Kitchen/bathroom flooring - not tiles

[Nightfall1983]

My first time posting in this section and from a quick skim read it seems like most people are doing things well above our budget level (!) but worth a shot I thought.
Basically due to a leak we are replacing all our downstairs flooring, the kitchen and downstairs loo are currently covered in (fairly crappy) Lino. The insurance company will pay to replace the Lino but we can upgrade if we wish. I don't love the look of Lino, it generally looks cheap imo. I love the look of tiles but a) hate the cold feet effect (no underfloor heating) and b) hate that things break if you drop them (not to mention the risk of the tiles breaking) - we have a toddler and a baby.

I was under the impression that laminate isn't suitable for areas where there will potentially be water but have recently seen mention of laminate in kitchens etc. I don't think we have the budget for hardwood, whether that's suitable or not.

I don't have an exact budget in mind, we have some savings to improve the house so it depends how much better than Lino it is as to how much we feel we can pay...

Any advice? Thanks!!

We're having karndean put in our new kitchen and bathroom. It's classed as a luxury vinyl tile. Very hard wearing, water proof and looks fab IMO. Look up Karndean, Amtico and Polyflor. All different brands of LVT's.

I have tiles. It is a pain if you have to get under the floor to fix anything and never looks quite the same once the washing machine has leaked all over it and the grout is not easy clean. I would stick with lino given the choice.

I had bamboo in my last house and it still looked good after 10 yrs. I have put it down again and the product is even better now than it was 10 years ago. Have a look at the strand woven it is tougher than wood but still gives a natural look. It is affordable compared to tiles and timber and a DIY install is possible. It is also renewable and mould and water resistant.

I quite fancy trying cork flooring when I get my new kitchen.

Oooh I fancy cork too- the kitchen of the house I lived in as a baby and tiny child had cork tiles, so it is deep in my psyche...
When you say Lino, do you mean vinyl? Actual Linoleum is much nicer than most vinyl, and more hard wearing and warm underfoot. Dearer too, of course... We have it in the bathroom and I love it. I wanted rubber but could only get rubber tiles, and I wanted it to cove up at the edges since we have a lot of splashing in our bathroom, so went for sheet Lino.

IME cork gets grubby and stained, but perhaps there is a way to keep it clean.

vinyl is OK in a bathroom but does not last well in a kitchen where it may be dented or gouged by the feet of chairs, tables and appliances, or dropped knives.

It looks and lasts best if the floor below is made perfectly flat and smooth by first putting down thin ply (4mm will do) under the vinyl.

AFAIK bamboo is the only engineered flooring to withstand water drips and splashes, but I believe some of the tile-effect laminates are said to be OK.

BTW tilers tell me you should not use white grout on a floor because it will only look clean for the first three minutes of its life. They suggest black or grey.

How about coloured rubber? I like the look of this stuff: www.colourflooring.co.uk

I have bamboo in our kitchen diner (and most of the downstairs) and would recommend it. I positively hate tiles and i'm not keen on lino. Regardless of whether it's top of the range, it still looks like lino to me.

The only thing you might have to consider however is floor levels - am guessing if your kitchen / bathroom join other floors (hall or landing say) laying something now (such as bamboo) which is probably thicker than your lino might result in uneven floor levels.

But if that's not an issue, have a look at bamboo.

Wow, thank you all so much! I will take a look at all those.
Yes, by lino I guess I meant vinyl - looks pretty cheap whatever it is, though of course it's also rather old. Coloured rubber looks interesting but at over £50psm it's definitely not going to be in budget.

A could of extra questions if you don't mind: just how water-proof are LVTs? Can you say mop with proper water?

We are not DIYers, does anyone recommend any particular high-street brand to buy flooring (will also be getting carpet) and get it fitted? We are in London borough of Sutton in the off chance that there is someone local reading... Or would anyone recommend doing it differently, maybe buying online and getting a local fitter??

Hi, you're not a million miles from me - if you can get to North Cheam, you could pop in to Jordan's Flooring Warehouse on the London Road, near Sainsbury's. They have a really good range of vinyl/laminates, and are very helpful. I've used them a lot in the last few years, while I've been refurbishing, and have purchased all my carpets and bathroom (Karndean) floor from them. Lawrence is very helpful! I don't work for them BTW!

If you are in a budget then vinyl is fine. There are tons of really nice ones and it is is laid properly it can look great.

We have amtico in 2 bathrooms. We are really pleased with it. It looks great, cleans brilliantly and feels warm under foot. It's a bit like Karndean that someone mentioned earlier.

I wouldn't suggest rubber flooring in a kitchen. We had it in our kitchen and it always looked grubby. It was expensive, and someone ruined it in the first month by wearing stiletto heels and leaving little dents all over it. .

Nan can easily get to North Cheam and massively appreciate the recommendation - will definitely be visiting this weekend :)