<p>I would go with the tiles. I have a 1940’s house… and I have wood floors everywhere however they are covered up in each room except in the living room and hallways. Kitchen is tile and easy to clean up and I don’t have to worry about scratching it or staining it. I’ve scratched up my wooden floors quite a few times moving furniture. (ugghhh). Some day i’d like to replace the tiles in the kitchen… they must have ran out of a case and gone back to get more, and the last pack doesn’t exactly match the rest of it. Not horribly different, but enough that I notice it. I think they bought like one color different…</p>
<p>I had wood floors in my kitchen/mudroom in my old house and wouldn’t recommend them. It is very hard to protect them, especially where there are muddy/wet dogs or people coming in or where water sometimes accumulates (under dog bowls, for example). I have saltillo tile now (obviously that wouldn’t work for your style of house) and love it. It’s cool under foot in the summer and very easy to clean. You are lucky that you can do radiant heat. That is my only regret about my floors–they do get cold in the winter. I don’t think they “look” cold at all, though, and your kitchen sounds beautiful!</p>
<p>Yes, Igloo, real brick. It’s laid on concrete with radiant heat. The cat can always find the warmest spots in the winter and it is cool for the dog in the summer. My house is entirely brick, with poured concrete floors on both levels. It takes a long string of hot days before we have to turn on the AC.</p>
<p>^In the same principle as adobes? </p>
<p>sally, I love saltillo tile. In my old kitchen we laid french terra cotta. Loved it.</p>
<p>I guess so, though I live in the northeast.</p>