As you can (barely) see in the snapshot up top, the wood floors in my kitchen are old and in not-so-good shape. Since it's not in our budget to replace them immediately, I went on a search for some good kitchen mats that would protect the floors and provide a little extra comfort underfoot. And do you know where my research landed me? At the front door: More

The patterns, color, and matte sheen of encaustic tiles have always drawn us to this traditional material for the kitchen. So it's no wonder we stopped to look in awe when we spotted this use of encaustic tiles in one contemporary kitchen: More

Q: We are updating our kitchen and informal dining area. I like the qualities of cork flooring but wanted to hear some reviews from people who have had cork flooring for at least one year.

Any thoughts?

Sent by Sherri More

This historic Connecticut home dates back to the 1700's! But its kitchen and mudroom flooring is in sharp contrast to such age. Click on through to see what we mean: More

Whether done with a rug, paint, or the flooring material itself; striped floors bring high impact visuals to the kitchen: More

We've seen a lot of painted floors in the kitchen, but this is definitely new. We're getting a bit of a Dr. Seuss vibe, with the bold, swirly, hand-drawn pattern. What about you? Do you like it in this room? Do you like it with a broom? More

Our regular contributor on all things kitchen design, Regina Yunghans, is away for a couple weeks. She just had a beautiful baby boy! So we've invited a few friends to share some inspiration from beautiful kitchens. First up is Susan Serra, a professional kitchen designer and blogger. Here's her account of a recent trip to Spain, with lots of photos too!

I love modern design and I know so much of The Kitchn community does too. What I REALLY love (and I'm sure I'm not alone) is the mix of old and new, clean and textured, cool and warm, those sort of eclectic combinations. More

Incorporating details from a traditional Italian kitchen into your home doesn't have to mean installing a "Tuscan" cabinet design from a catalog or mimicking an Italian kitchen a la Disneyland. Some basic characteristics we think of in traditional Italian kitchens are timelessness, warmth, and utility. Which are all elements we can incorporate in our own kitchen at home without the cheese factor: More

Kitchens overheating is generally more of a complaint than kitchens having a bit of a chill. Pair that with ease of cleaning (and the recent heat wave) and we think these "cool" flooring options are looking pretty good: More

We''ve talked about forgiving floor materials for kitchens before, but we realized we forgot one very common material: wood. In many old homes, and making a comeback with engineered wood products, wood is a softer-than-tile option that also brings richness and warmth to the room: More