Karndean, Amtico or something else?

[Crazydogmumma]

I am looking to replace my kitchen and utility room floor. It is quite a large area so I want something that will be long lasting and not need regularly replacing.
I have been looking at Amtico and Karndean and they both look very good. I would love to hear peoples experiences of either. Thanks in advance.

A friend has just put Karnadean down in her living room she's really pleased with it and couldn't recommend it higher.
So we now waiting to put it down in our kitchen/bathroom/utility area (we have wooden floors everywhere else). There is a lot of choice of colours finishes etc which was a bit confusing, choice isn't always freedom!! My friend visited a local show room which had all the different styles/colours/finishes where as our local shop only stocked about 10 different samples so we ordered some samples on-line but In the end we choose the one the shop had a sample of which they said was the most popular.
It might be worth shopping around for the fitting costs, we are doing a much larger space and ply wood has to be out down first and our fitting bill is significantly less than hers for amount being laid.

I've got Polyflor Camaro which is the same type of flooring (LVT = luxury vinyl tiles) but apparently cheaper.
The hall & downstairs loo were done about 10 years ago and I had the same put down in the kitchen, conservatory & utility when I had a new kitchen about 15 months ago.
I am very pleased with it (hence having more laid).
Mine is wood effect, see pictures.

I have Karndean throughout our downstairs which consists of lounge/diner and hallway to the front door. Has only been down for 15 months but really pleased with it and can't fault. Very hard-wearing. We chose one of the Knight Tile range.

I have Amtico flooring in my kitchen and bathrooms. It was installed 10 years ago and still looks pretty immaculate (with a lot of wear and tear from the kids!).

Only two issues. First is that our first set of bar stools had sharp bits and despite our efforts to put felt pads on, scratched the flooring a bit. We've chosen different types of stool since (without the hard metal discs). Secondly, a little bit of flooring occasionally lifts on the kids' bathroom floor if they leave a puddle of water on it.

I really wanted wood but my my kitchen designer persuaded me out of it as he said grease would get into the dinks and scratches and be hard to get out. I have been pleased with it and would buy it again (despite the cost which was fairly eye watering).

I had Karndean put in my hall and downstairs loo. My husband tends to hang dinghy sails over the upstairs bannister to drip onto the floor and the carpet was suffering.
We have oak-effect.

I liked it so much that we had it put through our dining room, kitchen and futility room and you would never know that the whole job wasn't done at the same time.

I sweep it for loose crud and then spray it with a solution of Ecover general-purpose cleaner and go over it with an Ecocloth mop thing and it looks fine.

I've got Amtico. It's holding up very well to the many dogs & constant traffic. Easy to clean, looks great.

We used Luvanto (recommended by builder and it's doing a fab job, 3 years after having bathroom done).

We had this one:

www.luvanto.com/shop/bleached-larch/

I have just had Camaro fitted in my kitchen, downstairs bathroom, dining room and hallway.
Mine is Champaign oak, looks great and has a lifetime guarantee.
Not cheap but cheaper than karndean.

The fake wood Amtico I put down 18 years ago still looks immaculate. It cost a staggering amount of money at the time - more than real wood - but it’s so practical and so easy to clean.

I ❤️ Karndean.

It doesn’t look exactly like wood but it’s so easy to clean and hard wearing. You either have to not care or just stick plenty of rugs etc around.

Amtico - I had wood effect strips laid 12 years ago. They still look good.
Karndean - I had limestone effect tiles laid about 10 years ago. They still look good from a distance. This is in a kitchen and they have received a lot of abuse in this time.
Amtico click - this was cheaper and I had this laid 18 months ago. The individual strips still look good but I don't think it was laid as well as it could have been. It was bathroom fitters who laid the floor rather than flooring experts. At one point the floor is slightly uneven and I think the strips may crack there in time. I think this is a problem with the installation rather than the product.

I would get either Amtico or Karndean again but would try to get good fitters as I think it can make quite a difference.

I'm happy with the Karndean we put down. Its the palio clic which you fix together almost like a puzzle.