Can anyone help me choose a type / colour of floor for the kitchen?

[ilikeyoursleeves]

We have kitchen units that are light wood (beech) and at present have a very similar colour of laminate on the floor. We are about to extend the house which will involve the kitchen turning into a kitchen / diner / small living area. So we will need to replace the flooring but we aren't changing the kitchen units (the extension doesn't interfere with any of our current units as we are extending from the other side of the kitchen that is just a blank wall so to speak).

So what type of floor do you think would go with beech units? We prob won't change our kitchen for quite a few years as it's fine and we have no more money to change it anyway. I would love wooden floors but I'm also thinking white tiles or something? Not sure if tiles would feel right in the diner / loungey bit of the room though?

Any advice is appreciated!

what colour are your work tops? i had blackish/grey laminate (that looked like stone tiles) and very light coloured units with a black granite work tops and it looked really nice.

I have marble effect work top that has a grey fleck in it, so I used grey slate tiles - I think it looks nice, and very practical. The rest of the kitchen is white/cream/stainless steel.

slate?

The worktops are sort of sage green with flecks, similar colour to tiles on the wall. We have small, about 10 x 10 cm, tiles that are sage green, burnt orange and very pale greeny white. I'd like to replace the worktops as they are pretty cheap looking with bits chipping off but then it wouldn't match the tiles anymore & it would be a pain as we have an integrated oven. Also need to consider what would be ok on the old tootsies, is slate not really cold if you don't have under floor heating?.

I just put a photo of our kitchen on my profile to help you get what I am describing!

Bump for any new opinions?

I have off white tiles and I hate them with a passion. Ok, They look lovely when I have just washed the floor. At all other times they just look dirty. I am much too lazy busy to be cleaning the kitchen floor all day.
I wanted black slate as we have black worktops but DH convinced me it would be too dark. I wish I had never listened to him.

Hello sleeves...

If you'd love wooden floors, why not have those? We've got engineered oak, and it looks great, v easy to clean, warm underfoot, things don't break (including kids) as easily

Hey Elibean, I would love wooden floors and I think it would look great through the downstairs, from the hall into the kitchen / diner. I just wasn't sure how it would look with the beech kitchen units. Mind you I think the current laminate looks fine so I could get the wooden floors in the same colour...? So hard to make these decisions! What is engineered oak? Is it easily scratched? (we have two young boys!)

We have a slate floor in our kitchen and I would not recommend it! The problem with it is it is too dark and, similar to the white tiles, looks shit apart from when it is just cleaned.

I would go for the wooden flooring if i were you, especially if you having the same throughout the whole area. I dont think any kind of tiling would be that great in a lounge area.

What about rubber flooring? Have no experience personally mind you!

I have heard of that Karndean stuff but don't know anything about it- is that the rubber flooring?

I have karndean in my bathroom and I love it. It is expensive but it looks great and is warm on the feet and so easy to keep clean. They are high quality vinyl tiles, you can get them in wood effect too. I have a black slate effect which I was I had in my kitchen. Go and have a look at some real samples.

How expensive is expensive? What its it per m2?

My mother is getting a new kitchen and adores stone (light off-white). How about stone?

Although apparently my father doesn't like the £ so must be the expensive option!

Can't remember offhand, but remember being grateful the bathroom is only tiny.
karndean website here

I really don't know much about rubber flooring, but I don't think it is the Karndean stuff. I remember seeing a thread on here about it a while back. I think though you can pretty much get any colour and it is quite easy to care for and quite warm underfoot.