If you live somewhere that it's hot, I like ceramic tiles (my family in Vegas all have them) - installing the patterns reminds me of quilting :lol:, but they get and stay so cold in the winter! I installed them in our bathroom when I remodeled it 3 years ago but put a heated floor under them so it works. Feels great when you get out of the shower & the 3 dogs and one cat all love to lay on the heated floor - fur baby central. I'd now only do tile if I can heat it... spoiled :mrgreen:

In the kitchen, I'd be worried about dropping and breaking things (including the tile)... When I remodeled our kitchen (my nephew did most of the work on that project) I used a very hard commercial grade non-ceramic tile. They're 18' with a mottled browns & rust coloring plus some texture so they would not be slippery (or show dirt too much). We're tough on things in our house and these have been great. Check out a floor store for ideas on other options besides wood, laminate or ceramic tile.

I have Travertine throughout most of my downstairs and love it but when we start remodeling the home we will eventually move to after retirement I want wood flooring. If you have little ones (grandchildren, etc.) and they are running, if they trip and fall on tile they definitely get a bigger "ouchie"!

And oh yeah, if you do go with ceramic tile, use a dark grout!

Yes I have that through out my house. It is reaaly affordable, easy to install and looks like real wood. You have to touch it to know the difference I ripped out ALL the carpet in my house and put this down. SOOO much better. We have four dogs, need I say more :)

In various houses, at various times, I have had hard tile, vinyl, laminate, kitchen carpet. At present, not my choice, I have ceramic tile in kitchen, marble in LR & DR, & hallways, carpet on stairway going up and in all bedrooms. Before Ike we put down laminate in the down stairs, really liked it but Ike ruined it and now I am back to the ceramic tile & marble. Ceramic tile can get broken or cracked. Laminate is alot better and holds up better than it used to. After Ike it looked OK but it had an underlayment that would have given us problems later. My son chose wood through out his down stairs and they love it. Every one of these has its pros and cons. My suggestion would be to go with the look you like.

I love our wood floors.So pretty and warm feeling.

Sorry, didn't see the question about the concrete.

I have a friend that pulled up carpet in her den and DR and painted the concrete, she loves it and it looks great. In the Dr, she paint large diamond shapes, she is very creative and has a lot of energy. I think you have to seal it first.

I still think you should decide by the look you want.

If you are talking of true ceramic tiles I have them in my kitchen and hate them! Hard to keep clean, have to be very careful and NOT DROP any thing on them. Either the tile will crack or what ever you drop is going to break or both.
I love the look, otherwise...Phooey.

Kitchen is laminate floor. I absolutely love it. So easy to
keep up. However, we also have it in the kitchen in our guest house. Unfortunately a bad water leak and had to replace it, but did it again with laminate. Rest of our home is wall to wall carpet downstairs. Upstairs old pine
wood floor. I like it all just like it is. I'm not a great
fan of the tiles, I guess I'm wary of the grout and how I
would keep it up. I like it in everybody else's house, ha.

My whole house is tiled EXCEPT the bedrooms. The grout is hard to keep clean in the kitchen area, but I don't think I would want wood there. We are going to eventuality put laminate wood floors in all the bedrooms. I hate carpets.