Suggestions please

Hi.

I'll be buying a new home and want unique types of flooring, cabinets and coutertops. Don't care for viny or formicia. We have a dog and two cats. Am looking for a floor that won't scratch. What kind of cabinets, countertops and flooring is good? Thanks.

Gee
GLuvsCats@aol.com

There is no such thing as a floor that won't scratch. But ceramic tile is as close as you're going to come.

When we remodeled a couple of years ago, my wife had the new 12" ceramic kitchen floor tiles installed on the counter-tops, as well. We put a wood molding border around the edges stained to match the cabinets. Looks great! Easy to clean (seal the grout well, of course) with a dash of ammonia in water.
Ceramic tile costs about 30% more to install (due to extra labor) than vinyl, and will last for YEARS longer. Hardest to scratch, too. Good Luck!

Gee:

Consider a synthetic rubber floor. Synthetic rubber is very popular in commercial settings like stores, banks, gyms, etc. because it's got good traction, can't be damaged with a cigarette, and is maintenance free because you don't wax or polish it. Also, synthetic rubber will stand up to some pretty strong solvents, so you can clean just about any stain off of it that you couldn't with a vinyl floor because the solvent would also dissolve the floor. I have synthetic rubber stair treads in both my front and back lobbies, and it lasts forever. You can, however, cut it with a sharp knife, but you're unlikely to damage it with a dull one. Check out www.johnsonite.com (http://www.johnsonite.com) and Roppe's web site (www.roppe.com ?)for ideas on synthetic rubber flooring. They're probably the biggest names in synthetic rubber flooring. A synthetic rubber floor is much more durable than a vinyl floor, but it's not as long wearing as a ceramic tile floor.

I agree with the previous posts that ceramic tile, porcelain tiles or other masonary products will give you the hardest floors, and therefore the least likely to scratch. The problem with these floors is that they're cold underfoot and they're not resilient so if something heavy drops on them, you've got a cracked or chipped tile. If you do go with a ceramic tile floor, store some extra tiles for replacing the odd cracked tile in the future.