sivyaleah,

If you can handle the limited palette of the click marmoleum, the cork on the back keeps a rough(er) subfloor finish from telegraphing through.

I'm going to look it up right now!

Huh? It must be regional. Ceramic tile is definitely found in Arts and Crafts kitchens around here.

But...how about putting in new encaustic tiles?

You could probably get away with something as simple as terra cotta tiles. I don't know how much this company is but they have simulated encaustic in a limited palette, and a 4" hex, which might be nice. They also have a pattern called "Hopscotch", which I like a lot.

Hokey name though.

Here is a link that might be useful: Olde English Tiles, USA

Hi, just reading about your dilemma. We can make encaustic cement tiles that have the look of old porcelain encaustic tiles. You can choose your own pattern and colors. We can do hex tiles too, in any of our 88 colors.
One of the geometric patterns in subtle shades might be a good choice for a craftsman home. Check out our fabo greens.

Here is a link that might be useful: Villa Lagoon Tile--Classic Cement Tile

I think the problem with laying new cement tile, over the old cement tile is going to be one of height. The old tile is 1" thick, over a mortar bed making it extremely high already. We can NOT take out the old tile, it will cost me way too much money to have it removed, as I already mentioned, hence the idea of just laying ceramic/porcelain tile over it which is quite thin in comparison to cement tile, or at least as far as I've seen. Let alone adding even more weight of cement to the floor.

The problem of height would also apply to the marmoleum click, sadly.

With regard to linoleum in general, do you mean that the concrete under the linoleum is uneven and would cause problems with the linoleum? Or something else? An uneven substrate would cause problems with ceramic tiles as well.

In terms of period appropriateness, I think that a ceramic tile would look fine as long as the palette was appropriate.

Yes, the concrete is the problem but due to it being "unclean" more than uneven. We can fix that.

I already had to nix the Marmoleum, due to the fact that I was informed by the KD and my Architect that it would start to "pit" in a few years. The tile is in poor condition, being nearly 100 years old and the prior Owner had laid vinyl tile over it. There is adhesive stuck to it, layers of dirt and who knows what else. We already know we could never clean it up well enough to receive the Marmoleum, which requires a squeaky clean layer underneath (I already have some background using the material so I'm aware of this, I had just forgotten until reminded).

Holy moly! I just called one of the companies which does recreations of encaustic tile. They get $24 a square foot, which translates to like $5000 for my floor *gulps*. Without shipping!

Now there is a choice I will not be making!