Large, High Gloss Floor Tiles in Kitchen

[CheltenhamLady]

Does anyone have any experience of having very large glossy kitchen floor tiles?

I know the arguments against - slippery, cold, unforgiving if things are dropped, but, we love the look. Apart from the issue of the grout getting dirty and ruining the look.

They need constant cleaning.

Show up every sweaty footprint and paw print. .

The grout on ours looked so bad so quickly, that I was on my hands and knees scrubbing at it with a thin toothbrush.

You can, or at least could, buy some stuff that’s supposed to seal the grout and paint it on. We moved, so I don’t know how it lasted.

Will they not be really dangerously slippery?

Yes I have experience and yes all the negatives are true. Hip breaker for sure.
Dates and really stupid look, sorry.

Look lovely in a showroom.

So long as you are prepared for how they will look when lived in... crack on.

Every time you look at them you will want to clean them, or have them cleaned.

#TeamMattFinish

Horrible. Even when clean they need buffing because they show every smear and watermark.

I inherited them in hall, utility and large kitchen/living/dining room.

Hate the fuckers but too expensive to replace!!!

Don’t do it OP, as well as all the above factors, they are a nightmare if you have young children / toddlers as they are very unforgiving if they fall or if toys are dropped onto them. My neighbour has them and even plastic toys break constantly when dropped onto her gloss tiled floors.

They are also inclined to make the house feel very cold and take longer to heat.

Team wood / laminate / similar all the way.

We have 2m x 2m glossy tiles in one of the bathrooms. They are gorgeous… for 5 mins immediately after they’ve been cleaned. They show up every single drop that falls on them.

They are also like an ice rink when any water falls on them.

I still really like them, and we only use that bathroom for the children’s bath so it’s not very highly used, but I definitely wouldn’t get them in a kitchen.

Oh also, our kitchen designer advised against gloss tiles if you have recessed cabinet lighting at floor level as it reflects the lights and looks a bit ‘Blackpool illuminations’.

We have black, high gloss tiles - put in by the previous owners just before they sold the house. They are a nightmare! They show absolutely everything - every splash, every crumb, every speck of dust. Clean the floor and a minute later it looks awful again. I can't wait until we can afford to replace them. Oh, and if you spill oil or something greasy on them, not only is it horrendous to get off, the floor is lethal until you do.

Absolute nightmare to clean and bloody dangerous if so much as a smudge of liquid drops on them.
(bitter experience of them)

They are lovely as long as you mop them every 15minutes. I would never have them again.

I spent a week in a holiday flat with similar tiles and my joints ached awfully at night, they're just too hard to walk on.

I agree with previous poster, if you really enjoy cleaning, they are a great option 😂 with high gloss, you cant just steam mop and done, you will need to buff to maintain the look. I also think they are dated now.

Someone I know has recently put these into a new extension. They are very smooth and shiny and looked immaculate but I can’t imagine they would stay like that. They are a similar finish to my own quartz worktop which looks dreadful most of the time other than for the first 5 minutes when it’s just been swept and cleaned.

It’s also a very cold look/feel. Not at all cosy/homely.

We have them in the kitchen. They look beautiful - because we HAVE to wipe them every single day. If a drop of water gets on them and is walked on they go all awful and need wiping again.

a lot of upkeep…..

I should have said - do not have these if you have a dog, every hair, drop of water and paw print shows.

Cold and clinical. They break easily, as does anything they falls on them. They show up every crumb and splash.

But I'll guess you'll get them anyway, despite what everyone has told you 😁🤷🏼‍♀️

Horrendous. We had them here, cream shiny ones. Had to clean them every day and so many got cracked by things falling on them.

Mine looked lovely and weren't too bad to walk on but cleaning the grout, shining the tile itself, covering up cracks etc was a pain. Ripped them up after 3 months and put down textured large tiles

We inherited them with our house, do NOT get them! They are constantly filthy regardless of what you do!

Inherited ours from previous owner of house. I bloody hate them! I’ve tried every kind of mop and nothing apart from getting on your hands and needs and actually polishing them makes them look clean. And even then that lasts for approx 5 minutes.

Knees not needs of course

Ok, I hear you all. I will look at LVT or similar. I knew really, but was seduced by the look! Thanks for saving my sanity and knees!!