Wendy,
Don't buy white cabinets.
Problem solved.
Why not either a wood tone or color?
Color is nice, you just have to picture what the counter, backsplash will look like, then pick a color other than bright new white.
You know, I heard a big name carpet cleaning place will actually clean all the grout for you, and it's guaranteed.
Just a thought.

Thank you butterfly4u - our current cabinet is oak colored and we both want our new kitchen to be bright, light and airy. We briefly looked at light wood colored cabinet but are still drawn towards white colored....tough choice

Fishymom, thank you for your insight! Now I feel much better - we have two small kids and during the remodel we will still live in the house, that's why I want the remodel to be quick and less dusty if possible. My husband want the 18x18 earth colored ceramic tiles - to me it's such a waste to get rid of the current tiles. but I am having a hard time convincing him... so that's why i need to show him some third-party opinions :)

I did find some white cabinets - white tile combination to show him on Houzz as you suggested but he still insists the white tiles are too industrial looking. i don't see anything industrial with it. I also plan to paint the new kitchen wall with a warmer wheat color to minimize the white, sterile look.

thanks again!

Oh my, I can't imagine doing tile demo with 2 little ones, while living in the home! We did our flooring when the house was completely empty before we moved in and it was still a nightmare!

I had a photo saved on my old computer that was almost exactly like what you are describing, white tile floors, white cabinets with Santa Cecilia granite and a tumbled marble backsplash. The walls were painted Benjamin Moore Quincy Tan. It was a small kitchen with oak cabinets that they painted BM White Dove. It was so pretty, a crisp, clean look but warm and inviting. When I saw it, I thought it would be great for my son's kitchen renovation, so I sent him the link. If he still has it, I will post it for you.

Good luck convincing your husband. Mine is rarely opinionated about home decor but when he does decide to have an opinion, it is very difficult for him to let it go!

I used to have a white floor in my kitchen (Pergo). It didn't look *that* white when we selected the pattern, but it ended up reading white anyway. At the time we had golden oak cabinets. The floor was bulletproof but showed everything. I had to clean it all the time, but I always knew my floor was clean, which I didn't mind.

Eventually I replaced it with red oak. The thing about a white floor (aside from the commitment to clean them) is they don't provide an anchor for the kitchen. Everything is a bit floaty. I have white cabs now and I can't say enough how they need a darker floor to give them weight. All white is like being in an igloo.

I think the first question is: do your tiles look dated? Be honest. Unfortunately tile looks don't seem to stand the test of time.

We had the 12x12 tile in our kitchen demo-ed. I would say that it is VERY awful...we were moved out while that was going on. The demo-ing only took a couple of days though. In our case the tiles were extremely bonded to a concrete subfloor so I would guess it was worse than usual.

OTOH, floors are too often neglected in kitchen renos. It's sad when people spend crazy money on cabinets and appliances yet leave dated floors in place. It's not good when you can *tell* that they left the old floors in place.

My flooring budget (replacing the kitchen tile with hardwood and refinishing the hardwood in dining/living/hall areas) ended up being 25% of our kitchen reno budget!

It was a huge hassle as we had to move everything out and we are a family of four. We had to find alternative accommodations for a week because the flooring area included our home entrance. But I would say it was a critical element to the kitchen reno and I have no regrets now that I'm on the other side.

I don't imagine that grout refreshing will be simple or cheap either. $3000 sounds like a great price to me if it includes demoing the old grout. I would add to that budget the cost of moving items and staying out of the house during the demo part.

I do love a white kitchen. Personally I would not choose a white floor to go with that - I agree with comments that a mid-tone would "ground" things better.

I think earth coloured ceramic would look great if they were VERY good quality - some are quite vulnerable to chipping. I also love this look:

If you're considering resale, do consider alternatives to tile if you do not live in a warm climate.

I agree that you must consider the region. A dark floor with white cabinets would look silly to me here in South Florida. When I was house hunting 6 years ago I wouldn't even look at a house that had dark floors, to me they felt like people were trying to recreate their northern homes here at the beach. And on top of that, they wanted me to pay for them! And yes, tiles can become dated looking, another point to consider.

You may be able to put a vinyl sheet floor or vinyl tiles right over the ceramic tile floor you have now. We did that in my mother-in-law's condo a few years ago and it was great.
Do not discount vinyl flooring - they have such beautiful choices now that are sturdy, fashionable and soft to stand on, - plus if you drop something the chances of it breaking are much less than on ceramic. Check out a better grade flooring store if you are interested. Cork might work too. Just another option.

Sorry just saw that you want to keep this floor continuous throughout - I have hardwood throughout my main level with a floating vinyl tile floor in the kitchen only. I had 12 x 12 white tiles in my former house and found they looked dated after awhile. But doing a beige grout could freshen up yours.

This post was edited by Caya26 on Sun, Apr 13, 14 at 22:38

Thanks everyone - Vinyl floor over ceramic sounds interesting and worth exploring... and cork too. I'll do some more research.

We love in hot hot Texas - so I hope earth tone tiles would not be too dark.

Demoing the tile on a kitchen floor will not take more than one day. The contractor should seal off the rest of the house with plastic. Sure it's a mess, but it is short lived.

I agree with your DH ... using the larger tiles will update the floor along with the rest of the kitchen. Using a contrasting grout on 12 x 12 tiles is only going to make them stand out more.

I think it is a very good idea to keep the flooring continuous throughout. I think tile is a great look in a hot climate and very practical too. Sounds like a midtone tile would be a good choice. Alternatives to earth tone ceramic would include a not-too-dark concrete-look porcelain tile in updated dimensions.

Their will be dust EVERYWHERE if you remove the tiles, and it is loud, bone grating nails on a chalkboard annoyingly loud.
My husband used the hammer drill with a chisel tip to remove all of ours and he did it in a way that they were salvageable so they can be reused.
It took 3 nights of him working on it after getting off work and I had to just try to keep the kids in their room with the door closed to avoid the dust and minimize the noise.

For me it was necessity since new walls were going up and old walls and cabinets coming down but, if I could have gotten away with not removing them, I would have kept them.