not to understand the obsession with Karndean flooring

[Catsanddogs11]

It is just vinyl tiles isn’t it?

Real wooden floors are far superior to fake floors attempting to look like wood - but then you get what you pay for. And what are Karndean’s environmental credentials I wonder?

There are other brands, we went for polyfloor Camaro in our last house and loved it, we went for a vintage oak effect plank with the floor board inlay strips. I agree with others that you need an expert fitter though, it will make a massive difference! It's warm, hygienic, hard wearing. Loved it!
It's not Lino though as someone said linoleum/ marmoleum is a natural product made of linseed. We had that in the kitchen and I absolutely loved it- god I miss that house!

I don’t have a posh expensive brand but I have all vinyl flooring the whole of the downstairs of my house and I am a bit of a convert now. You wouldn’t actually know it was vinyl unless you sat on it and looked for the joins, it is a dark quite realistic wood effect!

The previous tenants let water damage the vinyl by the back door which is annoying but a rug covers it and the whole floor isn’t ruined because of it - it didn’t lift it just water stained.
It’s cold though
I’ve had wooden before and when it got water damaged it was a nightmare, it all lifted up and expanded. My Dsis has very expensive wooden flooring and it needs a lot of maintenance with sanding when it has got wet
I have pets so it’s useful

This is really interesting and helpful thanks OP. We might be making some changes to our kitchen/house and it will involve kitchen flooring. All I do know is that I'm not getting what I got in 2007!

It's a kitchen/bathroom suitable laminate. Non slip. Sounds ideal? NO. The reason is it non-slip is there are grooves in the laminate and the only way into fucking clean them is to get down on your hands and knees and scrub in all directions.

Oh I rue the day we made that fateful choice.

I want warm, safe, easy to clean and won't break or break stuff for the next floor!

Real wooden floors are far superior to fake floors attempting to look like wood - but then you get what you pay for. And what are Karndean’s environmental credentials I wonder?

Such snobbery
Karndean isn’t cheap either.

We had real wood in our living room for years. Sanded down the floorboards and varnished them. Cheap, looked great but was a pain to keep clean. Went back to carpet a couple of years ago.

I have had sanded floorboards downstairs for 37 years, but they need sanding every 10 years at least, I wanted something that would not need replacing in my lifetime, so I chose Karndean with a 25 year guarantee, it should see me out! and I love it.

Each to their own but engineered wood floorings don't appeal to me personally. Same reason I don't like laminate. It's too neat and clinical somehow.

We have karndean tiles in our bathroom and utility room and karndean planks that look like wood in our kitchen. We chose them as they are warmer than the ceramic tiles that they replaced and having dropped glasses on both karndean and ceramic they are much less likely to break on the karndean.

I have wood and karndean, I love my karndean as it's so easy to maintain. My wood on the other hand gets bleached in the sun and marked where things have fallen onto it or where people haven't taken shoes off when asked.

It looks cheap and tacky to me, I prefer natural materials

I have both Amtico and Karndean - no discernible difference except in price.

They are amazingly robust and can't withstand dogs, rollerskates, high heels.. For areas of high traffic and family life, it's perfect.

However the floor must be perfect first - absolutely flag with no ridges etc. We've had one area with damage as our fitters messed up.

CAN withstand

Mine was shit and scratched loads. Had a nightmare with them.

We have it in the most heavily user areas of downstairs.

Pros:
Sooooo easy to clean and it stays looking clean for ages.
I think it looks good, no noticeable joins and you can do some great designs with a skilled fitter.
Good for allergies- the main reason we lost our carpets.
Warm on feet - not like tiles.
Cons
I find it hard on my feet, have had to invest in some serious slippers.

Would I recommend it? Yes I would

Do I love it - yesish - I don’t like the feel as much as wood flooring (have some rooms with wood) but the difference in upkeep and wear is massive. Our wooden parquet is buggered only after 4 years.

Though if I’m honest I love carpets more bloody dust allergies

YANBU OP. I read so many MNers praising Karndean and other wood effect LVTs, I thought my new kitchen flooring dilemma had been solved. Unfortunately when I looked at some in shops it is still undeniably... plastic.
We ended up with wood effect porcelain tiles instead - still not as nice as real wood but preferred it to the LVT and it is bombproof and very low maintenance unlike real wood.

It’s standing up to my teenage daughter very well, next door have an Irish Setter on theirs. It’s brilliant stuff

I was wondering if it is much different to other vinyl tiles and was worried that it would just look like vinyl pretending to be wood and if it would be better to get normal tiles in the kitchen and a wood floor in the other parts. Also not sure about using plastic due to environmental reasons but I suppose everything has an environmental cost

I have it in my hallway and diner and it's a bit meh imo very hard to walk hard wearing enough but still scratches just obviously better than vinyl and 10 times more expensive.

I was not sure why everyone referred to it by its brand name but not other brands were not so I was under the impression it was significantly better than other brands of vinyl tiles

Currently having sleepless nights over this so thanks for the timely post!
My heart says engineered oak flooring but my head (and DH) says it’s impractical in a kitchen living area with sliding doors to the garden, young children and dog.
Tumbled limestone (lovely for kitchen but too hotel lobby style and hard under foot for the sofa area)
Ceramic wood effect tiles look better but cold and hard
Wood is beautiful but will it get ruined?
Karndean seems like a good option but agree with those who say it looks fake. Although I think it looks better than it used to. Would it always bother me because it’s not as lovely as wood?
Or will I not notice as others have said?
Also Karndean isn’t cheap!

It’s too expensive to get this decision wrong.. none the wiser after this thread but food for thought

I like the fact that my engineered wood floor gets dents and scratches though, it means it actually looks like a natural product. I personally don't like perfect shiny floors pretending to be something natural when they are not. They look fake.

Our floor has been down 15 years with kids and pets, and still looks great (but natural) .

If karndean was “just vinyl tiles” I would have put karndean through the house!