I am mostly worried about things shattering on the floor. Hope to hear your experiences...

I think concrete makes a fantastic surface in wet areas, and looks even better in high traffic areas. The feel of a raw or honed concrete underfoot is amazing, and the unpretentious look in well designed spaces is earthy and contemporary. There are so many possibilities for colour, finish, inclusions and add ins, heated or non heated etc, that the beauty of concrete almost matches stone.

For me, a huge concern is foundation movement, if on a slab, there is bound to be ground settlement and often hair line cracks can shift and become noticeable, patching is obvious and really just highlights a fault joint, basically destroying an entire floor, and leaving you with the option to tile or lay flooring over it anyway. An expensive excercise just to end up where you started.

the veneer version can be laid on both pre finished slabs, fc surfaces and even timber, but the flexible movement and expansion that occurs often voids the warranty on its finish, I've investigated this option for myself, and basically th client takes the risk, and hopes for the best.

As far as concerns regarding hardness goes, hardness =durability, so plates smashing will occur as it would on every other floor surface!

There are large scale porcelain tiles that have a pre finished concrete look, really large as in 3000mm x 1500mm, minimising grout lines, and will be somewhat warmer underfoot.

Cost is really high, so it needs to be something on your wish list, and where No compromise can be or will be made.

love concrete..time worn and tested.

only thing is it's hard on legs if standing for a long time but then would be similar to tiles..I love it but might have to go grab one of those mats.

as for things shattering they will shatter on any floor I've had glasses shattered on timber floors so not an issue

the concrete in our kitchen was existing..our apartment used to be a printing place so they concreted the mezzanine to put their printers there..

If you spend a lot of time cooking I could not think of anything worse. Imagine standing/moving around for hours on a concrete floor. My legs are tired even thinking about it. If you use the kitchen to heat things up along with pouring wine, well that's another story....

I'm feeling it lol as I love to cook..if I do my prep on my dining table then I'm fine as I sit down and at least it's floor boards underneath ..I work in an environment where we pretty much stand up all day..but then we have support mats..

You spend a lot on time in the kitchen and it can be very hard on your feet and back, so I suggest wood.

Loving my concrete. No regrets. Yes things smash, it is unforgiving. I've had timber- yes things smash too, and then leave a big dent in the floor. If I'm not smashing things on my floor, I give the stone benchtop a workout too. Perhaps I need to stop being such a klutz! I wouldn't be choosing surfaces based on break-ability of things hitting them. Its all about durability for me. Had tiles too, blah- the grout lines, get so grubby.

hate creaky wood floors, love concrete and try to be more careful