Slate or porcelain for kitchen floor?

[LimitIsUp]

Currently I am favouring slate but it needs regular resealing which is a downside. Also do you have to be careful about what cleaning products you use? I will need to use disinfectant sometimes when one of the dogs is sick for example.

The porcelain samples I have look quite good and it's more hard wearing?

Would you steer clear of slate?

.

Wouldn't porcelain be really easily damaged and slippery if wet?

Apparently quite hard wearing (also you can replace individual tiles relatively easily).

Neither, hard floors like that in a kitchen are a nightmare if you drop anything. Smash the floor, smash the object. Never been through so many cups and glasses before since we had some tiles. Wood or vinyl much better.

*stone tiles

Our house had black Welsh slate flooring in the kitchen and garden room. I’ve seen lovely black slate floors since but ours was really rough and odd. We replaced with porcelain tiles and 11 years in they are so easy to keep clean and very tough. I just steam mop them and they come up perfect. The kids can skate on them and the floors don’t show a thing. We also have stone flags in the hallway (wonderfully cold in summer) but these are so high maintenance by comparison. Porcelain tiles get the thumbs up for me.

They aren’t grey in real life, (odd photo!) they are more cream/golden.

We had slate in our previous house. It looked amazing but was an absolute nightmare to keep clean. It used to shred mops, I went through loads of them.

Blueseal, I've been reading some past threads on this issue and have found myself veering away from slate and towards porcelain. Apparently slate gets water marked and never looks clean. Good to get a thumbs up on porcelain

SausagePourHomme - I can live with breaking cups and glasses, but adminttedly less keen on breaking the tile. However, apparently individual tiles can be replaced relatively easily.

Also came on to say neither, as cups and plates will shatter if they hit the floor. do you have options for anything softer under foot? They would be cold in bare feet too.

My teenage son dropped a 5kg weight (dumbbell) in the middle of the kitchen, it dented one tile. We thought it was going to be a nightmare to fix but the tiler just drilled it out and popped in another one, it took a few minutes. We had been left with a box of left over tiles for repairs. That’s the only damage in 11 years.

It is between slate and porcelain though for me (with the downside of a bit of broken crockery) - vinyl wouldn't look right on a what is a very sizeable floor area, and we already have lots of wood flooring downstairs (in the hall and in the downstairs reception rooms).

@Blueseal

My teenage son dropped a 5kg weight (dumbbell) in the middle of the kitchen, it dented one tile. We thought it was going to be a nightmare to fix but the tiler just drilled it out and popped in another one, it took a few minutes. We had been left with a box of left over tiles for repairs. That’s the only damage in 11 years.

Brilliant!

Porcelain is better I think. Slate can be fragile

We’ve just been through this exact debate and chosen porcelain for all the reasons you have given.

we have porcelain tiles that look like wood planks.
they are awesome.

ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba any chance of a photo? Just curiosity on my part. Excuse me butting in on thread OP.

Porcelain is very tough and easy to clean. I would always choose it.

I was impatient and googled - mind blown, amazing how good flooring is now.

Thanks all, I'm going porcelain

@LimitIsUp

Blueseal, I've been reading some past threads on this issue and have found myself veering away from slate and towards porcelain. Apparently slate gets water marked and never looks clean. Good to get a thumbs up on porcelain

SausagePourHomme - I can live with breaking cups and glasses, but adminttedly less keen on breaking the tile. However, apparently individual tiles can be replaced relatively easily.

I’ve got porcelain tiles - I’ve never broken anything on this floor - previously it had that spongy Lino stuff on it and broke 2 glasses on the first day we moved in 🤣🤣

Whatever you go for, do t have white grout, our grout is the same colour as the tiles. Never looks grubby!

I had slate in my last house... and have porcelain now. The slate never, ever looked clean.

@Blueseal

ZingDramaQueenOfSheeba that is pretty fantastic, cannot believe that’s porcelain. Isn’t it amazing. Thank you!