We're redoing an Ugly Duckling lake house and wanted something that would stand up to wet, sandy feet and pets. We went with Amtico wood look vinyl plank.

It's only been down for a couple of months but so far I love it. It looks enough like wood that a couple of guests have reached down to touch it just to make sure. It's a breeze to clean -- even dried paint comes right off. It's durable too. A friend dropped an ironstone plate on it and later her young son wandered in dripping lake water, sand and pea gravel. None of it had any effect on the flooring at all.

Here is a link that might be useful: Amtico Vinyl Plank

suzannesl, do you happen to know what brand of strand woven bamboo you have? Thanks! :)

Anyone else have strand woven bamboo in a kitchen?

Just wanted to say that neither ceramic nor porcelain tiles themselves need sealing, only grout. Choosing a medium toned grout (gray, beige, etc) should minimize the appearance of staining, as would smaller grout lines. Our "mud room"/laundry room that is directly off of our garage has had gray grout (and quartzite/slate tile) for several years and I sealed it once on install and haven't resealed since. Neither us nor the 90lb dog has done a bit of damage.

I'm still trying to decide between real tile, luxury vinyl tile and strand woven bamboo. Please keep the comments coming,, especially if you'd had any of them for quite awhile! :)

This post was edited by Kathy642 on Mon, Jul 28, 14 at 13:56

I'm going w/LVT in a travertine-like tile. It's not in yet, so I can't comment on its quality, but I chose it for many of the same reasons. I have a dog and a husband that have been rough on the hardwood in the hall, but yet I wanted something soft underfoot because I bake a lot. So LVT won out. I'm hoping that I like it in real life as much as I do in concept!

I have LVT in a guest bath, installed last year. It's Armstrong Alterna. I see a scratch in the doorway already, so I'd assume LVT will scratch. I believe the wear layer is about the same as a good quality sheet vinyl. If you really want a 20 year floor, use porcelain tile. I have that in my kitchen.

The first go-round of our bamboo flooring is listed on the invoice as "Eco Timber Woven Bamboo Engineered Toffee." The same product 10 months later is from EcoFusion and the invoice says "Light Carbonized Engineered." It's exactly the same. Notice that it's pretty much the same color as the dog.

Does real ceramic tile need to be resealed ever so often? Also, how does the grout hold up? I have ceramic tile in my bathroom, but it's not sealed and the grout has changed color and it looks like some of the grout is missing and needs to be completely redone.

Epoxy grout isn't sealed and the tiles themselves aren't sealed. You shouldn't have to do anything to it. Epoxy is stain resistant, not stain-proof, so you'd want to pick a darker color. Tiled floors today typically have smaller grout lines too. If you have sanded grout in your bathroom and have used bleach to clean it, that can degrade the grout.

We did porcelain (concrete-look) with small

We got our first LVT in December. We put it in the DR/LR/Entry and Hallway. We planned to put it into an office and a bedroom, but weren't ready to have the whole house torn up at once. We have liked it so much that we put it in that bedroom and the master and ordered more to do the previously planned office and the last bedroom. I would have gone with it in the kitchen too (mid-reno now) but DH wanted porcelain tile and won.

We have two Australian Shepherds and a cat. We live in a dusty area. My Braava is one of my favorite things ever. I'm so excited to get a charging station in one of my kitchen cabinets!

Con: We do have scratches. Most were our fault and could have been prevented. We weren't quick enough to protect the feet of our DR table and had a contractor sit and drag his chair with his weight on it. We protected everything we could with felt pads. Then one day we broke out folding chairs when we had a crowd...more scratches. Again, our fault. The felt pads are a pain, they fall off. When we put the house back together after this kitchen reno, we'll have to do a pad check. I know I've seen some renegade pads floating around.

Pro: We left for vacation after just having some work done on the indoor part of our AC. We also left a painter in our house as we left for vacation. We came home, anxious to check the paint job in the hallway and saw/felt squish, squish, squish. The condensation pump on the AC had died (or been killed...since the AC guy only charged us for parts, I think he sorta admitted guilt). All the tile is fine but one piece that's notched at an outside corner in the hallway. The flooring guy was out measuring the kitchen and I said that that one has to be replaced. He said no, it was just trimmed to tight and if they just trimmed it and heated it to re-stick it, it'll be fine. Also in the flood was our one extra box of planks. He assures me they're fine, but I'm afraid to look.

Ours is Karndean Knight Tile in Walnut (to me it looks more like Maple). Ours is very flat. My inlaws have some Shaw that's more textured (theirs goes with their house better and ours goes with ours better). Looking at theirs, I want to say theirs wouldn't scratch the way ours did, but I'm not going to test it out.

Here is a link that might be useful: Karndean Knight Tile

Anyone ever have a problem in a high traffic kitchen with kids, dog, spills, sliding chairs, moving big appliances(to clean behind) with porcelain tiles/grout even when sealed? Or strand woven bamboo? Or what about a handscraped, distressed(that already has dents etc) hardwood(very hard wood like hickory)?

What about moving big appliances(stove, fridge) or even a chair on tile, strand woven bamboo or very hard hardwood? Any scratches?

We never had any scratches and everything cleaned up perfectly with our laminate(even if missed for a few days-coffee, juice drips).

I don't want to have to "baby" the floor. We are not super hard on it or messy when cooking(accept when spaghetti sauce splatters), but my husband and dog may walk on it from outside(wet, dirty), there will be the occasional spills, drips that may not be seen right away and I know we probably won't be careful sliding chairs.
As I said, no scratches on laminate, even when moving big appliances.

We love the LVT we put in our playroom with two English Springer Spaniels, two elementary schoolers, and--unfortunitely thanks to this summer's freak storms---4 floods. It looks perfect. We got a wood look from Lumber Liquidators.

For our kitchen, we decided to go with Coretec. Is LVT with a cork banking. Supposed to be totally water proof and comfy to walk on. ItâÂÂs not in yet, so I can't comment.

We have an English Cocker Spaniel and LVT - Armstrong Alterna. It looks perfect and cleans up easily. I think the fact that it is textured helps and will keep it looking nice. Also, the pattern is so variable that I don't even notice the dirt right away. It has only been a month, though.