Dear Alex, First, thanks so much the link to your inspiration kitchen. I love the kitchen (it immediately became my new inspiration kitchen as well!) And thanks for introducing me to the houseandhome website. It a beautifully done website that I'm sure I'll return to again and again. I look forward to others giving their more informed advice (than mine) on your flooring suggestions. We have the original hardwood in our 1928 kitchen and I think it adds to the period-look of our kitchen. You'll find dozens and dozens of examples of kitchens posted on garden web of similar "Victorian feel" to early 20th-century kitchens with wood floors. We put a lot of wear on our floors (but no seriously high heels) and I think the patina the floors take on only adds to their character. But the tile is also a great look and certainly feels more "european," if you want the Parisian bistro look similar to your inspiration kitchen. Some people find tile a little hard on the joints as they age. If you are spending hours standing in the kitchen, depending on your age, this might be something to consider. On the other hand, there is nothing more satisfying than the solidity of a tile floor and the ability to give it a good scrub. I will say that having lived for six years in a 1980s-style kitchen with a white tile floor when I had two small children, I would not do white tile again (I love to clean, but I don't want to mop twice a day!) Either choice would look great in a victorian/vintage kitchen with white painted cabinets. We look forward to seeing pictures of your kitchen -- sounds like it will be gorgeous!

Herringbone patterns are most often, I think, laid out on a 45 degree grid, so that the chevron is clear. That's up to you, of course, and what looks best to you in the room you're putting it in. I almost always specify that the layout for patterned flooring begins at the center of the room, determined by chalk lines snapped from the centers of the walls. That can shift a bit, if the room has an irregular shape, and a different center point can be established where it makes the most sense. Then all the trimmed irregular bits that make the materials fit the floor land at the edges, where they have the least impact, and the pattern itself is centered in the space.

The pattern of the tile is fairly common for 12x24 tiles(stock set). However, it should always be discussed with the customer first( with at least a drawn detail of direction and how it is to be installed, Second, worked from the center of the room so it looks balanced to the eye, also if that back part were the wall is in fact a an extremely small shower, then the comment before me is right, you do have MUCH bigger problems. I have been a floor covering contractor for close to 30 years, and no matter how small a project is, it is important for an installer and customer to go over the customers wants( best to get it in writing). One can always show a customer setting patterns with some tiles(as they are not tile contractors. Some customers will say,(you are the expert, do what you feel is best), which can result in customers being upset with the end result.

When we redid our long, narrowish galley kitchen and adjacent laundry room we also used 12x24 tiles. I could have gone either way since our surrounding wood floor is on a diagonal. Our tile guys recommended it go lengthwise (bowling alley) saying that is how they would lay hardwood in the room. I laid tile out both ways and agreed with them. I think the only time you get the "it makes the room look wider" is when it's laid on the diagonal. Can you lay some tile out in both directions next to the hardwood? Personally, I think it looks better going in the same direction as the wood floor, but it's really a personal preference. BTW, our tile is laid in a 3/4 offset pattern like in your last picture.