Engineered wood or Karndean type wood tiles for kitchen?

[fandabbydozier]

Having a large open plan kitchen living room diner built and can't decide on flooring. We will have underfloor heating so I've narrowed it down to reengineered oak or karndean wood effect tiles. How do I choose? Do the karndean/amtico tiles look really wood-like when laid across a whole floor? Is it really a bad idea to have real wood in the kitchen area? I definitely want the same flooring throughout the area (and probably hallway too) but just can't decide.
Any experience you can share? Thankyou!

Would love to know the answer - have exactly the same dilemma!

We have amtico in a room that sounds similar, it’s American oak and looks great. Don’t need underfloor heating though, it’s quite warm.

(It continues into our hall)

Thanks daffodil. Does it look like real wood or can you tell instantly it isn't? I like the look of American oak. Am hoping to get wide planks in a mid oak colour more brown than honey in colour, just can't decide on real or artificial! Would you mind sharing a pic?

We are planning Amtico in a kiychen diner, lounge and hall (it's a flat). I wouldn't chance wood in a kitchen. The Amtico has a 25 year guarantee.

We have lvt in our kitchen. It does look like wood until you stand on it and you can clearly tell it isn't. It is more practical, but I wish we had gone for wood. There is just nothing that compares to wood or proper tiles. When we replace it, we will. We don't have kids though my mum's engineered wood floor got quite badly scratched and marked from my sister's young kids playing on it.

The only reason for not going for proper tiles was that we have a suspended floor and a big kitchen diner and tiles felt too much. Proper tiles are the most practical.

Thanks GOOD and Mosaic, although I'm still confused. Does anyone have reengineered wood in their kitchen and not regret it? Is it just too risky? FWIW I will have my washing machine in a separate utility so that's one less water hazard I guess...

We have karndean throughout downstairs and many visitors think it’s wood. It’s warm, easy to clean and if things get spilt it’s not a disaster.

Have Karndean wood effect flooring in kitchen does not look like real wood but very practical.

Inforthelonghaul would you mind posting a pic?

Karndean.

We've got engineered wood in our kitchen and hall and I want to rip it up. It's starting to lift in certain places and has been damaged by kids and dog which I wouldn't mind after 5 years but 1 year...

Another with a similar dilemma but more with the difference between Karndean and Amtico. Is there much difference in quality do you think? Would love to see photos of anyone who have had Karndean put down.

I have engineered oak over underfloor heating in my kitchen / dining room. It was laid around 10 years ago and gets pretty heavy use. Several children & pets = heavy footfall, multiple spillages etc. I love it.

When the heating is on it feels fantastic underfoot. I vacuum daily and mop several times a week. It does benefit from being relaxed every now and again. The manufacturers recommend doing it annually but we manage it every 2 or 3 years realistically.

Just re-read my post above. It benefits from being waxed rather than relaxed.

Thanks autocorrect

Do you know where you got it from Wild? I'm starting to think you get what you pay for with these things. Still undecided. I think I need to see some large showrooms with a decent area laid out... my heart lies with real wood I think but I don't want to make a very expensive mistake!

I have engineered wood in most of my ground floo so should recognise real wood. I'd go for Amtico - a friend had this, and I only realised it wasn't real wood when she told me. I'd visited a lot over a ten year period, and spent a lot of time sitting on the floor playing with our children. It can be very realistic. Hers was like long, wide floorboards. Maybe it had been fitted really well, I assumed it was wood.

I have both Karndean snd Amtico in the house; both been on floor for 10 years +. The Kardean is scratched and faded and looks really bad. Th Amtico in the porch looks as good as new.

We have engineered oak in large open plan diner. Has been down for 3 years. Love it, wouldn't change it. I do think you get what you pay for - ours is Kahrs which is a decent make and came recommended.

My Mum has the wood effect Karndean and she likes it as its very practical but not a chance that it would pass for real wood.

We have Karndean. Looks as good as the day it was laid 5 years ago. We changed our kitchen last year and laid tigerwood karndean. Pic sttached

We had a beautiful oak engineered wood floor throughout the entire ground floor including large open kitchen/dining/sitting which is a big surface area. Loved it at first because it has a beautiful warm finish, it’s fine in the kitchen area and feels nice but a right pain in the arse to maintain because it needed cleaning with a special solution and oiling - all maintenance products are expensive and don’t need using that often but still too much hassle. What I couldn’t stand though were scratch marks from dog, shoes etc. I honestly never wore stiletto shoes on that floor for fear of creating dents. It was a big investment, it looked lovely and felt nice but I couldn’t stand the imperfections anymore. As with all wood, you can only sand it too much (even real wood would only allow sanding up to the joints). In the end we changed it after nearly 1 1/2 year and wouldn’t have it again. I sold it on eBay. Amtico does look very realistic and it gives you the option to create personalised designs with borders etc, care free, no contest. It will look like the day it was laid ten years later. Kardean does not have as many finish options but it is hard wearing nonetheless.
Also, I would say if you have a broken washing machine or some other water related disaster, Amtico would be easier to remove and replace but you must use a specialist service.
We have Amtico in one bathroom because the floor was not right for tiles and it still looks perfect 5 years later. Not a wood design though.
For a large area, you can also consider oversized porcelain tiles (the really, really big ones which you sometimes see in modern outdoor areas). They work well with underfloor heating.