What flooring type and colour is most practical in a kitchen?

[UnimaginativeName1]

I am currently undertaking a barn conversion and I need to make a flooring choice. I love stone, wood and porcelain and they all look great in the Pinterest pictures.

BUT which looks best after a few years of family life? What colour shows up the dirt in the boot room, which grout muckies up quicker or can’t take a wine spillage, which shows water marks in the utility room or fat splashes by the cooker? Which can you give a good scrub to to remove spills a few days old and will survive!

Any thoughts greatly appreciated. Yes my fam are a mucky bunch, but I love a clean tidy house when visitors come. I don’t want to be a 24/7 cleaning slave!

[phoenix1973]

We have black sparkly granite tiles. They been down for 13 years and look as good as the day we laid them. Just hoover and steam mop them, no chemicals necessary.
We only regret not using underfloor heating...it's freezing underfoot at the moment so slippers are needed.

[UnimaginativeName1]

Great thanks, I like the idea of a steam mop! We do have underfloor so should be nice and warm

[user1483825503]

Don't have slate. We lived in a barn conversion and have 4 children.The floor was so hard to clean and always looked dirty. I tried alsorts to get them looking good but failed

[clippityclop]

Pergo laminate is brilliant stuff.

[ObscuredbyFog]

York Stone is good and not slippery when wet, which was an important choice for me. It needs to be sealed with boiled linseed oil so it's a very dark brown finish but also lets the natural variations in the stone show through. Steam mop is fine, I reseal the floor whenever I remember which will be well over 5 year intervals.

[trixymalixy]

Don't get stone or slate. i had to get down on my hands and scrub our floors for them to look remotely clean. porcelain was much easier.

[Jokat]

We've got Aquaplank and absolutely love it. We chose an oak colour, there's loads of effects to choose from. It's completely waterproof, so doesn't swell if something spills. It's got a bit of a profile, so looks and feels organic. Not too pricey either.

[4yearsnosleep]

We are going with a commercial grade LVT like Amtico. It looks like real oak but is more kid & dog proof. Plus you can steam mop it and it's warm under foot

[alwaysthinkingofsleep]

I echo the hatred of stone/slate flooring!

[UnimaginativeName1]

Thanks that’s great advice. My OH likes the idea of stone but let’s face it I’ll be the one cleaning it

[Flomy]

You can get LVT in a stone effect.

[giardiniera]

Have had stone and porcelain and found no difference in cleaning it.

[UnimaginativeName1]

Can I ask what the stone was giardiniera?

[samatamfabahaba]

Not white. For the love of god, not white. 😫🤦🏻‍♀️

[LizzieSiddal]

We put down oak floorboards. 2 dc, 1 dog and 15 years later it is still absolutely fab.

It never shows the dirt. It did have a couple of scratches, (made by a small visiting child and fork, when no one was looking) but they were easily sanded down and revarnished.

Wouldn’t hesitate to have again when we move later this year.

[KatharinaRosalie]

We have tiled floor, fake travertine so stains don't really show. Not slippery, very hard wearing, doesn't get damaged. But you definitely want underfloor heating.

[ronniebarkersauntie]

Old fashioned quarry tiles have stood the test of time for a reason.

[MrsDilber]

If you have tiles, don't have white/cream grout, have grey.

[Outlookmainlyfair]

We had French limestone that looked gorgeous and was easy to clean. We chose v pale grout and that we a big mistake. About to lay travertine tiles in the kitchen and back door area in s new house with darker grout and engineered wood in the living areas as it works well with UFH.

[TefalTester123]

If you're remotely clumsy don't have stone/slate - too many breakages.
If you're not a cleaning fan then take get samples of all surfaces and drop dust, wine, curry, water etc on them and see how hard they are to clean off. I did all of that and am about to get another batch of wood effect Amtico fitted (but the light colour I have in one room not a good idea!)

[justwhatineed]

I’ve got a black slate floor and I regretted it ever since. If you get a tiled floor “full body” tiles are the same composition all the way through so you won’t see chips! unlike mine, I’ve got white chip scars on mine (and I don’t mean the potato variety)

[UnimaginativeName1]

This is good advice! (Today) I'm going for a limestone in the kitchen, have been trying to stain a sample and it looks ok still, not stained just part of the pattern, with grey or browny grout. Wood in the playroom. Ruled out slate or anything too shiny. Going to put amtico in the laundry/boot room

[UnimaginativeName1]

Current limestone choices are L to R Dijon, light Jerusalem (floors of stone) avalon (stonesuperstore)

[KatharinaRosalie]

Very pretty. I like the middle one but of course depends on the rest of your colour scheme.

[UnimaginativeName1]

Middle one my fave too