which is the best type of flooring for a kitchen

[MrsVidic]

We have decided to stay in our home and not move for a few years so even though it will add not value I am going to get some work done to prevent the house loosing value/ increase saleability and because I want it changed.

So which flooring would you reccommend for a young family in the kitchen- carpet is not working for us! TIA

Anything hard and washable. My parents have Amtico tiles which are expensive but perfect for a kitchen. We have quarry tiles which suit our house but are hard and cold. I've used vinyl tiles in a previous kitchen which are very hard wearing, if laid properly, not expensive and not as cold as quarry tiles.

We are also in the process of looking at kitchen flooring. Ours has 20 yr old lino which is dated and totally past it's sell by date! I've been looking at good quality tile effect lino as seems the cheapest option and warmer on the feet than the real thing! I also have a DD who is wobbly on her feet so wouldn't want a hard floor in any case.

Lots of people seem to be going for laminate in the kitchen these days - not sure about pros and cons though I'm just not a big fan of laminate personally.

How big is your kitchen/what kind of units etc?

I would probably go for vinyl sheet or tiles - tiles are quite easy to lay yourself if you need to keep the cost down. I like Amtico too but they can be more expensive than ceramic/porcelain.

If I was doing mine all over again I would save up & go for natural stone (or a very good imitation)

Good old lino Rhinofloor is the best, soft and warm underfoot and non slippery. Things that fall won't shatter into million pieces.
I do love real stone, however, in our old family farmhouse, the kitchen floor is proper few hundred year old quarry tiles and whilst it is gorgeoust to look at, it's truly PITA, as the surface is slightly uneven and everything gets stuck in the cracks. Aargghh. Amtico etc are just very expensive linos

Where did these came from? Disregard....

We have bamboo flooring and it's wonderful. The strand woven sort is extremely tough (we have the 'natural' colour) and looks beautiful. And I found out about it from MNet so it must be good.

Sorry cat64, I beg to differ! We have a ceramic tiled floor in our kitchen and I love the fact that it is totally bombproof - our old floor (wood) was forever getting skuffed by furniture or stained by unnoticed water spillages. It is also easy to clean.

Agreed it is not very forgiving if you drop anything, but fortunately that hasn't happened much.

We have tiles that look like travertine with underfloor heating so is no nice in winter!

We had lino put down in our kitchen five years ago and it's looking pretty awful now :( Especially around the washing machine (which in its last days travelled around a fair bit and managed to rip up a lot of the lino) and also has dents/cuts in it, I think from a stepladder when I was cleaning the skylights. It's also discoloured on the high traffic areas.

Would never ever have lino again.

Rhino floor here.Far better than my old floor which was terrazzo-the same stuff that supermarket floors are made of.

I have Amtico.

It is warm underfoot and seems to be wearing well after one year. I do find I have to use a floor cloth to clean it though. A mop just doesn't do the job imo.

not marble tiles which is what I have

I would go for porcelain tiles every time. Attractive and they last for ever (so make sure you buy ones you can live with!).

Having said that, you can get real wood floors now which are supposed to be suitable for kitchens. That might appeal if you want something more forgiving.

We have engineered oak floor throughout downstairs incl downstairs loo and kitchen. It does show marks more than stone, but we had stone before and I don't like my feet on a freezing floor ( we have underfloor heating, which you can have with stone but somehow that seems wierd )and I am extremely clumsy so loads got broken.

We have natural brushed waxed, if I were to do it again I may have a very slight lacquer on, as although I hate shiny, it does mean you don't see marks so much.

Why is underfloor heating with stone weird?!! It's lovely!

We have terracotta tiles (big thick old ones) and we cleaned and oiled them so they look good, don't show much dirt but they are cold cold cold.

My dad had tiles with underfloor heating and they were lovely