New kitchen: does the flooring go first and under the units?

[MissWing]

Builders about to start on kitchen extension. When the time comes, what goes in first, the flooring or the kitchen units? Does the flooring go all to wall or just up to the kickboards?
Thanks!

Floor first, wall to wall, then kitchen on top.

Thank you!

Thank you!

No it just goes to the kick boards unless you specify otherwise.

Definitely the floor first. You don't want the cupboards to not have tiles underneath it won't look as neat. And you definitely want washing machine/dishwasher to be tiled beneath.

Ours has just been done. We have tiles under appliances (cooker, fridge etc) so it's easier to move them out if needed. Otherwise tiles just go to unit legs with kick boards on top. Just make sure your kitchen fitters allow for tile height and set worktop height so that it's 90 cm above finished floor. Ours is a bit low, which is frustrating!

No go wall to wall. Unless you want to be in the same predicament as us. We are going to have to redo the whole 20' by 12' floor when we replace the previous owners kitchen because it doesn't go under the fixed bench seating at one end or the island in the middle of the room.

A kitchen should have a longer life than a floor surely, so I think to the kick boards..

opinions differ, but I say do the whole floor, wall to wall, first.

Otherwise, the floor has to be trimmed round units, and your heavy appliances will probably have to be lifted over the lip instead of rolling out. Furthermore, ants and spilled milk will get under the edge of the flooring.

If the kitchen goes on top of the flooring, there is no drama if you want to move a unit or put in a new appliance later.

NOOO! wall to wall with flooring unless very temporary floor. Had same problem as earlier poster; our kitchen had lovely ceramic floor tiles and relatively inexpensive units. When we replaced units there were gaps which had no tiles. We had to carefully lift from some areas and replace into others.

before and after

any of this stuff could have been moved at whim

or swapped for something else

It depends. Do you think you might ever want to change the floor without ripping out the kitchen?

n my last house it was done kitchen first, tiles second, kickboards last. It worked out well because a few years later we knocked wall which forced us to change the tiles.

Actually, our kitchen was tiled wall to wall with some expensive tiles by the previous owner. We ripped out the whole kitchen, turned it round, knocked a new door through and refitted it keeping the same flooring and saving probably £1000.

I would say - durable stuck-down expensive flooring like Amtico or tiles - have it cover the room, it will outlast the kitchen. Cheap or lay-down flooring like sheet vinyl or laminate - might as well just go to the units as it will probably wear out first.

cheap vinyl will still get milk and ants under it, if cut.

Also keep the spare left over tiles/flooring in the loft for future repairs or changes. I spent days tracking down four nearly-matching tiles to fill in the new doorway!

Yes, do wall to wall flooring, then units.

In another house the joiner did units first, then floor, and when it came to putting appliances in, they were too high for the work tops.

No, I've made a wrong decision.
New extension, UFH. I thought the units could go in first to save money. My limestone tiles are £40m2 so the builder said put it in after.
We're unlikely to change the units. Will I regret it?

We have just put in a kitchen. Floor going in next week to just under kick boards. we are putting it under appliances but we couldn't have afforded to do it all in any case.

uh oh! We had our kitchen done last year, we chose flooring and builder organised timings etc with tradesmen and we got out flooring done last around the units and twas a v expensive floor . The floors going to outlast the kitchen and then we'll be in trouble.

Wall to wall under the units and appliances, definitely under any islands!! The previous owners of our house (DIY cowboys but that's another story!) only tiled up to the kick boards, so when we had an issue with the wine cooler it wouldn't slide out as the floor tiles were so thick and we had to lift the worktop! Also second what PigletJohn says about spills etc. We've now had a new kitchen extension and the floor tiles are wall to wall.

I went to just under the kickboards, and to the wall under applicances.

We're having a kitchen extension done at the moment and will probably have to have the kitchen fitted before the floor. The floor will be new and will need to fully dry out before the vinyl can be stuck to it. This could take weeks or even months and I can't live without a kitchen for that long. We're going up to the kick boards.

But the advice about the island is something I (stupidly)hhadn't considered. Will speak to kitchen fitters about that. Thanks for this thread

Thanks to our stupid windows, we had to put floor in second as units would be too high on top of floor :( but in the end it's a very cheap floor, so will be easier to replace in a few years.

Maybe you could put sealant along the edge to stop spills going under the flooring? I didn't think of spills, and have tiles.

husband is a kitchen fitter and the floor is the last thing to go down as you don't want to be working over it. Last thing to be fitted is the kickboards.
Sometimes things can get knocked over whilst working and no amount of dust sheets or protection is going to stop a chisel marking your floor if it falls.