great for resale...probably more popular than hard tile for most. and yes, easier on the joints and feet for sure!

SJ_ thank you- if not real stone, what would you do for a modern kitchen stone? Porcelain? Wood? To warm things up? Isn't white marble on a counter worse? You mentioned you would do it on the counter. Maybe better in a color. Thank you- you guys are all SO great!

I echo what everyone says about marble floors in a kitchen. Total nightmare. I have marble floors in a powder room and the master bathroom. No children, one small housebroken dog (who peed on the powder room floor when he was a puppy), and a messy husband. Both floors show wear and tear but nothing terrible. Although I love marble and also have it on the kitchen counters, I can't imagine it on a kitchen floor.

Do yourself a big favor and get a site-finished hardwood floor. It will last forever, is forgiving on your feet and back, and can be refinished multiple times as it gets worn or you want to change the color.

@modernfun, please listen to the houzzers about marble floors, particularly in a kitchen...kids, new puppy oh my; I simply can not imagine. We are two empty nesters and have quartzite countertop, sealed multiple times and it's still etched, but only slightly and it's honed. (see photo below)

My Kitchen · More Info

I put a marble floor in the master bath, and it's a heated floor (see photo below) but it is really only my bathroom, my husband has his own separate bath with a big walk in shower. I have had it honed also, and sealed and sealed and sealed, and some workers came to clean the carpet and put a bucket on the marble floor after being told not to place anything directly on the floor and sure enough it etched the floor. They paid dearly for that mistake for my guys to come back and buff, and reseal barely over a square foot area, for $250.

Renovated Master Bath · More Info

Look at hardwood, look at @Patricia Colwell Consulting laminate flooring suggestion. I went to that Kronotex site and their laminate is stunning. See photo below of the very same product Patricia has in her bedroom, visualized in a modern kitchen.

tiffeslan,

Sounds like a lot of really good advice here. The quartzite floor was very expensive but not in the are you are thinking. 4 slabs, 13k all-in installed. Would send a pic but floor is covered/protected now while they build the cabinets above it. When its does (if its ever done, sometimes hard to imagine it being finished) I would be happy to post a photo. Good luck.

I did a white porcelain tile that is textured and has very light veining in my bathroom. I love it but can’t imagine keeping it clean in a kitchen.