Do you have any showrooms in your area? We’re lucky to have many where I live and that has helped with the selection.

I like tile for kitchen and bathroom, especially with children and pets, because you never know what might get spilled or left on the floor. I don't trust engineered wood (or real wood, or laminate) for wet spills. we have pretty good quality wood-look laminate in the living areas, bedrooms, and hallway and the kids still sometimes leave wet swim clothes or wet footprints on the floor. so far it's been okay, but the tile is indestructible when it comes to wet stuff on the floor.

so part of your choice may depend on how you guys live. i was much better at keeping things tidy and handling high maintenance when i was home full time with little kids. now i work full time and the boys are older but still need plenty of guidance with respect to keeping things picked up or not leaving wet things on the laminate. another issue is ice out of our freezer door... sometimes I come home from work to find little puddles all over kitchen tiles where ice was dropped and left to melt all day. i have a rug in front of the fridge, but it doesn't catch everything.

This is right after our laminate was installed, before the furniture went back into the room.

We have tile in our 1980's house and I do think it's easier to maintain. I have only a husband and cat but there are still coffee cup drips and stray kitty litter, the latter having sharp edges. In a warm climate like mine (and a house with stucco and a tile roof) tiles seem appropriate and sensible, whereas a house in the Michigan woods would more appropriately have the warmth of wood. It's considered more chic to have wood but a sense of place should also factor into these considerations.

While I have wood throughout & love it I think the porcelain would be more forgiving with a young family.

We have used both Luxury Vinyl Tile and Wood Plank Porcelain Tile in our projects here in Florida. Our clients like them both.

This is a project we did with Luxury Vinyl next to terrazzo. The client wanted to keep as much of the terrazzo as they could because of the coolness of the floor in the sweltering Florida summers. They love the cushioning of the vinyl's soft backing and the ease of care, especially with it here in the kitchen.

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Best of luck!

I have wood floors (engineered White Oak) in my entire house, dislike tile and/or carpet. I don't have any issues with spills, drips, etc.

I have tile only in my bathrooms. Currently my bedrooms have carpet but I'm soon replacing that with hardwood (5" red oak boards) to match the rest of my house. My kitchen has had hardwood for 6 years. While I haven't had a burst pipe, I've had normal spills. I have two cats. The floor in my kitchen still looks great and it feels really nice underfoot. So my recommendation is wood, solid or engineered.

As between the two, I would opt for wood floors. I don't particularly care for large tiles and if you don't like the current color palette why would you deliberately opt for beige again.

I'm also in Southern California and replacing my hardware with engineered hardwood. Good engineered floors have a super strong finish. While my unit is being remodeling, I am renting a unit with large tile floors and I don't like them at all - aside from the aesthetics (ugly), they are also extremely hard on my feet if I don't wear padded soles. Also, the coolness is overstated - unless my bare feet are resting on the floor, I don't notice any difference in the ambient temperature and when my feet rest on wood floors, they aren't hot or warm - just normal :-)

I think most people find hardwood floors to be more desirable when looking for new homes than tile unless it's a really specific location like a beach or vacation home.

Depending on the layout, you could opt for a different floor in the kitchen and obviously bathroom floors are almost always in a different floor than other areas.

Zthar: your floors look great, what brand are they?

Floors Here you go.