Wood floors throughout first floor or okay to have tile too? (hardwood floors, engineered)

[Briolat21]

We're building a house, but are having the builder put down super cheap vinyl in the "hard" areas because they take too much profit on hardwood. My husband and I are handy enough, we could install hardwood ourselves later, at a better cost.

My husband wants us to install hardwood pretty much on the whole first floor (foyer, dining/living/sun room/kitchen/study) - the only exception being the family room which we would carpet in a high quality carpet.

I think we should do the kitchen/breakfast/sunroom (sunroom is attached to kitchen/breakfast) in a nice tile - perhaps a 16" travertine, but go ahead and do wood in the other areas (foyer/study/living/dining) - leaving the family room carpeted.

We are in an upper middle class development, in a suburb, in the midwest.


Any suggestions?? I am afraid of hardwood getting ruined in the kitchen - but all the home builders here are showing hardwood THROUGHOUT the first floors. So I am afraid if we tile certain areas (kitchen, etc..) and were forced to sell for some reason - we would be limiting the buyer pool due to our Non-continuous flooring choice.

HELP!

(I don't know why, but I want to blame HGTV for this!!! LOL)

[overtaxedunderpaided]

I like the idea of having carpet in livingrooms and familyrooms(the cozy factor). I'd go for the hardwood in the other areas if money isnt a big issue, simply because it looks better, warmer and easier on the feet and especially if you scratch it or slightly gouge it, it can be repaired. With tile, if one breaks ya got to dig it out to repair it.........do you have kids?kids in the future?anyone with butterfingers? Good quality hardwood first choice! But if you put in later, will it match the one the builders put in? Good luck, im sure anything you do will look nice

[BobKovacs]

We put hardwood in our entire first floor, mainly because the builder only offered some 12x12 ceramics as an option, and we didn't like any of them enough to put them in the kitchen. I had originally thought that I'd want to tear out the hardwood and put down stone in the kitchen, but the wood has really grown on me. We were worried about the whole "water and wood don't mix" thing, and I'd actually seen problems with it in homes built in Las Vegas with glue-down engineered hardwood floorings, but we've had no problems whatsoever and will probably leave the wood for quite some time. As long as you're not dumping pots of water on the floor, you'll be fine.

[Jenaten]

I've had hardwood throughout my dining, family, and kitchen in the last two houses and I love it. I haven't had any issues with water in the kitchen. You just have to be vigilant about not allowing water to stand on the floors and getting spills up quickly. For instance, if you keep a dog bowl on the floor in the kitchen, make sure the dog doesn't spill water all over and leave it sitting around the floor - you have to keep a waterproof mat under it. The only suggestion I would make is that if you have wood in your kitchen, use the sight finished wood instead of the prefinished. I think the sight finished floor tends to withstand water spills better and there are less grooves and space between boards for water to creep in.

[jonjj]

I have hardwood throughout the home except in the bathrooms. I love it. It ties the whole home together.

[gentlearts]

I have hardwood in the kitchen and it's not a problem at all. The thing I would consider in your case is how visible are all the rooms to each other? You don't want a visually chopped up look. I like all hardwood with area rugs, and tiles in bathrooms and laundry.

[maggiekate]

what about brick pavers for the sun room, they do look nice, or a paver looking stone tile.

[poconoproud]

We have built homes that have hardwood throughout, and those customers seem quite happy. Some prefer to put tile in the kitchens and bathrooms, and if there is a laundry area on the same floor, use vinyl. Some of our clients ask for a tile entry way, that segways into the wood floor - to protect the flooring where everyone enters the home. We have had homeowners who went with a quality burber at entry and in living rooms, yet wanted hardwood in the dining area and tile in the kitchen and bath. The only suggestion I would make, is to use real hardwood floors - not a laminate. As long as the flooring contractor does a seemless job between floor products - it all looks good together.

Personally, having had a tile kitchen floor hasn't been for me. If one of the kids drops a butter knife, it chips or cracks. If water from the dog dish lays on the floor unnoticed, it causes a slippage danger, as do wet shoes or boots. When the temperature gets cold - so does the tile floor.

[L.K.]

With so many beautiful wood and tile options I always find it hard to decide.But my vote was a mix of different high quality products.We have done that in our last two homes.and it looks great.Sometimes I think one type throughout is boring,In our last home,I even choose different hardwoods in different rooms and there was a beautiful tile in between in the entryway and hall.It gave each room character and uniqueness,With each room painted it's own color,why shouldn't the floors reflect that as well.That house was also in an upper middle class neighborhood in the midwest.It also sold in one day when we put it up for sale.It was beautiful.Now we are working on another house in the east.I did have wood in my last kitchen so choose to tile this one for something new.There are so many really gorgeous tiles,I love the 16x16's.

[msjack]

For me I would do hwd throughout that floor. I think it flows better. I have hwd in my DR/LR/GreatRoom and Kitchen.
Although I do think you could definitely do a nice tile in the kitchen/sunroom with the rest hwd as well.