Thank you, Patricia! I did really like the wood-look porcelain but was confused when they started talking about the benefits of LVP. I think it would be beneficial in the long run to get the porcelain tile. :)

I hate that plastic crap. Sure its easy, but it looks like plastic and its glued to the floor. When you remove it, its gonna take forever to get the glue off the subfloor, and its not as durable as you think. I'd get the tile, then seal the tile. You can get the wood-like tile for about $1 per square foot and you can use colored grout to make it really blend well.

LVP is an oxymoron. Luxury and Vinyl are opposites.

Porcelain is the way to go if you are set on not using wood.

The pvc plank flooring I think is a fad right now with flooring companies. People like change and the sales pitch does sound good ie waterproof etc. the vinyl will fade and it does burn , scratch etc. Wood looks very nice but will scratch and isn’t water proof, tile is water proof does not scratch, doesn’t fade and doesn’t burn.

A friend bought an investment property (to fix up and rent out) and when she went to the flooring store they gave the big pitch on luxury vinyl. Apparently it's a favorite among landlords since it's not expensive. (I wonder, since the sales people are pushing it so hard, if there is a bigger profit.) I'm concerned about the chemical exposure, so I would choose tile. I just popped over to the Home Depot website. Seems like they have a lot of wood-look porcelain tiles for $2-3 square foot.

I have 2 golden retrievers and now added a Great Pyrenees to the mix they free run to a dog run all the time come into our walkout which has had vinyl plank for 10 yrs still loos like new with a quick mop up . It was not even high quality like some of it is now.The cost of the tile is only one part of the equation BTW

Tile in a cold climate will be a turn off. Unless you’re doing radiant heat under all of it. Big money upgrade.

I live in a climate fairly similar to yours. I am not a fan of all-over tile in living areas in general, but especially not in colder climates (and more especially if not adding radiant in floor heating). Good for entrances and mud rooms, laundry rooms, etc though (but so is LVP!)

A friend of mine built a new (and not inexpensive for around here) house and put a wood look LVP (glued down) all through her main floor. It looks good and she likes how soft and warm it is. Her only “con” after one year with it is she can’t get the steam mop she always wanted as you can’t use it with LVP :) Otherwise it is easy to clean and she is very happy with it.

I don’t have LVP, but when we finish our basement it will be a serious contender for many reasons.

If I were you I would look at LVP. Be advised though good quality LVP (higher wear layer) and installation etc can approach tile pricing.

The pvc plank flooring I think is a fad right now with flooring companies.

Wood look tile is even more of a fad right now. I'm guessing you'll still be seeing LVP in 10 years but not wood look tile.

I have a friend who just installed LVP in his beach house (a 7 figure house) and it looks beautiful. And if in 10 years you don't like it, it's easy to remove. Tile is a real mess to remove.

Additionally tile is cold underneath unless you're planning on doing heated floors and cleaning grout is no fun. Plus the tile is very hard on knees and backs.

Thank you so much, everyone! I so appreciate all the different points of view!

The tile being cold underfoot and hard on the joints was definitely a factor to consider. We thought that we could counter that with cushy rugs in the sitting area/ under the kitchen table. We are not too concerned about either being a fad. Radiant heat was a thought, but probably further down the road when we are in a nicer home. If we lay down tile, we know it would be cool, but it would not be laid on top of a foundation since it's on top of the basement, so it won't be freezing during the winter most likely and that's what the cushy rugs are for.

However, the big draw for us currently is that LVP seems like it could be a better fit for the type of house this is (which is a starter home), it is warmer and a little softer underfoot, just as water-resistant as tile, easier to make changes to down the road, and seemingly a little cheaper than tile to buy and install.

This is all information we got from the floor specialists we went to, so I think right now it comes down to preference... ugh, I think I am more confused than when I started lol.

My suggestion is to go with what feels good under your feet. For myself it's tile. I live in deep south texas so the cool tile is a welcome feature for us. I don't think wood look tile is a fad that won't be around in ten years. It has already been around that long. Yes wood look tile had a rough start but it's came a long way and getting better everyday. Here's a thread from May 2007 asking about wood look tile.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/2381744/wood-look-porcelains?n=16

LVP has also been around for just as long. It's the same with the tile. It was crap when it first came out but has gotten better over time. You really can't go wrong with either.

Whatever you choose just know its going to look fake because it is not real wood. Nothing compares to it, really.

Good luck with your decision.

Thank you sabrinatx! I think we are leaning towards tile. We like the durability, the look, the feel, the longevity, etc. We so appreciate all of the advice, but that makes the most sense for us, I think. :)

Just remember that not all wood look porcelain tile is the same. There are better suppliers and you may not find them at big box stores. Try a local specialty tile store. Why is this important? Large format tile (which this is considered) can have varying degrees of warpage which can result in lippage. See here:https://ctasc.com/expert-answers/does-my-porcelain-wood-tile-plank-floor-have-excessive-lippage/  It is important that you select a tile with the most "flat" surface. Stack some back to back and see if they lie flush. Next important factor is surface prep and overall qualifications of the installer. Make sure they have plenty of experience with this type of installation and product, and be sure that you vet their qualifications carefully. Get clear documentation regarding their prep techniques and products. Ask them how they will "shade" and plan for the lay-out. Refer to the tile supplier recommendations for the lay-out pattern recommendations and the grout joint width. Research lay-out of large format porcelain so you can have an informed discussion with your installer. Good luck with your project.

Dragonfly Tile & Stone Works, Inc. Thank you so much for that awesome advice! I have been watching videos and heard about lippage, but asking for the shade and plan for the layout, so we are not left with multiple tiles that are identical right next to each other, is a fantastic necessity!

The first step in the shading process is to unpack all the tile (inspect it), then separate by shade and pattern (there is a repeat albeit sometimes subtle). And then lay out the tile prior to setting for approval. Notice in the first photo, you can see some of the stacks behind the installer. These were separated by shade. This particular tile had very diverse shading, but even with the more uniform, look at the similarities carefully and separate. And then do a dry lay-out.

Love it! Thank you so much for the information! I will have to post photos when we have it completed. :D Do you know of any reputable contractors in Colorado Springs?

We do not know (and therefore cannot personally recommend) a tile contractor in your area. A place to start: http://www.tile-assn.com/search/custom.asp?id=2759  Pay attention to any tile installs they have executed using the large format porcelain, and how many. Get local references as well.

We have installed over 1000 sq ft of the luxury vinyl tile in a mobile home on our farm. It went down easy and is very simple to clean. My husband is actually, as I type, installing another few hundred square feet it the basement of the house we are moving into soon. It's definitely warmer and softer than tile BUT I will say that it's not something I would have in the main living area of a house. I'd only install it somewhere that I didn't really care about the long-term look (like a trailer or basement). It was cheap ($0.89 per sf) but I also found wood-look tile for our new basement bathroom for about $1.79 per sf. It definitely looks much nicer than the vinyl.

Thank you shead, this is definitely going to need to make a statement and be durable. It will be the first thing you see when you walk through the front door, which is why are leaning more towards the wood-look porcelain tile. We love the beauty of the silvery grey- driftwood type of look that we have seen from the porcelain tile and the durability of it will be necessary because it is such a high-traffic area. :)

Both the vinyl tile and the porcelain tile we have installed were the silvery-gray driftwood look. I don't think you will go wrong with the porcelain tile. It's really simple to install, too, if you don't have a lot of complicated cuts.

Its funny what people perceive as a luxury or BETTER product. Its fake wood so why is one fake wood preferable over the other if they are of the same quality?

It has been drilled in our heads that ceramic/stone tiled floors are a luxury but when you look at them and think of how out of date the entire flooring system is using grout between them you have to wonder why? Nobody like grout and it is the first to fail or get dirty so why not eliminate it? Because the general public won't buy it if they do.

There are some very nice LVP flooring where they do not look like plastic at all. Think about the benefits and it is a wonder they haven't caught on? The problem is the public considers vinyl flooring as being cheap.

Anybody in the flooring industry has see many mfg's come out with tile look floors with many benefits only to fail because they won't sell. People bought Pergo when they came out but wouldn't buy their faux tile floors. Now laminate wood is a household name.

Buy what you want if your staying and buy a good product. If its resale it has to be tile, engineered or laminate in that order. Shame as vinyl has many benefits for the installer and end user. they are used in every supermarket and take a beating.

Jasmine, another thing to consider is choosing a tile color with longevity. This comes up frequently in threads here. Gray has been popular for some time, but is waning, at least in many areas.

You mention yours is a starter home. If you decide in several years to upgrade, you want to maximize the appeal of your home. Try to choose something now that is least likely to date over the foreseeable horizon.

Thank you wannabath for your comment. You are absolutely right that people do seem to have a strange preference for tile over LVP for no apparent reason. However, for us LVP was a strong contender. Grout is certainly something to keep in mind for sure. I suppose with the grout for the tile, it appears the gaps between the planks is noticeably smaller compared to how they used to grout stone tiles previously in addition to being smart with what color you choose that will show wear and dirt less. Also, there are ways to regrout that are not super painful and should not have to be done for a while. There were many draws to LVP for us for sure, but in the end, the tile seems to just make a little better sense for us, both because we want a sturdy and pretty floor while we live here and then later for resale.

Thank you latifolia, that is a great reminder! We are definitely wanting to be smart to not pick super trendy colors. I recognize gray does seem to have picked up in popularity as of recent years (and hopefully does not go away too soon, as I like the coolness of it versus the warmth of other types of wood colors) and we don't want to go with anything that would date quickly, so we are going to try to find a nice neutral that is neither too white or too different that would make a future buyer balk.

Tile will feel cold in the winter, even if the area will be over the basement. Without radiant floor heating, the tile will be 65-70 which will feel cold to bare feet. If you turn down your heat when you leave the house the floor will be colder and take longer to heat up.

True, that's why we'll have rugs throughout the space. That's also what socks or slippers are for during the winter. :)

I do love the “look” of tile. But I won’t have it in my kitchen due to coldness, the breakage factor, and the darn grout. I have tile in my bathrooms and love it, but I don’t love the grout cleaning, even though I sealed it. Thankfully they are both small and cleaning is not too big a deal. My kitchen will never be anything but vinyl.

Why not do tile in the kitchen and entry then carpet in the living room? I live in the Northeast with cold winters and I would view tile in the living room as a negative when buying a home.

I did quite a bit of research in looking for flooring for the home we just bought. I had beautiful grey white-washed porcelain tile in my last house in all the main living area. The bedrooms had real hardwood floors. Hardwood is not good for a main living area if you have a pool, dogs, etc. I loved the porcelain tile. Our new house (built in the 90's) had carpet (yick!) in 2 bedrooms, laminate in one bedroom and the Mexican look tile in the main areas. I could have lived with the tile but in re-doing the kitchen, walls will be pulled out so the tile needed to be replaced. Porcelain tile could not be laid over the current tile and the tile would need to be removed and very costly. After being told , by contractors & flooring spec's to REALLY look at and consider the luxury vinyl, I have decided to go that route. So far, I've had it installed in one bedroom and I like it. It is NOT the old vinyl that we all think of when we hear "vinyl". They are installing it in the new upper priced homes and it is waterproof and should not scratch easily. Anything we put in today will most likely be out of style in 20 years...whether its "wood look" whatever, white Shaker cabinets, etc. That's just the way things go. They'll probably want walls put back up then

Violet Lind - was laughing at your "yick". I have carpeting throughout my home, and though I am planning to replace it in the living/dining area, I would never have anything else in my bedrooms. I love it! Of course I have no pets and don't plan on ever having any (had a cat for many years but no more). Carpet and pets definitely do not mix.

Hope I didn't offend....I was actually referring to the very old and very well-worn carpet in this house. May be original and they had an older Lab dog. Living in FL, I am not a fan of carpet -- even if new. If I was still in NJ, I'm sure I'd consider carpeting in the bedrooms. But, you're right...pets and carpet are a hard sell. :)

Oh, and just to add a note to my initial post, my luxury vinyl is "clicked" into place, not glued down. There will be padding used in the main areas, between the tile and the new vinyl flooring. Not needed in bedrooms that had carpet/laminate which will be removed.

I would make sure that laminate or vinyl was over a layer of flooring plastic. This makes sure that any liquid won't seep down and rot the subfloor and (if you have concrete floor) that no moisture comes up and gets trapped. It also makes the floor easy to remove and lets sticky-vinyl "float" as the house moves and settles so that you never gets spaces growing between the pieces.

No offense taken, Violet! My LVT (kitchen/laundry room) will be a glue-down install.

@Violet Lind - can you post some pictures? Would love to see your new flooring.

I'm considering LVP too. I'm in South Florida. Tile is a no-brainer here but I have lived with tile for 25+ years and I need a change. I would love hardwood but I have a dog and two cats, and - it's super expensive. LVP is a great option. IMHO, who cares about the next person that will live in your home, put in what you want. I had a master carpenter in my home doing some work. I had been talking to him about getting new floors and mentioned LVP. He was like 'No, no way. Don't do it. You have a beautiful home, why would you put that stuff in your house?'. Two weeks later he was back to do more work and saw some LVP samples on my floor. Yup, you guessed it - he was amazed by the look, feel and quality of the luxury vinyl plank. He couldn't get over it. So, there you have it. LVP has come a long way. If you love it, if it works for you and meets your requirements - go for it. As someone else mentioned, if down the line you choose to do something else, easy peasy to up and remove :-)

I put in Luxury Vinyl Plank - Invincible H2O - Jackson Hill Plank - Woodlake Way from Carpet One - the boxes said US Floors COREtec Plus HD. It’s clicked together on a slab. New construction but they still had to level out the slab in a few places. The flooring had the pad built in. Was about the same price as engineered wood. I got talked out of wood at the store because I did not want to control the humidity in the house. Like windows open and use a whole house fan at night. I live in the northern AZ mountains. For example, the humidity was 10% last night. Had tile in my last house and wanted something softer on my feet.

I have always had large dogs, German Shepherds, Mastiff, and now a Great Pyrenees. No problems with hardwood flooring--have some for 15 years that has never been sanded. We are also getting thick engineered flooring soon in the living and dining rooms. I've had vinyl in the kitchen which split had to be reinstalled, etc. Now we have ceramic tile in the kitchen. we've put down some mats so the Great Pyrenees doesn't slide when it's wet on the tile. It's much easier to maintain than the vinyl. In my area, vinyl is never good for resale, no matter how inexpensive the tile, people prefer tile to vinyl.. Also when we looked at more expensive vinyl and even commercial vinyl--it still came with the caveat about large pets, moving appliances, etc. that could all make holes in it. We tore out the vinyl from the kitchen and baths and are never going back to it.

Does the Luxury vinyl sound strange when you walk on it? Like the fake wood in doctors offices? (;

I have some and it does not sound weird at all. This said, I do not wear shoes inside my home, but only slippers.

Thanks lg222., we don’t wear shoes in our home either.. good to know!

Have you considered cork? We have it in or kitchen, and I love it. Softer than tile underfoot, warm, and beautiful. Ours is not the most durable because I wanted specifically to buy it from a local manufacturer. But there are a lot of corks out there and some are so durable, they're used in schools and public buildings.

I need something to replace my wall to wall carpeting in the family room and hallway, then lay a area rug over a lot of it because I like sitting on the floor at times.. so trying to figure out something where the edges look nice and will not wear our under a rug. I want it to have a hard wood look. I had hardwood in my last house and ‘big paws’ scratched it too much.

I know it's pricey, but wood look porcelain tile would be a long-term solution. You'll love the look as I am sure you will find something you like (there are many options, both dark and light wood look options) and you'll love the ease of maintenance.

We LOVE LOVE LOVE our Lux vinyl!! People who visit think it is hard wood so no no odd noise when you walk on it. We chose vinyl over tile #1--it is much more forgiving on your joints. #2 when I drop a mug it doesn't smash into smithereens, #3 acoustically it makes for a much quieter room. We looked into cork for our basement. It is not recommended where water/damp is a thing. This is why then when doing the kitchen we did not consider it.

@arcy_gw What LVP did you use?

J. M.

"Does the Luxury vinyl sound strange when you walk on it?"

Mine doesn't. Mine is a glue-down though, and the clicking noise complaints were one of the reasons that I went with a glue-down product. Also, most installers here recommended the glue-down over the floating.

We are deliberating the same problem.   We have floating floors in the bedrooms. Love the possibility of a quick replace if ever needed.  We have white oak in our downstairs, refinished it 12 years ago.  Still looks stunning.  I put in self stick LVT in our laundry room and upstairs bath.  Looks pretty good. We used EPOXY grout in our kitchen and.bath remodel.  Very LITTLE grout cleaning issues and cracks, and super happy with it. Learned bleaching travertine doesn't harm it and it and now it looks fantastic.  Who would have thought.

I vote for floating, click, wood look, luxury vinyl plank. I especially like the style with knots and chatter marks. Lay it throughout the whole house, on the diagonal, with no thresh holds. That's what I did. I can clean the entire house in approximately five minutes with an electric leaf blower.

Porcelain tile is more durable however it is more expensive to buy, more expensive to install, and more expensive to uninstall. Also, some tile is extremely slippery when wet whereas wood grain LVP is not slippery at all.

Five years later I am happier than ever I chose grey driftwood luxury vinyl plank for a house with dogs, kids, beach sand, and lots of wet feet. If the house gets inundated from storm surge and ocean water gets inside, I can unclick the LVP, clean and dry the subfloor, and then reinstall the same LVP and it will look as good as new.

There are so many amazing options for luxury vinyl! This is the route I would go. I’ve done both and like vinyl more for a main living space.