Kitchen Flooring? - Bloomington,IN

I love my tile, haven't had any issues with it breaking and with 3 kids well 4 now but the week old baby isn't hard on the floors, and two dogs we are rough on the floors. Only thing that bothers me is it is lighter colored and the grout is light. While the tile is easy to clean the grout always looks terribly dirty because well, it is.

My mom's laminate has held up very well and looks great although I don't care for it personally.

You can have the best of both worlds!!!!! They sell it at Lowe's and Home Depot. They're like vinyl tiles. They aren't the hard cold ceramic tiles and you don't have to grout them. They look fantastic! And they have a super life expectancy. Good luck! As soon as I have the $$ to completely re-do my kitchen & dining room, that's what's going in! It's all my parents use and even my neighbor that's re-doing a house. Good luck M.!

Our house had nasty old linoleum floors in the kitchen when we moved in. It was horrible and so dirty looking. We bought laminate wood flooring (Tarkett brand). So now we have what looks like expensive oak wood floors. We got the snap in floor for about 0.77 sq/ft. but you do have to buy foam matting to go underneath the wood before you lay it and that runs about $50 per roll. It only took an afternoon for my DH to install by himself. Just need a saw and a hammer. I love my floors, they clean easy and have a lifetime warranty.

My aunt & uncle have tile and HATE it. Stuff breaks when you drop it & it's cold. They're in the process of trying to replace it but it's very difficult to remove. I think they're putting flooring over it.

I know hardwood isn't 1 of your choices ~ but that's what we have and LOVE it. If you have a big dog, it's nails might scratch it up (ours did a bit). The hardwood in our kitchen has been there for over 14 years & is holding up well.

I have wood floors in my kitchen. I really love them b/c we have an "open concept" house and I don't like the look of different flooring within the same visual space. We have put an area rug with padding underneath near the sink b/c it can be uncomfortable if you stand on it too long!

Wood is as easy to clean as tile and it doesn't stain, but it does scratch. If you go with a tile, you can have radiant heat installed as well!

I have had tile & i loved it (it was a medium color so it was forgiving on dirt). It is a drawback that if you drop anything on it, bye bye. I have also had laminate floors as well - they were a wood look & i loved them too. Spills are so easy on either floor.

Now i have hardwood. I hate them, but it may be because they were improperly installed (maybe)... they have a little bit of a gap in between them & whenever we spill anything it leaks down between and you can't get to it. there's some green icing still caught in between my floor boards. grrr.

Anyway, good luck with your decision. :)

I love my tile floor but it can be slippery when wet. Get a high number to prevent breakage. I have had mine three years now. You can get smooth or textured depends on preference and for a bit more you can get the one with heat coils in them so they are not cold.
They look nice and clean up well and I don't have to mop as much as they look so nice......but that could be due to the color I selected too.
I personally did not like my linolium and have heard that laminate can buckle but I don't know that for a fact just what I have heard from friends.

we have lineolum - I love love love it!!! I decided against tile cause if you drop something on it it could break/shatter easier. Plus the coldness and expense and the ease of cleaning. We have had ours since we built the house in 1989

My kitchen is ceramic tile squares, they are very pretty and easy to clean but sweeping is another story! I have to sweep with very small motions or the stuff just zooms all the way across the kitchen/dining area!

We have a laminate -- it actually looks like tile, but it's soft & thicker than normal. We love it! It looks pretty & is easy to clean. Plus, it's soft & much warmer than tile. I'd recommend asking about it to see what colors you can choose from. Have fun!

We have tile and I am looking forward to replacing it one day. It is cold, but my main problem is that anything that drops on it ends up broken. Plastic, glass, ceramic - doesn't matter. I will definitely choose something more forgiving when we redo our floors.

I love my tile and wood.

We have mostly travertine in the formal and hallways. 8" tile in all bathrooms, our kitchen tile is 12x12 and I would not have anything else. Easy to clean.

We have hand scraped, nailed down special wood in formal areas and carpet in bedrooms and family room.

We are thinking of replacing all downstairs carpet with tile (probably travertine) and steps and upstairs with wood.

Think of the value of your house. Vinyl and glue down might not increase your value. Some (not all) of those products look cheap.

You get what you pay for.

We have laminate. It was there when we moved in (7 years ago). I love it. It's comfortable, cleans easily, and seems to hold up really well. There are a couple spots in the dog's room where the sides look like they're staring to come up, but that's by her water bowl and she is a very messy drinker. That water also sits. I've never had the issue in the kitchen. (We ended up getting a mat for her water bowl).
We have hardwood in the rest of the house, and while I do prefer the look, it seems harder to clean and already has somechips. We have tile in a bathroom, and while I do like it in that small space, I would never consider it for my kitchen. It shows dirt, is very cold, and it's slippery when wet.
If we had to replace our kitchen flooring, I would go with laminate again, no second thought.
Another note, my in-laws have real hardwood and while it does look good (matches the rest of the house), it is very worn in all the high traffic spots. It also hurts my feet to stand on it at length.

We have vinal floor all downstairs because keeping a clean carpet got to be ridiculous in the living room. It's easier to clean and I think it looks nicer. You can put an area rug down but we wear slippers and socks I haven't worried about it.

I would strongly recommend Allure flooring....you can buy it at Home Depot. It is waterproof and great if you have kids and pets. There are many different colors and styles available and you don't need "special" cleaning products...we use a Swiffer Wet Jet on ours...LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT!!!

Another bonus to this type of flooring...you don't have to remove your existing flooring (unless of course it is carpet)...you can put it down right over what you already have!! Installation is VERY easy...all you need is a straight edge and a utility knife!

We have tile in our kitchen, it came from Home Depot and is called "Chocolate Mousse," I believe. I really like it. I wear socks in the house most of the time so if it's cold, I don't notice it. There is wood laminate in the dining area, I also like that but it does show more spills. With two little kids, we're constantly cleaning up milk, spaghetti sauce, etc. off the floor. The tile doesn't show as much spillage.

I have tile in my kitchen - the grout lines are filty and are terrible to clean!!!