I think the travertine would look great.

I just put in a similar kitchen and chose Eleganza Axis porcelain tile in a color that looks like sand....it looks great with the wood and you don't have the issues that you do with travertine...much less expensive and have had nothing but oohs and aahs!

Thanks for your replies. I will look into Eleganza. It would be great to save a few bucks somewhere in this new home!

With a super-modern kitchen in a vintage home - I wouldn't do the tile floors, otherwise you risk making the kitchen appear as if its from another house - I'd go ahead and run the wood through into the kitchen space to maintain a sense of consistency and spaciousness throughout your home. It's not difficult for a good flooring contractor to weave in new strips of flooring and match color of the existing floors, particularly since you're refinishing and staining your old floors a dark color.

I agree bepsf, however, hubby refuses to ever have wood floors in a kitchen again. We had gorgous santos mohogany throughout our last home. This galley kitchen has a stair down into the new living room. each room opens into the other. We need something for that entire area, and I like the idea of rough looking bullet proof stone. I may have to take that risk! Thanks.

As everything is being modern in the kitchen, but the house is a 50s home with woodstrips, the dillema is to make the kitchen ultramodern, modern versus contemporary. I like Travertine french patterns which comes in several different forms. Tumbled, pillowed edge or chiseled edge will give you more antique- rustic look. Yet there are straight edge filled & honed French pattern travertine tiles, that might give you more modern (contemporary) look. If you still want to carry the modern look you might consider using porcelain, such as casa dolce casa pietre II (still classic but clean and modern, happy floors Neos tile, living series, vogue bay, porcelanosa or inexpansive like eleganza tiles. If you want stone looking tiles there is plenty available. The only thing is as you have probably the oak strips you might be better off staining them dark to make trhem more contemporary looking. Good luck on your project.

Oh my gosh! I've got some homework to do! Yes, the floors will be stained very dark espressoish. I will look into some of these suggested porcelains. Go with big 24x24's maybe.
Thanks!!