We put our ceramic tile floors in our kitchen when our kids were 6 and 10 yo. Yes, we had lots of spills when the kids were little and the ceramic is super easy to keep clean. I would do ceramic again in a heartbeat and we're now in our early 60's. Our floor is almost 20 yo and still going strong. If I lived in a cold climate, I would be inclined to put the electric radiant heating elements under the tile in the walkway areas especially if I had little ones running around in bare feet. Its not that expensive anymore. But cold floors are a non-issue here in the south. We have mostly wood floors and a little bit of carpet in the rest of the house and honestly, I don't notice any difference with aching joints. If they ache, they ache. Doesn't matter if I"m standing on wood, ceramic, asphalt, or grass. But that's another subject for another day. Lots of people like wood floors in their kitchen. We're just too messy and I like to know that the floor is clean. It's a personal thing- I prefer ceramic. This subject has been discussed a lot on this site if you do a search. There are pros and cons to each type of flooring.

The $7/sf ballpark is about right. A little more than half of that is material. The rest is labor. And to be clear, that is ONLY for the labor for the flooring. If there is floor preparation to be added (they cannot offer a REAL quote until they walk through your door to see what they are dealing with) then this is an ADDED item. I like to tell my clients to estimate $1 - $4 per square foot for floor prep. Yes. $4-$5 per square foot is *possible....but very rare. The $1/sf prep is also rare. That leaves a mid-range price for prep to come out as $2-$3/sf. So....The $7/sf + $3/sf (just to be safe) = $10/sf. For 220sf of kitchen/laundry flooring, this is not unheard of. Vinyl NEEDS flat, smooth and even. And that takes some work. That work must be itemized and paid for. To get an accurate understanding of "prep"...the floor installer must visit your home. Only then will you find out the prep costs. I am always leery of a quote that A. does not include a visit to the home and B. does not include prep. I'm not saying the flooring store is trying to hide anything. I would bet the $7/sf installed is just that: material + install (NO prep). Preparation is another thing that is added on once they walk through the door.

The gloss level put together with the colour will create a situation where foot prints show much more than with other options. So....low-gloss finishes will show MORE oil marks (that's what you are seeing...not sweat but skin oil) because skin oils are SHINIER than the floors. The fix: satin or semi-gloss and you can stop worrying about the oily foot prints The DARKER the floors the more you see. The WHITER the floors the more you will see. That means a natural wood colour (like oak, maple, natural cherry, etc) will hide plenty of sins. And if you combine a darker floor with a low-gloss/matte finish then you will suffer the consiquences (they will show ++ dust; look hazy and show skin oils/foot prints). There you have it. If you stick with a moderate gloss level and a moderate/natural coloured wood, you will get away from the dreaded footprints/dusty looking floors.

We had a similar situation with one of our clients, they purchased a traditional home with hardwood floors and a dated kitchen. We refinished the floors, but did not want to continue with hardwood in the new kitchen, and the old flooring had to go. There is no "rule" to go by for your question, it comes down to your preference. I prefer tile in the kitchen, you don't have to worry about water problems from a leaking dishwasher, or ice chips from the in door ice machine damaging the wood. With the photos you've provided, I am supposing that your kitchen starts before the brick wall. If so, that would be a great breaking point. Please see photos below of the project I was referring to, the would floors are throughout the house. The first photo shows the open, wide entry to the kitchen from the family room. The wood butts up to the tile. Be sure if you do this to have the contractor make your tile and wood even with no threshold at the transition. This is the before photo of the kitchen, where they had wood floor. This is the after photo with the tile floor. Whatever you decide, we hope you have many happy years in your new kitchen!