Choosing floor tiles for kitchen and bathroom... help!

[BornInBristol]

Hi all! Just bought my first place and am having a new kitchen & bathroom. Need to choose floor tiles but never done this before and finding it hard!

We've got a cream coloured traditional looking kitchen (Tiverton Bone from Wickes) with a wooden work top. I quite like limestone-type tiles like these ones:

www.toppstiles.co.uk/tprod46637/regional-reflections-langport-tile.html

But what is a reasonable price for tiles? And where should I get them from? Someone recommended I need to have darker grouting (this stops it from looking really filthy), is that right?

Also, our bathroom is right behind our kitchen (doorway to bathroom opens from kitchen). Should I just get the same tiles for the bathroom and kitchen or will this look strange?

In an ideal world, I'd have wooden floors throughout my house (we're having the floorboards redone in the living&dining room) but we can't afford this sadly, and laminate just doesn't look the same (especially next to our other real wooden floors!) and I also think tiles are probably more hard wearing in the kitchen.

Any advice on tile-buying is very welcome!

Many thanks.

V nice but seem expensive. Have a look at b & q they have some great tiles around £12 - £20 per sq m
Definitely go for grey grout and tile straight through to bathroom then it flows

Thanks for the advice! Will check out B&Q.

I have wooden floorboards throughout my house, but opted for these in the bathroom. It flows nicely though the house, but feels a bit more 'bathroom-y' than the other rooms. www.bathstore.com/products/camden-dark-grey-wall-floor-148x498-10001001831.html

if you are going for a light coloured tile, definitely make sure it has some significant texture or marbling or whatever. In a moment of complete madness we got completely plain and smooth light-coloured tiles for our kitchen and the place constantly looks like a pig sty.

You can now also get tiles which are designed to look like wooden floorboards - have you considered those?

My main tip is to go somewhere in person where you can see LOTS of tiles 'in person'. It is almost impossible to choose online.

Thanks for the advice guys!!

Online tile retailers will send you samples - I wouldn't dismiss them. You already know what kind of thing you like, so that's half the battle.

BorninBristol - did you get these tiles in the end? I'm looking at some in the same range and can't decide...

Also look at job lots/off cuts. I got some Badocer reverse nuez tiles for £10 per square metre from tiles4all (18 sq metres)

We've got limestone in our ensuite. We had it done only 18 months ago and all instructions re sealing etc were followed. Unfortunately, it is impossible to keep it clean - I wonder if it's quite a porous stone as the dirt just gets ingrained.

In the kitchen, we've got marble and it's fab although the look is quite different. A stone that looks similar to limestone is travertine - perhaps that could be a contender.

On the price front, I find Topps Tiles overpriced. Good options would be Mandarin Stone or Walls and Floors (the latter offers great customer service even though it's a budget company). Fired Earth often has some amazing natural stone and other stuff but they're not cheap.

And yes, I'd get grout that isn't brilliant white for the floor. Even if you stick to cream, that will be better. In our hallways, we've got pale grey grout and it looks spotless despite getting a fair bit of dirty traffic.

Oh dear, only just realised it's an ancient thread. Sorry!