Quarry tile used to be the thing to use in commercial kitchens. Although on the surface, it's somewhat absorbtive, water doesn't really penetrate all that far into the tile, making it rather easy to keep clean. Then along came porcelain. That's now the tile of choice for kitchens for a couple of reasons. First, it's a much more versatile tile. More available colors, textures, and so on. Secondly, it's not absorbtive at all, making it even easier to keep clean. Back a couple of years ago, I had a partner, and we went all over New England doing the tile work for Wendys and Tim Hortons, and every one of them had porcelain tile on their kitchen floors. With Wendys, it was an unglazed 8x8 Crossville tile with what they call "Crossdot" texture (hundreds of small raised dimples on the face of the tile that make it virtually impossible to slip on), and at Tim Hortons, it was a glazed Italian porcelain 12x12. Use the porcelain. You'll be happier with it, both from an aesthetic point of view, as well as a practical one.

sunnyca, There are only two homes in the condo association, and I have exclusive rights to this area. Only impact to the other town home will be noise and dust during the installation. My neighbors in the back house recently strung a cable above the space to hook up TV or internet service or something, without asking permission. I will be applying for a permit from the city. The area is partially covered - the 2nd floor of the house extends out a few feet beyond the 1st floor.

We have a rustic slate bathroom which I love and am extremely happy with. That said many of the comments made here about it are legitimate thoughts to consider. The tiles are uneven, and if a tiler without a lot of experience laying slate does the job, you could have bumps in areas of the flooring that won't appeal to your feet. It can run cold, but that has not been an issue for us even in sub zero weather, it's just not something we care about. It's very hard and can be hard on one's legs if you're standing for a long period of time. The pro's are that it's very low maintenance though, seldom shows dirt and super easy to clean when it does which was important to me. I don't agree with Lakeeffect in that you don't have to get Vermont Slate. If you research it at all, you'll find there are lots of different types of slate that will work fine. We didn't get Vermont slate. I did however take the suggestion of a pro in the bathroom forum and soaked some tiles in a bucket of water for several days to see if they would break down. It didn't and it's done amazingly well in all areas including the shower. These are old pictures from our remodel just after the install and sealant. It's called Indian Autumn and the pictures don't really do it justice. We wanted everything we've upgraded with to be of natural materials and earthy, so we didn't go with a porcelain, but if it's not something you care about, I think that the Daltile would be a good alternative.

There is some helpful information about Sintered Stone vs Porcelain here: https://www.tenax4you.com/compact-surfaces-sintered-stone-porcelain-compared-s/2092.htm That website has several articles making comparisons between different materials. Might be a page to bookmark and share with others since the properties of natural stone, engineered stone, and other man made materials can get pretty confusing sometimes. Hope the information helps future readers.