I would go with the light color of the back splash or the blinds, if you are keeping them. I think light colors on the floor show the least dust around the edges and when there's dirt or food drops it's easy to spot/clean up. I'm a low maintenance kinda gal.

We have a fake brick linoleum (dark) floor in our rental kitchen and it's so hard to spot stuff that drops, usually stepping in it before it's seen, and it's always dusty looking around the edges. High maintenance. Ugh.

Good luck and have fun with your new space! :) It sounds like it looks better already with what you described that you've done~

honestly it's just hard to tell from the photos what colors you're dealing with here but i think i would go for something perhaps the color of the grout in the brick. because of the red & the orange & the brick accent that you mention, i don't think you need your floor to be an accent piece. in the photo, the brick looks to be more of a beige tone & not the red brick you see everywhere. is that correct? if so, i imagine the grout is a grayish or sandy color. perhaps something in a sand tone since you have so many other things competing for attention. besides a sand tone might help hide dirt better. not sure if rubber flooring colors are solid or come in any patterns (like linoleum products), but i saw some great lightly mottled patterns out there when we did our floor in Forbo Marmoleum last year.

I'm pretty confused because to me it looks like you have wood floors in these photos. If my budget were small, I would probably not pay for new flooring to put over terrazzo (which is a glorious, very expensive, extremely durable flooring). Area rugs and slippers/socks will take care of the cold feeling, and that is a lot cheaper than new floors. If you decide to keep the floors and cabinets as is, I suggest painting the toe kick boards a darker color to crisp up the division between cabinets and floors.

Anyhow, that's my opinion. Moving on to your question -- with the red brick walls and amber colored wood, your floors could be a warm taupe gray (Farrow & Ball Mouse's Back). Or a soft, slightly cool yellow (Farrow & Ball Pale Hound). Or a dusty olive (Farrow & Ball Ball Green). If you want a darker color try a deep warm charcoal like Charleston Gray. Good luck.

What about putting in underfloor heating, while you are at it? Floors are harder to change than a lot of other things, so make it pretty neutral, especially if there are other things you'd like to change in a few years.

I think you need some relief from all the orangey-red. It's warm, but there's no variety or pattern or contrast. Three strategies to think about:

1) Making the counter and the floor work together nearly always works. I can't really see the counter, and this assumes you like the counter, but if you could find a rubber that was a darker shade of the counter, or had some flecks in it of orange, & some of the counter color & or maybe a neutral background that 'cut' the orange a little - maybe the color of the backsplash. A flecked or patterned floor is always more forgiving of little paw prints and finger paint splashes.

2) Oranges and Turquoises look fantastic together. If there's a floor with a neutral mid-toned background and a bit of turquoise in it, that might be fun.

3) When I can't figure out a color scheme, I go shopping and look for a Thing with a print on it that I love, in the colors I'm working with. Then I use that as a basis for choosing colors - even when I don't use the Thing (note card, tea towel, pillow case, vase, photo, book cover, whatever) in the space. The key is to kind of use the colors in about the same quantity.

I would go for something like teal or turquoise, give it a different pop of color with all that red/brown/orange.

That kitchen is lovely. The cabinets look like wood, not orange. Are you changing the backsplash?
I would second the rug comment and suggest maybe painting the brick to get it to blend in more. And a lot more lighting.

I owned a 1950s home which was remodeled in the 70s, with lots of panelling and cabinets that were about the same color as shown in your photo. It was too dark for me. I, too, was on a small budget. I painted the cabinets white, painted some of the panelling, tore down other panelling, and put up a little bit of fun wallpaper. I removed the linoleum (I may die early because of asbestos), removed the awful glue (with a solvent that might also kill me), and painted the floor. I guess I could have skipped all that other stuff and just say--I first painted the floor white. Achhhhhh! The floor looked like it had risen several inches! I repainted it a golden oak color, which helped the floor recede to where it was supposed to be.

When trying to pick a color, I take all of my choices and try to eliminate as many of them as quickly as possible - too dark, too light, hate the color, clashes with the walls, etc.
That leaves me with 20 colors instead of a hundred making the decision less daunting.
Keep in mind that - for better or for worse - both very dark and very light floors show more dirt - some people like the "encouragement" this provides to clean, others like their floors to hide the dirt.

Oooh, what a nice, big kitchen.

I second what Parnassus said re taupe-grey or olive. I also think people should "live with it" for a couple of years before making a big home decision, especially when dealing with a small budget. You could use those some of those foam puzzle tiles under an indoor/outdoor area rug as a cheap, temporary solution. In a year or two, you might have a better idea of what you really want and need and how you use the room throughout the year.

If you do change the flooring, definitely look into installing radiant heating underneath. I understand it is quite simple to install and not that expensive.

DearMisha has excellent ideas. I like the idea of grey/olive flooring in this space -- why not try a very inexpensive Ikea rug in a color that might work and see how it goes for 6+ months? Meanwhile, since you complain the space is gloomy, why not change the lighting instead of the flooring? Take out the current light fixture and replace with a linear track light that extends all the way across the room, perhaps in an "H" shape so you have track all down the counter against the brick wall and over the peninsula. You will be able to position lights farther apart, lighting more area, and also concentrating it where you need to see the most.

Oh, and I forgot to say that I love the kitchen even just as it is! Best of luck making it just as you want it!

Middle grey for practical purposes and to tone down the warmness of the wood in the room!

Please don't remove the terrazzo floor! I agree what's been said about rugs, socks etc. if anything, I would paint the brick wall to match the tiles, and install some good lighting. And if you do change the floor, I'd go for grey. I think that would work well with the orange/red scheme you're describing. Perhaps (as someone mentioned) dust is more visible on grey, but isn't there a bigger risk of muddy shoes and tomato sauce...?

Get radiant heat under your new floor, even if it means you have to pick the blandest one-size-fits-all standard-issue beige flooring on top in order to stay within your budget. The comfort will be worth it. You'll never really enjoy even the most beautiful color if the floor is still "freezing." What the radiant-heat sales folks say is true: "If your feet feel warm, your whole body feels warm."

If you have a choice, get something with either a little texture or a little variation in the color. Either of these features will keep you from being irritated by every single crumb that falls. My parents' river house had a stunning copen blue kitchen floor with NO texture and NO variation in tone, and every hair and dust mote showed.

You can test out radiant heat with a rug sized radiant heat mat under an area rug. I did this on my concrete floors and while my feet were toasty, it was only marginally warmer than the area rug alone, and my electric bills went way up. In some homes, the electric floor radiant mats end up heating the entire slab foundation as well as the room - so a lot of heat output has to happen before you really get a warm room. I decided that getting into the habit of wearing slippers when on the lower floor of the house was the easiest and most cost effective way to go for my situation. :)

I'm concerned about your fear of making mistakes. I realize that your budget is inflexible, but making mistakes is part of life. Some cultures intentionally make mistakes, reserving perfection for the divine. Fear of imperfection often prevents people from doing anything, thinking that if you never start, you can't mess up. Whatever the underlying reason, I think you should address this first, then learn to enjoy wherever your journey takes you.

Really, I can't decide if there's TMI or too little info here.. It doesn't help that the picture of the floor & the written description conflict. If the brick & cabinets are to remain *as is*, and floor color is your only concern, choosing from a color wheel is your best bet. If not, clarification would be good - otherwise this will be the thread that never ends.

A (very wise, methinks) friend of mine, who has kids, cats & a dog, sweeps up a bit, in whichever room she's reflooring, takes the 'treasure' with her to choose colors. She then empties the baggie onto the samples they like, & whichever color allows her 'treasure' to best disappear becomes the color of the room. She's quite a neatnic, & a doctor, so the baggie rarely has much in it, but this method of color matching gives her a little wiggle room, if she can't sweep for a day or two. LOL It might seem eccentric, but if it works...

That is such an awesome idea.