How about flagstone ? It's just as rustic and easy to wash. The link shows a beautiful floor from a U.K website. My next floor will be slate. It is such a beautiful texture/color. I've seen floors on the internet using roof tiles but now I can't find it...

Here is a link that might be useful: flagstone floor

I think it would be lovely. And hard to stand on. And impossible to clean. And very impractical.
If you don't mind the hardness factor, I think any smooth stone would give you the rustic look with the ability to keep it clean. Slate comes to mind immediately. Of course wood flooring can also give you a rustic look.

I have been in kitchens with real brick floors and they have many bad features:

They soak up grease unless you seal them, and even then you have to keep resealing them. They end up with permanent greasy areas near the stove.

The rough texture makes scrubbing the floor really clean difficult. Hands and knees and a scrub brush time sound attractive?

Have you tried walking on real bricks and flagstones surface barefoot?

We have real bricks fireplace with sitting area, it is hard to keep it clean.

We also have BBQ grill station and fairly good sized flagstone patio in both front yard and backyard. We have to seal the BBQ grill station often. We do not seal the patios, it requires some amount of work to keep them clean.

I was in a kitchen on a kitchen tour a couple of years back. The house was very old and when they did the kitchen, they tried to keep that look going. They had brick floors. I'm not sure if there is such a thing as polished brick, or what. But their floor was smooth, not rough at all. And the best part of it was that it was heated. It was so fabulous.

I have it in my mudroom. Absolutely LOVE IT!!! It's easy to clean (perfect for boys!)and looks great.

BUT, I dont think I'd want it in the kitchen. It is hard to stand on, and over time, cooking/hanging out, whatever on it, I don't think it would be comfortable or good with spills.

We did reclaimed hardwood in the kitchen for 2 reasons - first being that i just love hardwood and second bc i think tile is hard to stand on. So, I can't imagine standing on brick in the kitchen.

I had a brick floor in my 'summer kitchen' in my previous home. The summer kitchen was off the main house and used for canning, baking and (in Grandma's day) butchering.

After a hard day of work in there, my feet and legs felt like I had endured a beating.

To clean the floor we hosed it out and scrubbed it with plain old dishwashing detergent.

Much as I loved the character of that kitchen, I'd never put brick down in my main kitchen - it was impossible to keep nice.

Good luck,
Doc

Daltile makes a product called Union Square that is ceramic in a brick format in limited colors. You might want to check that out.

I know everyone turns their noses up at stuff like this now, but the house I grew up in had Amtico vinyl tile in a brick pattern that looked good for many years. They were known (maybe still are) for their realistic looking versions of wood and stone in vinyl.
It was easy on your feet, easy to keep clean, and all those positives, the negative now being that its vinyl and no one seems to like it for home use.

Is it harder to stand on than tile?

I didn't even go looking for this photo...it just popped in to my pinterest feed this am, so I had to share.

Here is a link that might be useful: Here's the source of the photo

Not sure why brick would be harder to stand on then tile. The floor you posted bee is really really nice.
This debate about the hardness of tile(on your feet/ legs) compared to wood will go on forever.
The flagstone floor my friend has wears like iron and always looks good.

I think it might be harder to stand on then tile, sort of like walking on cobblestone streets is harder than walking on a paved sidewalk. Not that I don't adore cobblestone streets, but they are a bit wobbly to walk on.

I definitely think it is harder to stand on then tile. I have tile in my master and while it's hard, it's not like the brick in the mudroom!

My parents had a custom adobe home built in NM. It was very rustic and had a beautiful non-mortared brick floor in the kitchen. My mom liked it since it hid dirt so well but I remember her joking about installing a drain in the corner so she could just hose it down. :)

camphappy -SO TRUE! DH and I both wish we had put a drain in the mudroom to just hose down the dirt the boys bring in!

What about a terracotta or Saltillo tile? I'm remembering a kitchen update from um longer ago than I like to admit...

I like this floor. I suppose it's totally 80s but in my part of the world, it's classic

Here is a link that might be useful: AnnaleeF's floor

Well, I think you all have successfully talked me out of a brick kitchen floor! lol I'll keep it in mind for the mudroom, though. I'm going to check out some slate and flagstone options. Thanks for the feedback and ideas!

How about Quarry tile? It comes in brick colors and shapes and needs to be sealed but it isn't nearly as rough or absorbent as real brick. It's fairly inexpensive too.

Try Arto Brick. They do handmade tile work in a number of shapes and colors. We used the six inch hex in the color Desert. At five bucks a square foot, it was also a great deal.

Here is a link that might be useful: Arto Brick

Duplicate. Sorry :(

This post was edited by 1929Spanish on Tue, Dec 18, 12 at 20:23

Someone here posted the link below a while ago and I saved it hoping someday to be able to put in one of these floors, look through the photo pages, some of those floors are just stunning.

Here is a link that might be useful: PortStone Brick Floors

We put rustic limestone tile in our kitchen and have wood floors everwhere else. I do not find it to be any harder on my feet and it actually feels great on barefeet. We sealed it with porous plus 511 and have not had any staining or grease spots. I love the look of brick in a kitchen ( we have an old brick floor in the sunroom off our kitchen) but I agree you should check on the potential for different porosities and roughness among bricks. I also second the suggestion to check out terra cotta tiles. Don't give up just yet! :-)

We have ca. 1977 glazed brick pavers in our kitchen. They're dark brown, with a cement-gray-colored grout. Stylistically, they work well with our house, as the pavers form a "track" from the front entries, down short "halls" through the kitchen. (trust me. It works). I can't think of anything I'd want to replace all that area with, other than possibly natural flagstone. And that ain't happening anytime soon.

Since they're glazed, the finish has held up well, with a slight bit of wear in front of the range and sink. The grout is another story. It's pretty scungy at this point. We've considered getting pros in to strip it all down and clean it as well as possible then resell. But other things always take priority.

I don't think there is a comfort difference when compared with tile. But there is an amount of unevenness that one has to accept with the pavers.