Please tell me about your kitchen floor

[Barbararara]

We’re planning a new kitchen and I have no idea what kind of floor to pick.

Currently we have tiles that hide a certain amount of dirt but on the other hand never really look clean either. And we just pretend that the white grouting is supposed to be that shade of manky grey.

Everything looks fabulous in the showroom but I’d love to hear what your floor is like to live with.

Ideally I’d like something that isn’t high maintenance.

We used to have Amtico which looked like wood. Really brilliant, loved it. Tough, non-slip, not too cold or hard, hid lots of stains and dirt when necessary.

Then we moved house and now have hard cold white slippery tiles which show every little crumb. Some are cracked, too. I HATE them.

@LangittleClegabbage ahh yes it needs experience unfortunately! Ours is a new house built to our spec (bespoke local builder rather than a national house builder development) and we just paid £600 for materials as it was fitted by the builders tradesperson who is a tiling and flooring specialist. It would have cost a fair whack to fit if not included in our build as it was a lot of labour (large kitchen/diner, large hallway and utility/wc).
Calibrated would have been more expensive in materials but far cheaper to fit (and needs less expertise). Such a shame you don’t like it.

Tiles are so cold. We have laminate and Karndean. The Karndean is lush. Warm. Easy to clean. I’d have it anywhere.

We have lvt; it’s waterproof, 15 year guarantee and warm to walk on.

Mine is just filthy.

Had to have ceramic tiles to bury the previously completely ruined stone floor that was left behind by the previous owner . So now we have a floor that’s indestructible , but nothing dropped on it survives . Particularly jars of Marmite .

We have Lino designed to look like tiles. When we first moved in the floor was Lino but plain black squares with white grout effect. I hated it plus it got ripped with the washing machine so we got it redone. We went for this one as it was the nicest one and we thought the silver bits in it brighten it up as it's not a big kitchen. We didn't want to spend a lot as it's a rented house and we don't plan on staying long term, so went for something that wasn't expensive but nice enough.
(Ps excuse the floor and awful picture, took the picture just now, fully aware the floor needs a brush and mop).

Happymummy what brand is that please?

@celeriacacaca I'm afraid I have no idea. We just went to a local flooring shop, told them what we wanted, looked through all the options and chose that one as we thought it was the nicest one.
Sorry I can't be more help.

LG (like the TV), which is like Karndean/Amtico, so very thin, looks like wood. Ours is slightly textured for anti-slip for dogs.

Karndean oak. Warmish under foot - didn't want tiles as too cold. Low maintenance. Looks stunning, it really looks like an oak floor.

I have had rough slate and although it looks romantic, it's hard to clean and painful when you stub your toe on it.

Dark grey tiles that hide the dirt and easy to clean; they don’t really get that cold

We've got marmoleum, square tiles in shades of brown. Sounds horrible but it's beautiful and has been down 17 years of family and dogs with no issues. Not cheap though.

@MollysMummy2010 😂

@Brigante9 I’m interested in the anti-slip texture but does that mean it also grabs more dirt?

@Putthebinsoutalan is marmoleum different from linoleum?

I was convinced all vinyl like Karndean and Amtico would look cheap and tacky but was won over when I went to view it. There are lots of different brands but as long as you get a good thickness it’ll be of a similar quality. I was told so many times not to have real wood and the engineered can only be sanded and refinished a couple of times so opted for wood effect vinyl. Also so much warmer than the tiles we used to have and much easier to clean spills up as there’s no grout.

We have Amtico tiles in the hall, kitchen/ diner and cloakroom. We have underfloor heating and they’re great. We have some special cleaner and dressing that keeps them looking good.

Yes marmolleum is proper lino. It's a brand name for the old fashioned linoleum made from linseed, not vinyl. Smells lovely when it's new.

I'd be interested to know if those posting about bad experiences with lino definitely had lino not vinyl. In my experience they are like night and day. There's a reason most hospitals have lino, it's hard wearing, easy to clean, and looks good after years. Vinyl can easily be damaged by moving furniture or high heels and won't last as long. Lino is a more natural and environmentally friendly product. I love our lino bathroom floors and previously had it in a kitchen where it was still great after nearly 20 years.

Go for Karndean most of our downstairs is that and it looks and feels lovely, and will last for donkeys years.
Our kitchen however has travertine tiles which I absolutely hate! Freezing cold and crack if you so much as look at them!

We've go porcelain tiles that look like wood. The grout is grey so no issues with that. We have under floor heating which is lovely.

We used to have slate in our old house and I hated it. Never looked clean and was rough so wrecked mops like nobodies business.

@Barbararara

No, I’m the world’s worst housewife and with 2 dogs and liquid mud fields to walk them in plus slurry from the yard, the floor is remarkably clean. It cleans using a bog standard mop. You can’t steam clean it, but I’m frankly relieved at that, lot of fuss over nothing, IMO.

After years of laminates, vinyls, fake tiles etc, I finally have proper limestone tiles and love them! Very easy to keep clean, hard wearing. Yes they're cold but I don't walk around barefoot anyway, always have slippers on indoors. I'd never go back to the fake stuff again!

Megan2018 your floor is lovely so is the kitchen.

We had a new kitchen last year but because it was bespoke and we bought an Everhot we decided not to do the floor. It is two shades of mottled tiles and has been down thirty years. Two tiles are dented when myself and one of the boys dropped a pan at different times. It looks great when washed but the grouting is grey. It gets a lot of hard wear. Three sons and DD and even the pony was known to sneak in for the apples if the door was open. The chickens sneak in sometimes so it is easy to wash.
If I had new floor I would probably go with the slate.

Porcelain wood effect tiles. Not very clean at the moment though.