What type of flooring would you use in a kitchen and dining room that are open and connected

Actually laminate is fine for a kitchen, dark wood looks really good (depending on your cabinets and countertops)

but for more info on decorating your kitchen visit
loveyourdesign.blogspot.com

Wood is always a good choice.natural lineoleum is also beautiful - & it now comes in click tiles. Check out the following web site page for a quick-click flooring guide - it branches off to 15 different pages on about every choice u can imagine!
http://building-your-green-home.com/flooring-types.html

Hope it helps to have all the flooring information accessible in one place. You might also want to consider the resale value as well as the material make-up of the various products. More info is on the above site!

Crazymam they make laminate for kitchen & bath now if you can afford, it is beautiful. Vinyl comes in all colors, some has marble look. If you want the best check link below.
Good Luck

http://homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&productId=100523074&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&cm_sp=THD_Marketing-_-TP081108-_-PIP-_-100523074

I am a kitchen designer - I would not recommend laminate flooring for the kitchen. More so than hardwoods (which if it were in the budget I would recommend most highly for a seamless look for the two rooms!), if u have a leak or flood it will warp & bubble. Laminate flooring is essentially a paper - like particle board with a print on it. Tile would be one of ur next most economical options. There r many different tile options out there & they can have different feelings underfoot. Porcelain with a bit of texture can feel better than a smooth, flat ceramic. Porcelain has excellent scratch hardness, is impervious, & extremely durable. Since it seems like a pretty big space, u can consider larger tiles, 18x18 or 20x20s. Try a local tile store & ask to borrow some samples to get a feel for them. And another option which feels great underfoot is cork flooring. I've included a couple of links below. Good luck!

I have had laminate flooring in my kitchen, & I just bought a new house & put new laminate wood in the kitchen & connecting dining room. I have never had any problems!! I buy the interlocking type that r pre-glued & have a foam backing. They r made specifically for kitchens & bathrooms. Obviously if u have a dishwasher leak or something, u r going to have problems regardless of which type of floor u choose except maybe tile.
Anyway, I would suggest laminate. Talk to the salespeople at Lowe is or Home Depot, & they can explain how different they make it now so that it can withstand being in the kitchen, unlike the old stuff!
Good luck!

When you say tile, I do not know if you mean all tile or just small tile. So sorry if this does not help! I have a maroonish color tile. They are BIG tiles and I personally love them!!

Laminate is fine for a kitchen if it is done right. I had a kitchen done in some interlocking laminate by Wilsonart that looked like terra cotta tiles. It was 1-foot-square interlocking pieces that the installers put a thin foam sheet under for moisture protection & sound dampening. It also made the floor flex just a bit, so that it was not as fatiguing to stand on as tile. It was very easy to clean & was shaded just right so that it really looked like terra cotta tile & grout. Even a tiling friend of mine had to get down on the floor & feel it to believe it was not real tile at first.

These tiles come in all sorts of patterns & colors. And, u do not have to pull up the existing flooring first, if u have like layers of old linoleum or something.

Just know that the most durable & waterproof surface for a kitchen is tile, if it is done properly. If u do not like how it feels, u can put small area rugs around where u stand a lot. It is also the best resale value.

I have a tile looking vinyl and it looks very nice but you get what you pay for the laminate wood look sure is precious. My third choice is heated flooring with travertine tiles. Good luck.