The brands I am considering use a veneer I think is very attractive and reminiscent of travertine. Globus Cork, Duro Design, and AmCork are on my list of possibilities. Globus makes the different tile sizes and colors I want but is expensive. I would have to cut Duro's myself, but there are many colors. Duro was great about providing samples and seems to make a high quality product and provide great service. I checked out a local installation in a store in the mall. Very nice. I found AmCork online, and they have a few patterns I like (Bark, Stone, Oceano, or Marble Blakc) and low prices. I would have to cut the tiles and probably stain/tone them myself to get the color I want.

I haven't decided which one yet. I may try different ones in 2 small baths and see how they go before I make the commitments in my kitchen and master bath. I am carefully reading the installation and maintenance instructions. There are some differences there.

If you are interested in floating floors, there are many more options. However, in kitchens and baths, I like the idea of site-applied finish for a monolithic coating over all seams.

I don't think your problem was with the cork. It was with the floating floor which is a thin layer of cork over a cardboard type substrate. Wood-look or Tile-look laminate flooring also has that same problem. Our glue down tiles are fine with water. I have boys who constantly leave ice cubes on the floor(from the through-the-door frig dispenser) and I had a dishwasher leak that flooded the floor overnight once. The floor is fine because it was glue-down cork which is cork the whole way through. Think about it - cork sits in wine bottles for years and is fine.

Incidentally, I think it's very strange that patma felt it necessary to revive such old threads to post the complaint so many times.