You want your kitchen floor to look nice, but in this part of the house you need a material that's durable. Luckily, you have some good choices, including: tile, wood and vinyl.
                                       
Our news partners at Consumer Reports are out with their yearly ratings of flooring materials. And once again, vinyl was the standout.
 
"We love it because it's a really great product," Celia Kuperschmid Lehrman, Deputy Home Editor at Consumer Reports says.
 
"It's really easy to install, it's very practical and it resists wear and tear, moisture and stains. It’s really a great workhorse type of product."
 
And she said, vinyl floor is much better looking than it used to be.
 
The best vinyl floor and plastic-laminates resist wear better than solid wood, but they can't be refinished when they get worn.
 
If you go with wood, you have to choose whether you want pre-finished or not.
 
"Generally, the flooring that's pre-finished at the factory, those finishes are far more durable," says Kuperschmid Lehrman.

Consumer Reports says bamboo is a poor choice for kitchen counters – it stains very easily – but is a tough and durable material for floors. And it costs about the same as other hardwood.