Good morning Georgie and thanks for posting your dilemma. You're not the first renovator to have asked this question and won't be the last. You want the warmth and homeliness and texture of wood in the dining room but the practicality of tile in the kitchen - hard when the two spaces are one! I recommend that you go for a porcelain tile that is wood-identical. It fools everybody and is eminently practical. I would suggest that you consider a rug in the dining room (if you have tinies buy a hosable one from Dash & Albert ) to add texture and softness and then everybody is happy. Look at this one from Mandarin Stone, (Baltic Fir) but plenty of others are available. If you need any other help, just ask. I am an interior designer specialising in total house renovations and new builds for private clients and developers. Kind regards, Sarah https://www.mandarinstone.com/media/9314/7203-aspen-fir-porcelain-plank-1.jpg?anchor=center&mode=crop&width=800&height=800

Hi Getty Welty What a shame about the worktop but I think it's almost a blessing in disguise. Once you have settled on the worktop my advice would be to take samples of the cupboards & worktop to a tile shop and look at them altogether. You really need to see a large tile together with the other samples to appreciate the overall look. A 10 x 10 sample is only a representation of the whole tile and the colour changes on a larger scale. We always advise our customers to do that if possible as its really important to make sure the overall tones work well together. Good luck with it all Karen

My initial reaction to the photos was that the kitchen units' colour somehow didn't quite 'gel' in the room and I was rather hoping colourhappy would come in and be able to cast her professional eye over it. I still really like the granite and I agree that at least changing the lower units will work. Perhaps the upper units need changing too? J Pleass, would you consider doing that?

We're an Amtico house (Amtico Spacia Xtra ). I love it. Looks great, cleans easily, and our is slightly textured so feels nice underfoot. Our 'planks' have very slightly bevelled edges so that also gives the impression of real wood. I agree that it does 'ding' relatively easily, but we've only had one. It's been down coming on 3 years now (3 kids, 1 dog, 1 puppy, and lots of parties) and still looks as good as new. The fitters had to put some self levelling down throughout the downstairs, but the final finish is fantastic. Expensive, but IMO well worth the money. There are a few pictures of the process towards the end of one of my threads if you're interested: [Link to discussion[(https://www.houzz.co.uk/discussions/its-go-go-go-kitchen-diner-project-dsvw-vd~3911398)