Karndean?

[TheOneWithUnagi]

We have a fair sized family room (kitchen/diner/lounge area). We currently have tiles down but they are pretty horrible and need replacing.

Was originally thinking karndean (we have 2 young kids and a dog) but I'm not sure if it just looks a bit fake? (Obviously it is!)
And the quotes are at £4k so not exactly cheap.

We have engineered wood in our living room and hallway, just not sure how practical it is for a kitchen. My husband prefers tiles and although we do have UFH I find it cold.

I think the vinyl is the obvious choice so please convince me it looks nice and will be practical!

We chose LVT after much deliberation for our main living areas. it is unbelievably practical, warm underfoot, doesn't scratch or mark and is incredibly easy to clean. In a house with 3 children, practicality was key. Engineered wood is lovely but it does scratch and that's the last thing I wanted. Don't regret it at all.

Quick Step is a very good cheaper alternative

We have Moduleo in our living room and I love it. Doesn’t look fake, it’s textured like wood so doesn’t look dirty easily but v low maintenance, even with a dog.

I’ve had quick step grooved boards and Karndean. Both great. Probably Karndean for the win though for the comfort and practicality. It’s great. Down for ten years in a very busy kitchen and still looks perfect.

We have Karndean in our kitchen and bathroom both about 15 years and still looks good, the bathroom tiles have gone a bit discoloured due to bath mats being down and being light coloured, but the darker kitchen ones despite a lot of wear and a dog still looks like new.

Sounds good as we're about to put Karndean down in our kitchen! We had Amtico years ago and liked it so will be pleased to lose the chipped brown tiles at long last!

Perfect thank you all! I think I'm convinced.

I've actually already ordered some quickstep, moduleo and polyflor samples to see how they look compared to the karndean so it will be interesting to see.

Is the discolour from staining rather than sunlight? (I assume if sunlight it would have been worse on the darker colours)

Our engineered wood is sun bleached in the living room anyway.

I’ve got Karndean through the whole of the downstairs (open plan and other rooms). It’s been down 10 years with 3 kids, a dog and cat and it still looks perfect. We also had a flood in the downstairs toilet and it was unaffected. Ours is oak effect, it probably doesn’t look like real wood but it looks good. I would definitely recommend it

I second this. We've had ours down 11 years now and looking great (full downstairs from hall, lounge, kitchen and diner)

We have engineered wood (as we couldn't find a tiler!) and I hate it, super high maintenance. We had karndean in a previous house and would definitely recommend, although they do different grades and it's worth going up. Also make sure you get a proper karndean trained fitter as it will make a difference to look and wear.
I would overall go for tiles though.

My parents have the light coloured pale oak one and if definitely doesn't look like real wood. Only wood looks like wood imo. We are poor so have laminate and it look fake too.

We have karndean in our kitchen and I wouldn’t do it again. It’s scratched and warped from wetness and can’t be refinished. I’m going to campaign hard for posh Lino next time.

It might be fine if your super clean and tidy and never let water sit on it for long.

Ooh I thought karndean was posh Lino? What's the better version?

I have had Karndean down in my dining room for the last 20 years and it still looks like new. Although it is technically a dining room it's actually more of a hallway due to the layout and you can't go anywhere in the house without going through it so it's very high traffic area.

It's shrugged off dogs, cats and children over the years and the dog claws don't clatter on it like they do on engineered wood!

We have it in the kitchen diner and I absolutely love it. Love the look of it and love how easy it is to clean. We have two kids, two cats and a dog who is constantly in and out the back door dragging mud into the house. Had it since lockdown and it still looks like new.

Ours has lasted really well in two different kitchens and a bathroom. Had a full washing machine flood under one lot and it didn't budge an inch. Again I'd go with a proper qualified fitter. We had the Da Vinci (I think it was called) top end stuff.

Put it in a dark hallway almost white wood effect. With two dogs a cat and a sea of mud in the garden this winter I was mopping it this afternoon, thinking thank god we put this down.

It doesn't show the dirt normally, is warm, quiet to walk on. I'm a karndean fan

We have used Karndean, Amico and Elements LVT. They are far superior to any other non-carpet alternative.

We have Karndean down in our large kitchen / diner / family area on the back of our house (it was recommended to us by a close friend who has it).

We absolutely love it. It’s been down 8 years & still looks brand new. It looks fantastic, is easy to clean (I just hoover & mop).

Would highly recommend!

Another karndeab lover

Warm and softer and less slippy underfoot than tiles

Easier to keep looking good than wood - Good enough to fool people

Cleaner than carpets and so less sneezing

Can I ask what you use to mop it with? Is just normal flash type stuff ok or do you need a special soap/cleaner for Karndean? Thank you!

I don't think in 15 years of karndean - that we ever had a major flood so can't comment on that

I love my Karndean floor unfortunately I’m clumsy so it does get scratched when I’m dragging furniture that should be carried. It takes a real effort though, Sadat to say it’s extremely hard wearing. Get a proper Karndean fitter to lay it, ours did a beautiful job with our herringbone pattern

Just use whatever we have ( washing up liquid or general purpose cleaner )

We do have a box of special stuff to use should the surface need redoing , I think we did that once