I have tile in my bathrooms and entryway. And no shoe mold because I hate the stuff.

Just chiming in to say that if you choose to do shoe moulding, it can work with tile. Here's an example from our bathroom, if you're interested:

I did not use shoe mold in my house. We went with a wide pine baseboard by itself and I'm happy with it.

I have shoe mold with my tile floors. I do not think it looks finished without it.

I debated this long and hard and finally went with the shoe mold. I just didn't think the floor looked finished without it. Plus (and more importantly to me) there were some areas with very slight gaps between the bottom of the cabinet and the tile. I really didn't like the way that looked.

I prefer shoe mold. Using shoe mold allows you to caulk between the tile and the baseboard without the caulking showing, and covers up any slight imperfections and unevenness between the flooring and the boaseboards. As long as the shoe mold matches the baseboards (not the flooring), it looks more finished.

I'll usually do one of two things-- either I'll tile BEFORE the baseboard goes in, thereby being able to leave the outside joint completely open (because it'll be covered), or I'll cut the tile tight to the baseboard, leaving a uniform 1/16" or 1/8" joint, to be caulked with a siliconized latex caulking that matches the color and texture of the grout. Here's an example:

You're great, Bill. My darling contractors are great, too, but in other areas, not this one. They couldn't imagine not doing shoemold to the point that they literally didn't understand my earnest confirmations (I thought) that it wouldn't be used and put it everywhere. And I had to to let them because the hardwood only came up to somewhere near the baseboards. Oh, well. I tell myself it's a true traditional look.

Thank you everyone for all your responses and great pics!!!
Like so many decisions it seems like this one is more a matter of personal preference than anything else. It was really nice though to see pics both with and without the shoe mold in place.

Thanks again everyone!!
DG

It would never have occurred to me that shoe mold offends anyone. Anyway, I don't use it cause it's extra money and baseboard looks fine without it, but I'd use to cover a flooring/wall gap. Almost used it to cover the sliver side of a tiling job but decided it wasn't necessary since I don't hate slivers the way I'm supposed to.

Pondering the same issue .... I prefer the look without shoe molding which gives it a more modern clean look. However, my spouse feels shoe molding not only covers the gaps but protects the baseboards from being dinged up from vacuums etc. Cheaper to replace the shoe molding in the future than the baseboards. Shoe molding not installed yet but already ran the vacuum and I see his point.

What is the best way to install shoe molding when you have a tile floor?

My condo has shoe molding in the bathrooms and in the kitchen, but not in the great room or hallway. I wonder why the builder would have done this. There is a one-eight to one quarter inch gap between the baseboard and the tile, so I am thinking of adding shoe to cover up the gap.

I prefer the look without shoe molding and did it for a year and then added the shoe mold. Why? Because as my carpenter/contractor told me it protects the more expensive baseboard from the vacuum. And the gaps were also annoying me.

I prefer the look of no shoe mold. Besides, shoe mold is one more horizontal surface that needs to be dusted.