Wood floors vs wood effect tiles

[sarahnova69]

Any opinions/experiences? Wood effect seems to be getting very close to wood in appearance/texture without the drawbacks, but I want to understand before I commit.

Shamelessly place marking. We want to do the same. We stayed in a rental holiday cottage with "wood plank" tiles and they looked really good. It's def possible to get good ones. Trouble is I have no idea which are the good ones!
Any recommendations for places to send off for samples would be great!

Which room is it for?

I'd say it depends on the room. Real wood floor moves a lot and will expand and contact based on moisture in the air - even drying washing in the room could lift the floor.

we have italian wood effect tiles in the bathroom.
it's so good it fools people.
it's suitable for underfloor heating and bathroom related moisture.
I love it.

We're looking at it for both kitchen/open plan living space, and bathroom floors.

Porcelanosa was recommended to us but I think it's def on the pricy side. I could barely tell the real wood floor samples from the tiles.

I think tiles can look good - a friend has them and I didn't notice they weren't real wood the first time I went round. There's also the peace of mind issue. We nearly had a wooden floor in our kitchen/diner, and I researched it a lot with endless quotes and samples. We went for something completely different in the end ('blue' quarry tiles), and I'm so pleased now I didn't get the wood. Do you want to be panicking every time someone spills wine/glue/paint/mud/tinned tomatoes? Or maybe I just have a v messy family.

We have the tiles and they're amazing. The baby can do water play on the kitchen floor. They look just like wood.

There are 2 kinds of tiles: vinyl tiles (Amtico/Karndean and others) and porcelain/ceramic tiles. Both now come in convincing wood effects.

I find it really hard to tell the difference between the vinyl and the real thing, but I can't get past the weirdness of feeling ceramic under my feet and yet it looking like wood!

Depends where for. Kitchen or bathroom definately tiles, anywhere else only use tiles if you can have underfloor heating. They feel so cold.

There'll be underfloor heating in the open plan space, and rugs elsewhere.

We've just had wood effect vinyl tiles laid and they're brilliant. It looks and feels like a wooden floor, but seems warmer and softer somehow. Everyone who's seen it is really surprised when we tell them it's vinyl.

Kitchenlights
Where did you get your tiles? And can you remember the kind of ball park you paid?

I would only do tiles with UFH

I got them from walls and floors.co uk. They will send you loads of samples if you ring and tell them what you're looking for.

There is often 20% discount so wait for that (or ask for it?) I paid for £30/sqm ones but should have gone for the £20/sqm which worked out at £16/sqm, they were just as nice. There is loads of choice at those prices (and higher..)

I've just had laminate look porcelain tiles. Looks amazing and with the durability of floor tiles. So happy

I have wood effect tiles in kitchen/diner/family, hallway and wc. I was dubious as I wanted proper wood or engineered wood but couldn't because with UFH in the kitchen, the floor levels would've been different into the hall. I'm glad I have them now, much better in a kitchen than wood.