I love my floors. This is a rectified porcelain tile in 12x24 called Mirage Slate. They've worked out great - doesn't show dirt and drool and cleans up really quickly and easily. Has been great with our normal 70lb lab, and with occasional foster puppies who come through. Since we have hardwood throughout the rest of the house, we definitely wanted something more dog-safe for the kitchen.

Here's a pic of the dog corner. The cabinets are red birch, and that's a large pull-out on the right of the bookcase unit for the dog food.

A Bell! We trained our dog to ring a bell to go outside. I assume that is what the bell is for.

I don't have a pic, but we have a pretty neutral travertine-look porcelain that holds up well and is easy to clean in our entry area, and doesn't show the slobber of our 90lb dog. I will warn you that it gets really slippery if she makes a big slobber puddle after playing, so you might want to stick with something not too smooth if you go with tile. We have recently put in Pergo in a handscraped finish. It is a darker color, so more things show than if we stayed with a lighter color, but it is very durable. HTH.

Skoo ... I LOVE your floor. It's beautiful.

We put in Mohawk Sardara tile about three or four years ago (after living with WHITE vinyl) and it was the best thing that ever happened to us. We have two Newfoundlands and no mud room, so every bit of mud, dirt, dust, drool, sand, and whatever other corruption they carry in all that fur ends up in the kitchen. This floor always looks clean (it amazes me how dirty it sometimes is when I wash it) and stands up to everything.
It's porcelain and has just a slight texture to it so it's not slippery despite the gallons of water they manage to slosh around.

Sorry for the picture ... I took it of the new banquette, but it shows the floor better than any other shots I have.

I have porcelain tile in a few rooms and brazilian cherry hardwood in another. The porcelain tile I would consider bulletproof and very easy to clean. My hardwood is a nightmare to keep clean and I don't have any dogs....but I do have 3 kids! Shows every piece of lint, crumb, dust, etc. I would die if I had it in more rooms. It is very high maintenance. Here is a pic of my tile (you can see the hardwood in the background). Just make sure you get a good dirt camouflaging color. Mine doesn't show anything, just like wi-sailorgirl's

Thank you. I have 3 samples from the tile store but it's hard for me to visualize what they would look like in a complete room. One looks very close to yours Kristine. I thought it was a good compromise between being light enough for the foyer but more practical for hiding dirt than what I have now.

I've not seen any tiles like yours sailorgirl. Do you remember the color - cathedral beige, island brown or piazza gold. I'm going to have another look tomorrow.

One of my samples is a dark slate jb. It shows absolutely no dirt but I'm afraid that it might be too dark in the foyer. I really like the color tone in your Mirage slate but I can't seem to find one that is similar. Do you remember if it was the military green, grey or multicolor?

Thanx again for your help. I swear I'm not usually this indecisive. As far as I am concerned this is the most important decision. Cabinet, counter and backsplash colors all hinge on what I put on the floors. I love the look of the hardwood but I know that it will be problematic.

We replaced natural sisal carpeting with this Porcelanosa porcelain wood like tile in our bedroom after we had 2 floods. Even though the problem causing the floods was supposedly fixed,we didn't want to take a chance. The tile can be used in any room where you would like a wood floor look and easy maintenance. Comes in different colors widths and lengths. Took grout recommendation from Porcelanosa & installer but, if I did this again, I would use a darker grout that blended more with the tile, probably having to to mix colors to get it.

PS- No floods since it was installed!

This is the tile in our mudroom, which leads from the back door to the kitchen. There is alot of variation in the color and I think the pattern is interesting enough that you notice the dirt a bit less. At least that's what I keep telling myself. :) (We have a 50lb 9 mo. old puppy.) This is Crossville, Tuscan Clay, color Maronne, 3 x 16.

{{gwi:1490278}}

How it looks from further away:

{{gwi:1397962}}

Here is a link that might be useful: tile web site

It's Island Brown! There are a lot of gray tones in it, which I like a lot, but the warmer browns balance it out so it's not too cool.

The Mirage Slate I pictured above is the Grey color. And yes, the bell is for the dog to signal she has to go out. Unfortunately, we've had limited success with it - we used to use a bell hanging on a banister that was next to the front door in our old place that she would just nose, and that worked wonders. I guess it's harder for her to figure out to put her paw on the bell.

I have porcelain tile in one of my bathrooms that looks like wood as well. Sorry- not at home- don't have my pics here. My color is darker- think silvery-grey boardwalk color. I LOVE this floor! It really looks like wood, and it has fooled alot of people. It definitely falls under bulletproof. Now, I will say that I am not a tile in the kitchen fan- too cold and to hard. We did red oak in our kitchen to match the rest if the house.

Hi All, So many beautiful and practical floors in these posts. Thanks to all. But chicagoans, I am truly mesmerized by your floor. I love the herringbone pattern. If and when I need to replace my 80 year old hardwood in my kitchen, I'm going to seriously consider a floor like your mudroom floor. Thanks for posting the picture and the link.

Thank you francoise, that is very sweet! My DH picked that one out and I think he did alright!

We have the same porcleain tile as skoo, though ours is a bit darker. We love it and its durable with our 80 lb boxer as well as the brazilian teak we have going into the sunroom.

I have hand scraped wood flooring, and 'it' seems to agree with the dog. ;o)

I love herringbone as well but I was thinking about a large herringbone with the hardwood in the dining room I really like the color of skoo's mirage slate but I still can't find anything like it here. If I go too dark it would just look black in the foyer. The colors on the mirage website all seem quite a bit darker than skoo's.

Thanks for all the help guys.

I love my italian arghila tile. I have it in the den and the master bath, and it's going in my kitchen. I have 3 very large dogs in and out of the house all day (dog door heaven) -- Rusty, Mocha, and Ginger (100, 92, and 75 lbs respectively).

The tiles are also heated underneath with Suntouch heat mats. It is awesome with the dogs and the warm floors are heaven for us and for guests (they have all commented on it and marvel at it).

installation pic and installed pic shown below

IF you have a dog door... I would suggest tiling part of the way up (if your dogdoor is near a wall). I did this and it has been a real blessing. Note my walls are also almost dog-color -- lol. I beleive in designing for the life you really HAVE.. NOT what you wish you had.

Ralph Lauren suede paint would be hard to scrub. But since I have tile there, I can windex it.

Have you considered the wood look tile? It's gorgeous and once installed you can't tell it's not real. Easy to keep clean and some of the samples in this link are amazing. I really love the that hexagon.

Here is a link that might be useful: wood look tiles

I saw some wood grain tiles today and they look awesome but I don't know if they would look good adjacent to the mahogany. In my area (S Ontario) wood floors are the norm in living room/family room; tile floors only for kitchen and foyer. I guess it is because of our colder climate. I finally found the Mirage slate but it is about $11.00 here. That's getting a little pricy for me. I'm trying to decide now whether to go for the more rustic Indian stone look, grey slate look, or the more elegent travertine look. I HATE trying to make all these decisions.

Try Porcelanosa for wood tile floors.

sandca, you might be able to find a better deal. At the local tile store (Oakland, CA) where I bought the Mirage Slate, it was $7.33/sqft for the 12x24 and $6.23/sqft for the 12x12.

gwentm - I keep going back to your pictures. I just can't believe that's tile. I'm wanting a darker hardwood floor, so I wish someone on here had the tile in a darker color.

Laurie

gwentm - I forgot to ask you, did you find the floors locally or did you have to order online?

Laurie

Porcelanosa has stores in various locations and and you can buy the tiles there or you can go to a supplier that carries them where they may be discounted. The line is called Wood Tec. There is a list of store locations and a catalog for viewing or download on the Porcelaosa website. Wood Tec is on pp 46-51. My tiles come in other shades, including a darker wood. They also make a great longer wide wood tile that we considered in the darker wood for our den. However it was more expensive and we decided to go with real wood there because we never had a water problem in that room. Again, if you go this route make sure you get an installer who is experienced with this longer zero grout line tile and is meticulous with a level. Be very specific about grout color to match the wood color and keep a watchful on during the install. You'll avoid the mistakes I made that had to be corrected later on.

Here is a link that might be useful: Porcelanosa website