If I get shiny porcelain tiles through most of the ground floor will I regret it?

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Will they be permanently smeary?

Will one of them crack immediately and we will have to put up with it because its too expensive to replace?

Will I be either cold or bankrupt from the underfloor heating costs?

We used to have carpet but it always looked filthy, we now have laminate which is and looks cheap and has bits chipped out if it. DH really wants shiny tiles and technically its his turn to choose. We have to pick something and we both like the shiny tiles. Woman in tile shop said don't get ceramic in such a big area in case they crack. The only ceramic sample we have has cracked. I have 3 dcs under 10 and I don't want them to break the floor their necks on a slippery floor.

There are some really chic cork tiles around at the moment - it's no longer those ginger-coloured 30cm squares one used to see in the 80s.

We have cork in our kitchen and laundry and I would never get anything else - it's warm underfoot, quiet, things don't break when you drop them. We had a marble kitchen floor in our last place and compared to that, the cork is just wonderful.

Porcelain tiles are more robust that ordinary ceramic tiles.

porcelain/ceramic differences

I have tile effect Amtico.

Many people have been fooled into thinking they are real tiles.
They are warm underfoot
Not too bad if things are dropped on them.
Easy to keep clean - the mottled effect is very forgiving

Although they have scratched a bit where furniture has been. ie. dining room chairs.

Overall though I would get again.

We have ceramic tiles in our ensuite and the room always feels cold and it is cold underfoot. There is no way I would have them anywhere else in the house.

On the continent it is usual to have tiles throughout the house. Shiny tiles will be slippery and will probably crack. If you go with tiles I would advise getting good quality ones, there are lots of them out there . Kitchen and bathroom tiles are often non slip so that you dont fall over. I would advise going to a tile specialist and getting their advice.

We had dark tiles which were slightly textured in the kitchen/hallway in our old house and i loved them as they were easy to clean up with the kids and the cat with muddy paws. The only downside was yes, everything you drop will break and they were very cold in winter! I had to buy DCs slipper socks so when they came downstairs they didnt get cold toes. If you have a dog or cat stay away from the shiney tiles i bet they will be a nightmare! We live in Yorkshire.

If you are going with underfloor heating then tiles are the perfect conductor. Personally I would go for something textured with a non-uniform colour so that slip hazards are minimised and dirt/dust won't show up so much. Maybe something like this?

Our home in the UK has amtico with underfloor heating as am complete heat junkie and is pretty good.

Currently in Aus in a rental with a mixture of tile, carpet and heavily varnished wood. The tiles are dark grey good for dirt but flipping freezing. The wood is in the kitchen and looks lovely but needs vacuuming every day : crumbs. Lots and lots of crumbs.

Plus, if you do the whole downstairs in shiney tiles it could end up looking like this

Right, I'm going to take another look at amtico.

We dh def want something that looks like/is tiles rather than something that looks like/is wood.

DH has found a marble tile he is going to bring home to add to our collection of samples. He reckons its not shiney and has a bit of texture. He doesn't want too much texture as he has non slip ones at work and spends ages cleaning them every night with a deck brush.

We do have a filthy cat.

Thanks for all the help.

MIL had porcelain tiles in her kitchen. Showed every bit of dirt and were very slippery when wet.

She now has slate tiles like us

I also think that porcelain tiles on an entire floor of a house would look a tad clinical or (whispers, like a public toilet)

We have ceramic tiles in the kitchen (mat,, sluight texture). One is shattered into tiny bits where a jar of honey fell on it (currently covered in electrical tape to prevent anyone cutting their feet). They are freezing in winter (but lovely and cool in summer). We don't have spares as they were already laid when we bought the house. I cannot face having to take out the kitchen cupboards to get a new floor laid - yes, the previous owners fitted the (badly laid-out) kitchen on top of the tiles.

On the upside, my SIL and I POSL when her dog came flying into my kitchen, couldn't make the turn on the tiles and ended up going head-on into the cupboard It was the look of confusion on his face

What about something rubbery or modern lino? Not cold, easy to keep clean, doesn't mind getting wet, softer than tiles and you can choose the look you want.

Lieins I would if it were just the kitchen but its the hallway too and I'm not sure lino would be ok there. I have seen some nice funky linos but its difficult to pull off funk in a hallway for any length of time and non funky would just look cheap. I like resin floors but I think that might be taking things too far.

I have black shiney porcelain tiles on bathroom floor - fecking nightmare. They always look smeary no matter how often I clean them and 3 have cracks in them. Non porcelain hall and kitchen tiles on floor are fine. If you have heart set on tiles, don't go for shiney porcelain IMO!

Oh no I wish I hadn't read this thread.
I have just taken delivery of a load of ceramic tiles for my kitchen, hall and downstairs loo!

I once had high gloss ceramic tiles they had to be buffed after washing to stop them looking smeary; essentially they looked clean for the hour after the cleaner had been in before we started dinner.

It's not high gloss but we've got a sandstone floor with under floor heating been in five years and nothing has cracked or broken yet;feels lovely to walk on.

I have shiny white porcelain tiles and live in the UK, with 3DC and 5 dogs.

They are more work, sealing them and I steam mop 1-2 times daily. Everything dropped will smash, but ours lead off the garden and aren't noticeably slippy.

They heat up quickly (we don't have underfloor heating), I normally stick an oil heater on in the room, mop and the heat stays in the tiles, dries quickly and keeps them from turning cold to touch.

The room is big but has lots of natural light so that probably helps keep it warm. In the morning it can be alittle bit chilly, but I luffs them too much to notice.

We have matt porcelain tiles in our open plan kitchen area and they are fab. Although we do have underfloor heating it hardly ever kicks in as it is a very warm south facing room with large windows. We have no cracks and had them a couple of years, they are large 60x60cm.

We have wood in the rest of the house and I've never found that to be cold either ( we do live in UK). I love not having any carpet and would always get tiles or wood again.

I have bought semi-gloss black ceramic tiles for the kitchen and downstairs loo. And the same tiles in beige for the hall. The colours are slightly mottled so hopefully won't show the dirt too much.
The kitchen has horrible cheap laminate in it just now and the loo has wood effect lino so the tiles must be an improvement. There is carpet in the hall just now it always look dirty. I'm willing to sacrifice a bit of warmth for something easy to clean.

many people in countries outside UK have apartments, or houses with basements, so the floors are not very cold.

In the UK, the ground floor is usually pretty cold, and since warm air rises, radiators etc will not warm it, but cold draughts will cool it.

Is Karndean like Amtico?

We considered gorgeous sparkly black tiles for our extension.......until the saleswoman herself told me they are a nightmare. They'd fitted them into a display building and couldn't keep them clean. We decided against it given that we were actively told they would be a bad choice.