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Has anyone regretted getting a white kitchen floor? Has anyone regretted anything they chose for their kitchen actually?

542 replies

Laiste · 01/05/2021 14:11

Basically i can't chose what i want in my kitchen and it's driving me insane!

I think i've chosen a quartz worktop (calacatta with a thin additional vein of copper in it) and i think i've chosen a magnet cabinet style (tatton) but for life of me i don't know what colour to chose for the floor and to be honest can't chose the colour of the cabinets either!

If i go with a white floor to echo the quartz will i regret it? At least white/white means the cabinet colour will be easier to chose? No?

Heeeeeelp Grin

OP posts:
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SpnBaby1967 · 01/05/2021 20:29

Just don't have the pinky/terracotta marble effect t floor tiles have. Bloody horrible as the marble effect just looks like dirt. I find myself scrubbing the floor just to realise its the same bloody patch of marbling I tried to scrub away last week.

The previous owners who laid it must have been sadists.

@Laiste there is a programme on the channel 5 player about kitchens and although the builder is annoying (and the people putting the £50k kitchen in equally annoying) he does have good suggestions on kitchens and making them work.

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RuggeryBuggery · 01/05/2021 20:34

If you go for tiled floor, don’t go for grout that is too pale. With mopping etc it darkens over time and not always evenly eg. around the sink

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RuggeryBuggery · 01/05/2021 20:34

An interior designer friend told me not to go to light on the floor so that you have something to ‘ground’ the space.
I’ll admit I don’t always know what she’s going on about but she does know her stuff.

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cheeseychovolate · 01/05/2021 20:38

White floor tile grout is impossible to keep white.

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Cherrysoup · 01/05/2021 20:54

I massively regret textured laminate, like Amtico. The only way to clean it is to use a hand held scrubbing brush with a great deal of pressure and go over it multiple times. Bloody trauma in muddy winters with dogs (for whom we got the textured stuff so they don’t slip 🤦🏼‍♀️)

Also, my dh replaced the kitchen (brilliant!) but got a dishwasher that doesn’t dry the dishes, which I find a real pain.

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greatauntfanny · 01/05/2021 21:01

I got wood look laminate worktops but I wish I'd just got real wood, despite the care required. laminate takes away from the natural material look. I'll get my wooden ones in a few years!

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RebelByLight · 01/05/2021 21:14

We have a very dark grey tiled floor, almost black. It shows every single speck of dust and never looks clean.

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Hazel444 · 01/05/2021 23:23

We have an ugly laminate floor in our kitchen so we've covered it in vinyl similar to this one - it's very forgiving. So maybe you could go for a patterned floor?

Has anyone regretted getting a white kitchen floor? Has anyone regretted anything they chose for their kitchen actually?
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safariboot · 02/05/2021 01:44

Black marble effect floor tiles. Not very good quality/realistic ones. It's impossible to tell if the white bits are dirt, spilled paint, or the actual tile.

Also, there's an internal corner with the dishwasher space on one side and a cupboard door on the other. I didn't think of that when I chose long vertical handles. Now the dishwasher has to be crooked so its door isn't blocked by the cupboard door handle. D'oh.

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Time40 · 02/05/2021 02:47

Yes, you will regret it. It will need cleaning all the time. I had one in a flat in London, and I had to clean it every bloody week ... (which I realise a lot of people would think was normal, but most of my kitchen floors have been much lower maintenance ...)

I think i've chosen a quartz worktop (calacatta with a thin additional vein of copper in it

Gosh! That sounds impressively posh. I feel put to shame, OP - I just went with "dark grey" Grin

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Seasidemumma77 · 02/05/2021 03:17

My beautiful kitchen floor was ruined by a washing machine leak on Boxing Day. Only replacement flooring I could afford was white, I hate hate hate hate it. As soon as I clean it it looks dirty again, with 3 teenage boys it constantly looks like I've not swept or washed floor in months!

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humansare · 02/05/2021 03:51

I got a white gloss kitchen from howdens, maybe two years ago? I thought it would show up all the dirt but surprisingly, it seems to stay cleaner than previous wooden and coloured kitchens because you can see the dirt immediately it's actually easier to keep it clean. There's no scratches on it, yet, and, as my kitchen is small and doesn't get much light it brightens up the back of the house. Tall cupboards at the top, smaller units under the worktops... I thought it would be a bit weird, visually, but it works.

As for floor tiles, I got big white glossy ceramic ones, grouted them grey (so they wouldn't get all stained looking too quickly) and the tiles have (chav alert) rainbow coloured sparkly glittery flecks in them! Sure, the floor is white, but because of the flecks, you don't really notice the dirt, and the flecks catch the light here and there, not total bling, but just a touch.

your worktops sounds lovely with the copper touch: maybe go for copper handles on the units? I know Howdens do a very similar kitchen to the tom howley shaker style one you posted, and a v similar colour too: I also think they do copper handles, too... might be worth a look...? copper grout would look amazing on the tiles, maybe? bring the copper element to the fore..? *you can always paint it out in ten years, when you're looking to upgrade, change the cupboard handles, repaint the units, etc... the floor and the worktop though, you'll probably keep... )

wooden worktops are a total ball-ache: they get dinted and minging even if you're a clean-freak. Granite is way better (yeah, I got the sparkly blinging granite chav worktop to match the tiles too, just because, why not).

www.hcsupplies.co.uk/product/solid-surface-worktops/simply-quartz-white-sparkle-made-to-measure-20mm

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GillBiggeloesHair · 02/05/2021 06:09

I love my house (rented) but we have white floor tiles and an open plan kitchen, diner and lounge with white tiles. Plus the white goes up the corridor to the bedrooms.
It's lovely when it's clean which is for about 10 minutes a day.

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DinosApple · 02/05/2021 06:20

My current kitchen sounds very much like what you want. Previous owners put it in.

We've got a quartz white worktop that is nice enough - turmeric staining is a bastard to get out. I cook spicey food a lot too.

White floor - No, do not do it! It is the bane of my life!
Every spec shows up, each footprint, bit of hair, crumbs, dust, bin scraping that the kids have attemped, coffee granule etc. And curry stains it (Karndean). Basically unless I have just swept it and washed it it looks dirty.

My previous kitchen had gloss white cupboards, dark pretend wood work top and naturally patterned grey slate floor and it hid all the dirt I miss it!

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longwayoff · 02/05/2021 06:29

A white kitchen floor? Do you have a lot of time on your hands? Don't do it. You sound like a perfectionist and will drive yourself nuts cleaning it.

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thelegohooverer · 02/05/2021 06:35

I have mixed feelings about my quartz worktop. I wanted wood but the upkeep and care seemed too much. Quartz is very cold and hard, and I’m constantly being careful putting dishes down in case I break something.

If you’re thinking about laminate wood, maybe consider something like amtico or karndean instead. It will be more durable for a kitchen. I think the trick with a kitchen floor is to choose a colour that matches the dirt!

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StarlightLady · 02/05/2021 06:42

It depends on the quality. I have a white pocelein tiled floor. They were “leftovers” from the tile supplier after a job in a huge house and l got them at a significant discount. They would normally be beyond my budget.

It’s tough, easy to clean and is a talking point with visitors. One of the best things in the house l’ve ever done.

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FoolsAssassin · 02/05/2021 06:47

I have a friend who has a very light floor in kitchen. She moved and has now got a wood effect one as said it was a nightmare.

We’re looking at slightly redoing ours which is 15 years old as want to block in a door. I was going to do an upstand and splashback but am put off now after another friend saying they did but then tiled it as said it was a nightmare to keep clean.

Bit worried about the wood hate. Those of you who don’t like them do you use a hardwax oil like Osmo or Fiddes? We have annut in utility and when builder used danish oil it was awful and liquids stained immediately. Sanded it off and used hard wax oil and liquids now sit on the surface and I was feeling confident enough to put them in the kitchen.

Don’t regret much about our current one. Am very pleased that we put in something that is pretty classic so that now we are redoing it we can still get the same doors and I’ve had it looking various colours over the years by just changing paint and blind.

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Makingnumber2 · 02/05/2021 06:56

We have dark slate flooring in our hallway and in our kitchen diner. It is freezing cold to stand on unless you have slippers with a thick sole. It also needs hoovering once a day at least because every crumb/speck of flour/glob of broccoli from my toddlers plate shows up on it. Our cat is grey haired and so that shows up terribly too. I can hoover it after breakfast and by 5pm it looks filthy again. Does my head in. But looking at other comments on here on other floor colours I don’t know what floor is the right one to avoid this situation?? Only pro is that I’m dark haired so if my hair sheds the floor doesn’t show it. My daughter is blonde though and that hair shows Up like the cat hair does.

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FiveShelties · 02/05/2021 07:05

We had high gloss white porcelain tiles in kitchen, dining, family room. Never ever again. I have never been as pleased to sell a house. They looked fantastic in the show home where no one cooked and were cleaned every day.

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Herhereherhere · 02/05/2021 07:13

We got pale stone effect porcelain tiles in the kitchen. I love them - textured enough that they hide marks, but pale enough that they are really bright.

I had slate in a previous kitchen and wouldn't choose it again. The texture makes us hard to clean and dark colours just show up marks in a different way.

Have you considered calacatta gold tiles instead and then a white worktop?

www.porcelainsuperstore.co.uk/florence-floor.html

Or

www.porcelainsuperstore.co.uk/bistrot-calacatta.html

Also, are you aware that a number of the quartz manufacturers make a calacatta gold worktop. I would choose that over real stone everyone as more durable and less likely to stain. And maybe a little cheaper.

We considered Calacatta gold for our kitchen but went with something else in the end.

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iminthegarden · 02/05/2021 07:13

Put a light grey tile floor in my utility and such a nightmare it gets filthy. Got wood in kitchen, so much more forgiving. You could go with the wood effect tiles if not wanting wood, there are some really good ones these days.

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Woodpecker22 · 02/05/2021 07:20

I think it depends a lot on the texture of the floor. In our old kitchen we had a highly polished cream porcelain floor which was a nightmare to keep clean. We now have a very pale grey porcelain but it is quite textured and uneven in colour and does a good job of hiding any dirt in between cleans. I would definitely avoid anything polished or plain in colour.

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HasaDigaEebowai · 02/05/2021 07:23

Bit worried about the wood hate. Those of you who don’t like them do you use a hardwax oil like Osmo or Fiddes? We have annut in utility and when builder used danish oil it was awful and liquids stained immediately. Sanded it off and used hard wax oil and liquids now sit on the surface and I was feeling confident enough to put them in the kitchen.

Mine are hard wax oiled, have been in for years without being recoiled and are waterproof and immaculate (and I cook a lot). I’d put money on the fact those who are having to oil every six months are just using danish oil. There’s no way a worktop done with osmo or morrells needs doing that often.

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BBCK · 02/05/2021 07:23

I went for paving stone effectbpirdelain tiles that are a sort of grey/beige and slightly mottled and veined and I love them. They look expensive and classy and show only the dirtiest dirt. I agree about the grouting though- make sure it is not too light. Ours matches the tiles so has stayed looking good but we had cream grouting in the previous kitchen and it turned dark over time. Never have a very pale or very dark kitchen floor if you want it to look clean in my opinion.

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