We are thinking of redoing our kitchen, including the floor. The kitchen area opens up into a sitting area, so the floor is one big open area (kitchen+sitting area). Wife and I can't make up our minds about whether to go with hardwood or tile for the floor. The total area is 27x28 foot, so I am afraid if we put tile, the subfloor might flex a bit and cracks would develop in the tile (we have tile right now and there are small cracks here and there in some of the tiles). Wife says hardwood not desirable in kitchen (water and all that). Any feedback on the pros and cons of hardwood vs. tile would be much appreciated. thank you.
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You hit the bullseye. If the subfloor isn't up to snuff then any tile will crack. It could be the size and or spacing of the joists, it could be the length of their unsupported span, it could be not enough plywood to eliminate the sagging (deflection) between joists, or it could be a poor installation effort where the wrong materials or methods were used to set the tile. I personally dont like wood where there is a presence of water such as around a sink in the kitchen or by the tub in a bathroom, but I'm sure others would say its not a problem. Since wood can flex it doesn't need the structural stabilty in the subfloor under it that tile does, so thats why you see the tile sitting higher when it butts into a wood floor.
