Oh I'm so glad to find this and hope there is much discussion! We bought a flipped house and are not at all pleased with the kitchen, including the cheap beige tile with white (already cracking) grout. We love the look and feel of terracotta and were considering doing that, but now maybe not. Might be too much with our cabinets anyway as they're only a shade or two darker thank terracotta. But overall it doesn't sound like the right material for a kitchen. Would love to read more experiences--good or bad. Off to read all the other flooring posts! :)

I grew up with a rustic style (slightly uneven tiles with lots of variation in color both between tiles and on each individual tile!) terra cotta tile kitchen floor...which they put in specifically because it so well matched the mud color of outside, and with 3 dogs and 4 kids...they don't worry about sealing it - the stains just add to the charm!

Have really enjoyed mine for 35 years. BUT - mine is installed on a concrete slab, I know many horror stories about installation on wood-framed floors/subfloors - just not rigid enough. Mine is sealed with linseed oil and holds up beautifully! In a relatively small kitchen like mine I have found the easiest cleaning is just sit down on the floor with a bucket and a few towels and wipe it clean and dry - mops and sponge mops just seem like more trouble that they are worth. It is a lovely warm surface and the slight irregularity is more comfortable that a smooth surface. Would trade mine for anything.

I have had mine for over 30 years and I love it. Here's the trick: Do Not Seal It. The installer explained to me that if you seal it with sealer, the sealer wears off in traffic patterns and then it stains. Instead, when it's first laid you wash it every night for a few weeks with soap. The soap soaks into the tile and makes it dirt-repellent. The first few nights it looked splotchy, but as the soap soaked in the finish became perfectly even. He recommended Super ShineAll, Lestoil, Pine Sol or Janitor in a Drum as products that contain soap versus whatever other products have. A have dogs, I cook a lot, and I am about as sloppy as everyone else, and my floor looks absolutely brand new.

Unless you have a newer house or are absolutely sure you have a more level than most floor (or you're prepared to level it with concrete before tiling) I would highly recommend against it. We live in an area where this type of tile is very common and it cracks very easily. You don't have to drop something on it, it's just notorious for cracking on the sides or grout, or even all the way across. And unfortunately, because your tiles are made in batches when you order them, you'll be unlikely to even be able to use overage pieces from your original order (they age and get a patina fast) and you'll definitely never be able to get a perfect match if you order a few new tiles.

They look gorgeous when they're put in or aged in a house with perfect condition for them.

But they are a huge hassle.

I have terra cotta kitchen floor and would NOT reccommend it all. My biggest issue with them is that when you stand on them for long periods of time, it kills your back. There is no natural give like wood floors have, so as a result I have a series of ugly, but back saving, chef mats through out the kitchen. I love to really cook and before I got the mats, I was in tears from the lower back pain, granted I seem to be suspectible to it for some reason, but it's a huge factor.

They are very, VERY hard underfoot - my legs and back ache after spending a lot of time cooking, and they're also freezing in winter. Also, yeah, they crack - we have a few tiles with cracks running all the way across. Gotta say, even with the maitenance issues, I'm looking forward to moving into an apartment with floorboards!

I have quarry tile in my kitchen and I couldn't ask for anything more durable! I really like the way it looks, and good thing, because it was poured right on top of our slab foundation. Unfortunately the former owners cleaned it with Mop N Glo, and when it wore down, it looked cloudy. I only was able to remove the 15 years worth of wax after I got down on the floor with ammonia and a razor blade! You can see it before here:
http://www.jjmodern.com/2012/05/17/face-off/

I have these tiles and live on the England/Wales border, the house is about 80 years old and these tiles can't be much newer judging by the layers of lino etc they were underneath. There is minimal grouting between them and in some areas they have been concreted over and in others they have been painted with red paint. I am finding that patio cleaner removes most things off them (the house was a refurb project so we weren't living in it when I attacked the tiles with the cleaner) and they disguise daily mess pretty well. They are not sealed, and I was considering it, so am interested to read the comments.
A friends parents who have similar tiles swear by a French product (sorry I can't remember the name) which they use to give a slight shine to the tiles.

I have friends who live a beautifully decorated, quite informal home in Tucson, Arizona, filled with ethnic art and regional antiques. They call their style Mexican wabi-sabi. They put terracotta tile in a kitchen/great room that opens onto a huge covered, furnished patio with the same tile.

They hate it. They say they would never do it again. The tile chips and cracks, the grout is a mess, it shows every crumb and drip. And these are people who are very naturalistic and not at all fussy about fancy finishes.

I've not had it in my house, but in college my then-boyfriend and 4 male roommates (who couldn't care less about keeping a tidy house) rented out a place with terracotta tiling throughout. Despite their complete lack of upkeep, the tiles remained great-looking - I suppose the landlord took some time before renting out to college kids to treat everything against the coming storm as best as he could. And it looked just as good on the day they moved out as the day they moved in (which was pretty darn good). Though I would like to note that this was on a slab-foundation duplex.

We installed terra cotta tile thirty years ago in the courtyard-level kitchen of our townhouse, paired with parchment-color Alno cabinets and this massive 1930s Garland range. It sounds very early-eighties, I know, but the tile still looks brand new with absolutely no chipping.

As other have indicated, this may be due to various factors. The tile was from Country Floors and definitely of first quality. It went right on top of a freshly poured concrete slab. We were instructed not to seal it, and thus never did. I'm not sure if I'd put it in again today (though it does look great in the vaguely French-bistro/American-prewar kitchen pictured above at top) but it's held up phenomenally well over time.