Karndean vs Tiles

[StorminaBcup]

Looking for a bit of advice for our kitchen floor. We're having underfloor heating and we've been recommended either tiles or karndean flooring. I've seen a parquet style karndean floor which looks lovely but we have real wood floors throughout the rest of the house. I'm concerned it will look obviously vinyl in comparison but lots of people have said it's great to keep clean and is hard wearing. We have a young family (2 & 4), and are possibly getting a dog next year too. Will keeping tiles clean be a nightmare compared to karndean or are tiles a better fit for our lifestyle? Will tiles last look better for longer?
I'm totally clueless as I only know one person with a karndean floor and they've only just had it fitted. Any opinions please?

@StorminaBcup I'm sure the tiles will look great and will work well with the underfloor heating. Our tiles have been down nearly 4 years and are fine, I just wish we'd put UFH in as well as radiators.

Usually the cost of fitting is £30 psm upwards, the Herringbone and similar styles being the most expensive. The fitting often ends up the same price as the Karndean.

Engineered wood should be fine with underfloor heating - we've had it down for over a year with no issues. The engineered layer means it's less sensitive to changes in temperature and moisture and so doesn't warp as easily.

We are having engineered wood in our kitchen with underfloor heating.

That's a lot isn't it black grouse! Do you need certified fitters in too?

Thanks for comments regarding engineered wood - you've now sent dh on a floor-finding mission as this is his preferred option .

We have tiles and 10 years on, no cracks, no chips. Of course things break on them, but our porcelain ones are bullet proof. The UFH is a must IMO.

Our grout is grey and looks fine.

I need to see this wonderous Kardean... I'm also a bit about posh vinyl.

Thanks Shutupsidney - tiles are my preferred option. I just think they'll look better.

Another question though, for those with UFH do you also have a radiator? Our house is Victorian and the kitchen / diner has really high ceilings. It does get cold as it's north facing. I'm just wondering if we'd benefit from a radiator also.

We have a high vaulted ceiling in most of the space and a high ceiling in a linking area in a space which is 48m sq and no other heat source than UFH. It's in 2 sections (old house and new extension) and I never put the other part on!
We had a hidden pipe for a rad if we needed it - I was concerned too - but never even been an issue.

You didn't ask for other recommendations but thought might be helpful - we had a microcrete floor in our kitchen with wood throughout the rest of the house - looks fab, easy to clean and soft. Worked great with our underfloor heating.

Thanks Shutupsidney, good to know.

annieannietomjoe, thank you. Haven't heard of that but will take a look.

I think it depends on your house.
Our last house was an old detached Victorian and had a south facing kitchen extension with high ceilings and velux windows through to north facing dining room. I still needed to use the radiator in the dining room and wished I'd got additional heating in the kitchen after taking out the oil fired Rayburn and replacing it with a modern electric Aga. (The Rayburn was replaced 4 years after the extension was built)
In my new house, I've gone with radiators rather than underfloor heating in the kitchen/dining/sunroom and I'm pleased I did so, during the really cold snowy weather earlier this year.
Maybe just have the pipework installed, just in case?

We have porcelain tiles with ufh. They are large format, I think 1.6m x 0.8m with grey grout. The tiles themselves are pale grey. I love them. Hoover and mop once a day and they look great. Yes stuff breaks if it falls but how often do you drop things? The tiles are cool in the summer and cosy in the winter when the ufh is on. Our kitchen is roughly 55sqm with high ceilings. No need for radiators as well but it's part of the new extension which is well insulated unlike the original victorian house. We love the ufh and the tiles. We are replacing the flooring in the hallway and will be going for parquet amtico. It's mostly to do with practicality and how much space we have.

In reality piped or wet UFH is one damn big radiator. Electric pads are different though

We have mostly underfloor heating in our house on the ground floor. However, it is in the newer parts. The whole idea was to do away with radiators. So we don’t have them. The heating is just fine but we do have a wood burner in the second lounge area. Only the lounge/dining zone and the formal dining room have radiators plus one for drying in the laundry room. I don’t miss radiators. You can put furniture where you want without blocking out heat. Have kitchen units where you need them instead of avoiding radiators. The ufh heats my kitchen and it has glass walls on two sides and they face North and east. However, the space is fairly open plan and the whole house is very well insulated.

Yes, engineered wood is fine with ufh. We have it in the room with the wood burner. Even with a rug on top, it’s warm.

I don’t get the love of vinyl floors either. We have ceramic tiles in our large hall (big enough for a grand piano and further seating areas) and with the ufh it’s smart! No unsightly radiators. I don’t think higher value homes look good with vinyl.

Our last house was a new build with a wet underfloor heating system throughout, no radiators. It was great, very cheap to run and very warm.

Our current house is a 30s semi so we were unable to put a wet system in. Electric UFH isn't as good so we just didn't bother, now I wish I'd put it in the kitchen extension as well as rads as the tiles are freezing in winter.

I'd go with UFH plus radiators.

Re engineered wood floors with UFH, it's fine, we had some in the last house. However it was badly marked within months due to high heels, kids and a dog. I would go with wood effect LVT over engineered if you have a dog or kids.

Thanks everyone, really appreciate the replies. I contacted our plumber to ask his advice and due to time scales we'll have to go with dry UFH. As it's a large room we're also going to install a vertical column radiator so if it's needed we can always have little more warmth. We'll keep it simple with tiles.