Porcelain is ceramic. It has to meet certain absorbancy levels to be called porcelain and is much harder and denser than normal ceramic. Shouldn't easily scratch at all and is easy to maintain. High polish can be bad though in areas that normally get wet, but is one of the best longest lasting choices around ( as long as it's installed correctly).
Cleaning: sweep up dirt, wet mop spills. Neutral based cleaner is reccomended now and then. No vinegar, or soap needed.
Look into the better premium grouts for a longer better lasting look. e.g. TEC XT, Laticrete permacolor or Spectralok grouts, etc....

I just went through the tile selection process. I went with porcelain because it is durable and low maintenance. I did "fall in love" with travertine tile in a versaille or French pattern. A pattern using 5 or more different sizes. I realized that I loved the pattern and not the travertine. I searched for porcelain tiles that came in various sizes that would allow for the pattern.

I ended up selecting a tile manufactured by Monocibec, style is Graal. I chose the color Arras. On their website you can download a pdf with nice photos that have closeups of the pattern. If you search in the Kitchen or bath Forum there is someone who also used this same tile.

My hardwood guy came by and looked at the tile. He thought it was Travertine and went back into the house for a second look! Tile guys have been working here for 4 days and probably have a few more to go. I'm ready to get my house back!

I have porcelain tiles in a bathroom, an entry, and the laundry. The grout is sealed. I forget what the surface number is, but they are ADA acceptable.
Cleaning is ok, but it's still cleaning.

If you get rectified tile (which I have and really like the look), make sure the installer knows what he/she is doing. My installer wasn't too good. The tiles are not perfectly level with each other, leaving a slight edge that isn't covered with grout. Result=sharp edges.
HTH

Anyone have porcelain? Does it scratch easily? What about cleaning & maintaining?

1/ Everyone has porcelain. Nobody has the opposite. On floors.

2/ Porcelain is hard. No it does not scratch easily. The PEI rating of the glaze tells you a lot.

3/ cleaning + maintaininf it easier than or the same as for anything else. I use a steamer. A little bleach+water too.

Hth

We have polished porcelain (12x12) in the kitchen. Love it. I'm pretty sure it's bullet proof. Well, maybe not, but we can't damage it as much as we've tried. It's orion negro porcelain tile from Home Depot (free shipping!) and because of it's slight speckle, we don't clean it very often. Maybe when the dog smudges it with her nose/tongue.

We sealed the tile prior to grouting, but haven't sealed the grout yet. We only clean it occasionally with the vacuum & switfter mop.

Thanks everyone for the information. We've narrowed it down to 24x24 glazed Rectified Porcelain. I prefer the matte but my husband likes the glazed for the elegancy. Still have yet to see if I can convince him otherwise. Our guy is going to install it using 1/16 instead of 1/8.

We have over 1400 square feet of porcelain tile in the house. I had carpet, some engineered wood and slate in these areas. I think it is 18 X 18 in size, but it is rectified. We went with a 1/8 inch grout. I love it. It is super easy to clean, doesn't show dirt, and looks great. I have had more than one person think that it is travertine.

Susie

1/16th is perfect for rectified. Wider would be an insult to the material! Good choice.

Especially if you are using 24 x 24 tile, make sure your sub floor is properly prepared and your span supports meet the deflecto tests.

Also, I second canishel - make SURE your installer is experienced with rectified, large format tiles. Mine has been in business over 20 years, was highly recommended by the tile stores, and claimed to have commerical experience, BUT my tiles are not flat either and have visible "lippage". My installer says it is impossible to get the tile perfect with large format tiles and 1/16 grout lines but I think thats a cop-out. There is a system mentioned on the John Bridge tile forum that is supposed to minimze this problem.

Here is a link that might be useful: Deflecto

Probably the Tuscan Floor System.

I just got porcelein tile in my kitchen, foyer, bathroom and laundry room downstairs. The installer wasnt v good. couldnt level the whole thing. Had to redo few places. But with the diagonal layout, it looks beautiful already.
The installer told me that I can not vacuum the tile floor b/c the plastic wheels (bottom of the vac cleaner) will scratch p.tile.

I just bought a light weight Shark Vac n Steam for this floor. Have you used it for p. tile? does it scratch? I see the plastic wheels at the bottom. How does swiffer work for sweeping the tile. I have a big tile area. Would it work?
Please let me know.
Thnx

I seriously doubt that "plastic" wheels are going to damage this material. Try scratching a scrap with a screwdriver and you'll see what I mean. Porcelean is one of the hardest floors you can buy.

Tile doesn't care about "level," it cares about "Flat." With a 24" tile, I wouldn't want more than 1/8" deviation over 10 ft. THe aforementioned Tuscan Leveling System goes a long way to achieve a lippage-free floor. There is a link to them at the TileYourWorld site. You can search there for threads on the subject if you wanna learn more.