Not really quite the same situation as your front porch and entry walk, but an example of sawcutting and relaying of an existing concrete walk here in California where I wanted to make the walk more interesting without spending a whole lot of money on new materials, when the existing walk was still in perfectly good condition. In this situation, it was more about creating interest in a very tight space, while still providing easy access to the sideyard gate. Check out some of the other paving solutions in this same garden in the rest of the set where I used precast concrete step pads(also already on-site) in combination with an existing concrete patio, and also saw cut some edges off the existing patio to change the shape and added some concrete seat walls and a wood bench as built-ins to save room and not clutter up the very small garden with a whole lot of furniture. I agree that gravel would probably be a poor choice with young kids and high traffic. Stone inlay between the concrete or brick pavers can also be a useful device both pragmatic and visual; I was thinking more along the lines of 2 to 4 inch river stone set on edge and wedged tightly into the gaps, so that they wouldn't be loose. I've used this technique with a dry sand and mortar bed or wet mortar bed. In your part of the country perhaps a black mexican pebble wouldn't look right, but as your house is a ranch style and not traditional, maybe you'd be okay with that. I've set stone in gaps both ways, and it can stand up to heavy traffic if done correctly. Here is a link that might be useful: Sawcut concrete walk with gaps

Boy, it is hard to know what this stuff looks like until it is installed. Keeping with the rest of the house design is the most important. Brick and pavers will both last and have the same maintenance priorities but if they don't match the house it doesn't matter. I found this app at www.specifixapp.com that can help solve this problem. It is for retailers but you can download for 30 days no matter who you are if you complete the form. I did the side by side comparison while standing in my driveway with this app. I noticed they had examples of driveways too on their gallery page. Good luck!

There is a fair amount of information online regarding Cantera pavers online. https://rusticotile.com/cantera-stone-what-is-it/ Looks like a winner for the situation you described in your previous posting.

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