Tuesday: We have black and white tile in the entry, with black grout, and beige porcelain tile in the sunroom with cement colored grout (dark gray). The sunroom is the door through which our 2 Aussies come through many, many, many times a day. It still looks like new, and I've never had it cleaned.

My dad warned us before we put down any ceramic tile to make sure we picked a dark color, and it worked for us.
Dee

I don't think you need any counseling at all. I think your decisions are perfect for you. But one question: when you say linoleum, do you really mean linoleum or are you considering sheet vinyl? Either is fine. Good linoleum will last forever.

Are you going to put the flooring around the gun case or the gun case on the flooring?

We had vinyl in our kitchen & laundry (it yellowed over the years & looked dingy even though it was just moped). It was probably installed for about 10 yrs before we decided to install tile. I knew I didn't want ceramic as its more brittle, so we installed porcelain tile. I love it! Easy to clean (in fact I don't mop it as much as I did the vinyl). The dirt/sand scratches vinyl and thus far not a problem with the tile. The key is neutral to darker colors with somewhat darker grout; and don't forget to seal really well. We purchased the 20 yr sealer from Home Depot and used it both on the shower grout & floor. The shower grout has yet to mold (installation & sealing was about 1 1/2 yrs ago). The sealer was well worth the money. But you're right, the acrylic does clean easily.
However, it all depends on what YOU like and what will be easy maintenance for you. That said, I'd install porcelain tile again without hesitation.

There's no such thing as "tile and grout" per se. There are worlds of different tile *and* grout now so that you have to make sure you're comparing apples to apples.

Grey grout is a wonderful thing. In the 90s, I spent way too much time on my hands and knees cleaning white grout between the cheap white ceramic tiles in the bathrooms of our last house. HATED it. We also had less than 10-year-old vinyl in the kitchen (I didn't choose it--the PO did) that had yellowed.

Fast forward to our new house: we have put gold/beige throughbody (same color all the way through -- great in case of chipping, which hasn't happened) porcelain tile with either Laticrete natural grey or TEC standard grey grout in the baths and laundry/mud room (it gets muddy in Oregon, esp. with an outdoorsy family) and it's practically bulletproof. If you want even more bulletproof, get your installer to use epoxy grout (not in changes of plane, though! caulk only there!) and dirt won't have the slightest chance of sticking.

The only thing that would move me in the direction of a 'resilient floor' would be the softness underfoot. If that is important, and it's a nice feature as we age and our knees hurt more, I'd go with that. Vinyl has also improved its technology such that the higher end ones are much more durable in terms of color and puncture. You could underfloor-heat wood or tile, but not vinyl, as I understand the current technology.

So I'm throwing some other factors in there, and trying to make sure you are judging on specifics.

I'll second what flyleft said... Grouts have come a long way. I just installed my bathroom floor tile with epoxy grout. This is totally stain-free... impervious; unlike regular grouts which a very porous and actually absorb dirt and stains. Epoxy grout cleans up just as easily as the tile itself. Sure, the lines might introduce a slight bit more texture than a linoleum floor would have, but they won't get stained...

Sorry for posting and running - got tied up over the weekend and didn't make it back to the computer.

Thanks to everyone for sharing your experiences and suggestions.

Dee - if your tile can handle two dogs, surely it can handle a husband. Will definitely go dark enough to hide dirt.

Southerngal - I will definitely be going with the acrylic unit in bath - I know I can maintain this.

Gray - The safe will be on the flooring. That is something else I need to research - whether tile can handle the weight?? I am looking at vinyl (I think) - thickestI can get. Tell me about the difference in vinyl and linoleum.

Stacy and Flyleft - I will check out the epoxy grout.

I have a lot to think about.

Tuesday