Amtico vs Engineered wood

[butterflyfox]

I’m sure this has been asked a million times before so I apologise but. Am about to start a full house renovation. I want hard floor downstairs and the same in all the rooms for the flow. I’m totally undecided between amtico or engineered wood. There will be ufh. My head prefers the practically of amtico (dogs, cats kids, maintenance) but just can get my head round essentially a plastic floor in a elegant sitting room Can anyone reassure me about wood being good in a kitchen or amtico looking amazing in a more formal room? Thankyou

Just like all lino is not the same, all engineered wood is not the same.

Research again and again.

I have amtico throughout my downstairs and I’m honestly a bit underwhelmed by it. It’s quite cold and it scratches quite easily. We had a good quality laminate in the last house and if I was to have the choice again I would have chosen that it didn’t scratch easy, felt warmer and was about half the price.

If you want to see how it looks for some inspiration have a look around a few show homes 90% of them have amtico throughout.

We have amtico in our kitchen and I would never get it again. It scratches and marks way too easily.

I have amtico and it seems indestructible to me. It is definitely the best flooring I've had and I've tried everything.

ok. The mixed feedback is not helping my dilemma but thankyou :-) Need to do More research

We have Amtico throughout the downstairs (not our choice, previous owners). I bloody hate it. Scratches really easily and a pain to clean.

We had karndean in our last kitchen and ten years later it still looks as good as new. But we have parquet elsewhere downstairs , personally I didn’t think plastic lino was a cosy or classy choice for halls and living rooms

Ditto. Survives two dogs, adults and five small children. Karndean is warm on the toes too.

I've had engineered wood but never amtico

No to the Amtico. Tiles or engineered wood fine but make sure you get a thicker top bit of wood if you go engineered wood.

Have you got solid floors or floor boards?

Limestone flagstones really do last forever but then you need to invest in good slippers. I currently have some weird semi glazed reconstituted stone tiles, again they last well but are a bugger to clean.

Are you likely to have a flood at anytime?
If the back boiler on the Rayburn splits, no lino/vinyl type stuff will survive.

Amtico and karndean both look OK after 10 years, just like a good wool carpet. But they don't look like new.

I prefer solid wood, but by golly I could not afford a new chestnut floor.

We got amtico after watching my pils replace a section of theirs seamlessly 25 years after the original fitting. I couldn’t find where the new piece was.

Ours was a complete disappointment. Despite an incredible amount of flouncing, the fitter did a terrible job and then tried to blame it on our kitchen units not being level. It stains easily, is completely discoloured underneath a mat, and never looks clean, just grubby or grubbier.

I've just had my entire downstairs done in karndean. I'm happy with how it looks so hope I'm as happy as the other people with karndean in a few years

I have amtico and it’s perfect. Looks amazing, never dirty, nice and warm. Best thing we did

Is there a reason theirs looked good and aged well where yours hasn't?

I remember a thread where posters complained theirs had faded in areas of sunlight

We have karndean on our downstairs floors - herringbone oak type thing - and amtico plank type upstairs. The karndean is just starting to look like it needs some help after eight years - but because the house has moved a bit, otherwise it's great. No marks, nothing.

The amtico is also fine but it's in a low traffic area.

Really happy with both.

Builders LOVE amtico because it’s so easy to lay, so they really push it.

We’d rented a flat with amtico and thought it looked shit, so we resisted the pressure and put engineered wood everywhere and it looks amazing, including in the kitchen. Has been down for years, still looks fab. (We haven’t scratched it ourselves but when we tried having cleaners, they made quite a few scratches.)

Only thing I’d change is I got ‘brushed’ wood for a more textured look and it does trap dirt. Get the smooth finish.

Agree with previous poster that laminate looks better than amtico.

We had amtico laid in our hall, downstairs loo and two reception rooms a couple of years ago. It’s a walnut colour, quite grainy and it has a texture. We have it in three laying patterns - planks, large herringbone and a basket weave. Really, really pleased with it. We are hard on things in our house and it’s immaculate, hasn’t scratched at all.

It’s not easy to lay at all. It needs to be done by a specialist fitter. Ours was very very very slightly out of line and the fitter refused to finish laying it. He made us wait for an entire new batch and did it all again. The warranty is void if it’s not done by amtico fitters

Our karndean herringbone took three and a half days to lay in the hallway. Seven doorways. 🙈

Interesting range of answers on here. We've just had a quote for some Amtico so now I'm doubting myself!

The people who've had a negative experience of it - was it installed by an Amtico fitter? What caused the scratches some people have mentioned (furniture, pets, shoes?). What makes it hard to clean?

From what we've seen it looks easier than maintaining wood and nowhere near as slippy as tiles.

You've set yourself quite a challenge as wood floors in a kitchen are asking for trouble. Can't you have complementary floors across the different rooms? There is not much that's hard-wearing, cleanable and still "elegant". It will just end up being a compromise. At least Amtico/Karndean floors can be mopped clean easily.

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We had 60 sq m of Amtico glue down fitted in the summer, replacing real oak flooring and covering a new kitchen extension. Absolutely delighted with the Amtico, cleans up like new unlike the real oak that watermarked and showed every stain.
Our fitter does both Karndean and Amtico but Amtico was recommended as the plank effect wood is more realistic. My husband was really against removing the real wood but he’s been converted.