I'm getting HD "My whole budget went to beautiful granite and thus all I can afford is" Daltile. It's in a "I'm boring beige, so just walk all over me and ignore me but feast your eyes on what's sitting about 36 inches above me" color. My KD nagged me to get 18" tiles instead of 12". She might be right. Are you a slate grey kind of person? (I always thought that looked cool on floors.)

I like the idea of slate, but I'm afraid... anybody have any good recommendations for some look alikes. Daltile sounds good to me :).

Bluekit - do you remember the name of your tiles?

Thanks!

Perhaps Scabos in creamy beige? At my local HD there is a decent Daltile selection in a "quick ship" endcap, which includes some real slate and some tile slate-look-alikes. After I posted, I remembered why my KD talked me out of slate -- it's a real pain to keep clean. I had a high quality slate type tile in my entryway for a while, and every year or so I got down on my hands & knees and scrubbed every inch of it and thought "there has to be a better way!" Truthfully, I'm just not that interested in floors other than hardwood, hence the boring daltile.
BTW, I love your granite and just recommended that someone on another thread look at it.

Thanks! My granite was kind of a 'find'. The new opalescence from this granite yard looks different from the old so I got the last slab of old cheaper than I could have bought laminate. It's one of the lower priced anyway.

I'll save the amazing BLUES for my forever kitchen!! :)

Why are you afraid of slate? I have natural slate and LOVE it. It wasn't expensive either. It's easy to keep clean and it's just about my favorite thing in my new kitchen. Here's a pic...

But if you still don't want natural slate, take a look at muscat's finished kitchen pics, her tile would probably be awesome in your kitchen, too. I don't know what her tile is but I'm sure she'd be happy to tell you. Here's a link to the thread.

Here is a link that might be useful: muscat's 99% finished thread

rmlanza- thanks! i have already admired your slate. how rough of a surface does it have? the ones i have seen are extremely 'bumpy' and it's the trapping of dirt/grime that scares me off. (also a stumped toe!)

i had already checked out muscat's, her's is a very good looking laminate!

It's not that bumpy but there are some uneven spots. We haven't had an issue with tippy barstools or anything. As for cleaning, it's really not an issue at all. Gunk doesn't build up in the uneven spots anymore than it would in the grouted areas. Ours has been down since late last summer and it's been super easy to clean and keep looking good. Obviously I have a large dog and because I live in NC, we have red clay in our yard so I have to clean frequently. I also have 3 messy kids. We sealed it after it was put in and rarely have to do more than sweep it or vacuum. The red mud dries and sweeps off easily. It's much easier to clean than the hardwood that was there before and still runs throughout most of my first floor. We're going to put it in our master bath, too. I seriously can't say enough about how much I love it!

kitchenkelly (of the morgue drawers) has a faux slate that's beautiful, too!