Can you tile a floor after the kitchen has been fitted?

[KatyH]

Sorry if this is a dumb question!

Our kitchen currently has wooden floor boards but they are now trashed and make the kitchen look rather tatty. Ideally I would like to have the floor tiled (possibly with slate) but was just wondering on the practicalities of doing so with kitchen units in situ.

I'm sure the plinths would come off easily enough but what about the boards at the end and in between the units? Would they need to be removed to tile under? Or can they tile round them? I hope this makes sense!

[nemno]

Hi. My first post on MN so be gentle with me!

The unit upstands can definitely be tiled around. Mine were done this way when my kitchen units were still new (ages ago). The thing is I now want a new kitchen and although I really like my floor and it is still perfect, I either have to have exactly the same layout or rip up and renew the floor.

[KatyH]

Hello nemno,

I feel honoured you have chosen to make your first post on my thread! Nowt to fear from me though Thanks for your response. Can I ask if the finish looked okay?

Is there any way you could get replacement tiles and fill in the blanks when you get the new kitchen?

[nemno]

Thank you back. Yes, the finish looked/looks fine.

Unfortunately it's a no go for patching as the tiles are no longer available. Even if they were I'd be dubious as my experience of doing this in our bathroom is that it doesn't really work. The cut tiles need lifting to put new whole ones in and during the lifting process it is almost impossible to not damage the surrounding ones.

[DaisySteiner]

When we had our kitchen installed the floor-person said that lots of people do it that way to save the cost of having flooring under units which no one can even see! I think we took the plinths off to ahve the flooring put down and tiled just underneath and then planed the plinths to re-fit them.

[TheMouseRanUpTheClock]

How does that not tiling under the units work with spaces for white goods?

[nemno]

TheMouse

We removed the white goods so the bays between the dividers were tiled. At the time this worked fine but this is where my problems lie now (see my first post), these missing thin strips of tiling.

[frenchfancy]

Perfectly possible to tile around the kitchen units.

What is less advisable is to tile on top of floorboards. The floorboards move and flex with temperatures and the tiles and grount tend to crack (voice of experience - I've had to re-do several floors over the years).

[harbingerofdoom]

Who do you ask to do this a builder,tiler or carpet shop?
I would need a gas cooker moving : ( which makes the logistics a little harder.(If I got a builder he would probably know a CORGI man). But builders wouldn't want to do a little kitchen floor would they?

[KatyH]

Thanks everyone.

Frenchfancy, would it make a difference if we put plywood over the boards and tiled on top of that? If that wouldn't work, what other options for coverings do we have? I'm now imagining 1970s linoleum!

Harbinger - when you say the cooker needs moving, do you mean to another place entirely or just while you tile the floor? Either way I think I would just get a corgi engineer to deal with the cooker before and after, and a tiler for the floor. I wouldn't trust a builder with either job!...but then others may have had more positive experiences with builders

[harbingerofdoom]

No,the cooker just needs moving out of the kitchen while the floor is being done.
KatyH thank you for thoughts on builders. More or less why we never got it done properly in the first place.