Since the opening between the living room and kitchen is quite large, it would be ideal to have hardwood throughout.

Flooring guys will tell you never to put hardwood in a kitchen. I disregarded this advice and installed maple. If you have a table with chairs, make sure you put pads on the bottom to avoid scratches. Invest in a third coat of varnish.

If you want to use hardwood I suggest to use distressed rustic hardwood flooring.

Use Hardwood throughout the home including the kitchen!

We just went through this ourselves; we went with hardwood, rustic grade solid ash, 5 1/4" boards. I love how everything flows and everything seems somehow bigger. We went with hardwood mainly because it's cheaper to install, and when it gets worn, or we change our minds on the colour, it's a lot less hassle to do so.

I am in the camp of tile, laid out like your plan. I would even have tile by the front door, up to the door openings into the den and dining room. One could argue that two different floors can help delineate areas, especially in open floor plans.

Tile can be warmer than wood floors, if you use underfloor radiant heat as we have. I agree that grout needs to be cleaned, but you can minimize your grout line if you use very consistent tile sizes.

I personally know people who have had water damage on wood floors, as a result of leaks from sinks, dishwashers, and refrigerators.

Search Houzz, you will find this is an often discussed topic, and there is strong support for either material.

If it were me, I'd tile the entire foyer area, mud room area, and kitchen. 7 years ago we did something similar and I've never been sorry. I've lived with laminate, hardwood, carpet, and now tile, and tile is by far, IMO the best! As for grout, we went with darker grout and we 3 dogs, 2 cats, one wheelchair user, and one small baby in our home. We've never sealed the grout, we are just extremely careful when having a bag of flour on the counter top. I've also occasionally utilized large throw-rugs, like right inside the front door, for snow and rainy days, and for wet paws.

I've had both tile and wood. It takes a lot of water to ruin tile. It take only a little water to damage wood. I've had tile with unsealed grout my bathroom for years and have never had a problem with it. I have hardwood in my kitchen and it's all stained up with water and grease. Next time it will be vinyl or tile in the kitchen.

Wow, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that there are differing opinions. All great feedback thanks!

My parents have had hardwood in their kitchen (and whole house) for over 20 years. Still looks great after raising 4 kids who spent a lot of time in there. We are planning to replace our linoleum soon and will do hardwood to match the rest of our downstairs.

Hardwood! We just redid our kitchen and added the same light oak as the rest of the house. The room is SO much warmer without that cold-holding tile.

Yes, it requires a bit more maintenance, but some things are worth it. This after my 7yo swung the paper towel roll like a sword and got OJ on the floor, wall, window, baseboard and ceiling, but not himself. How does that happen?

I am having the same issue. My plan is very similar to yours,what did you end up choosing? I think the flow of hardwood would make it look nice, but I can't imagine not having tile in the kitchen.

I went with the hardwood. After visiting a bunch of houses and talking to people, it made the most sense to me. Not only does it flow better, but wood is more comfortable to stand on for any length of time (I have some foot issues and have trouble standing for too long). It's also not as hard to care for as I thought it might be. I just had to change the mindset that tile must go in the kitchen.

My mind set is that kitchen needs tile as well, but with an open floor plan I realize that hardwood looks better.

I have the same situation. I am a messy person in the kitchen and I cook a lot and this concerns me about wood. Are you still satisfied with your decision?

My floors aren't in yet, but I picked jacobean stain for my hardwood and I found dark brown tile for my kitchen floor. I definitely wanted tile in the kitchen, but wanted cohesiveness. the dark tile blends better with the floor and doesn't cut up the space as much as light tile would have. This is the kitchen floor tile I chose

We just bought a home that needs all new flooring. I am considering installing the new ceramic wood look tile. Should I use the same tile in the entry, kitchen, living and dining room? We would love travertine in the kitchen and entry but I'm afraid it will make it too choppy. Suggestions would be appreciated very much.

I personally don't like wood look tile next to real wood. But that's just me.