Laminate Vs Carpets

[Manifest828]

Just as the title suggest. Unsure of what to go for downstairs. I feel, if I go for tiles in the kitchen it would make sense to go for carpet everywhere else downstairs but if I go for laminate then I'd go for laminate throughout.
What have others done? If you got laminate are you happy with your decision? If you went for carpets what are the positives that you have found? I'm leaning more towards laminate easier to clean and low maintenance etc... but the carpet feels homely and make a house feel warmer (IMO).

Laminate with very thick underlay and rugs throughout the downstairs and all bedrooms.
Love it. So much easier.

Do you have underfloor heating?

If yes- then I'd go with tiles and rugs.

If not- then either real wood or engineered/laminate flooring + rugs

If you have young kids or pets then laminate is good as it is easier to keep clean and look good. I had laminate BUT as soon as the kids were older though I got carpets. I missed carpet so much. Laminate is cold but practical, and I agree with lots of rugs but this can be expensive and it's a faff because you have to lift the rug to clean the laminate then put the rug back and hoover, or hoover the rug and clean the laminate around it .... takes away the simpleness of laminate for me.

I prefer tiles in the kitchen. I don't know why why I don't trust laminate to cope with the constant cleaning and the moisture created in a kitchen? I'm probably wrong and it would cope fine but I will stick to tiles.

Everything has its positives and negatives, there's no right or wrong answers.

Definitely in kitchen and hall at the least either a high-quality laminate or LVT which is a better alternative if laminate involved beading which always looks shoddy (rather than the correct way of doing it by removing skirtings, which no fitters are ever willing to do!) I have LVT throughout downstairs and I love it - it's not cold, unlike the waterproof laminate we have in the bathroom.

I'm not a fan of tiles - they can chip if you drop a tin or something and grout can look murky. And they're cold as hell!

Laminate over carpets any day, but then I hate carpets so I wouldn't have them in my house anyway. If you want warmth and cosiness you can always get a rug. They're often machine washable too, which is a bonus. 😃 Our new house had awful carpet in the lounge and then tiles in the dining room and kitchen, and so far we have replaced the carpet with laminate and kept the tiles. The look isn't quite finished but it looks pretty good. Look forward to getting laminate upstairs too!

No we don't but would be nice.

We do. My DS is 2 and at that stage of properly drinking out of cups so I can see it as an accident waiting to happen with carpets. However we are looking to extend our family. And I do think carpets are ideal for babies. In our current rented property we have carpet throughout except kitchen and bathroom which are tiled.

Never thought about considering LVT. Will do my research

Good point

LVT everytime....ours has been down 6 years...looks the same as the day

......it was laid....got it right thru downstairs .....its beautiful

We had laminate in our last rental and it was always bitty, despite regular sweeping/hoovering/mopping. It didn't feel nice underfoot. It was probably one of the cheaper ones but it's put me off!

I love a fluffy carpet! Most are bleach cleanable now so not too bad with kids.

Proper hardwood flooring if you can afford it. It should last forever!

We always had carpet in all rooms except bathroom and kitchen until the day I discovered carpet moths had started eating away at the edges of the carpet in our lounge. The carpet was immediately ripped out and replaced with laminate downstairs. We still have carpet upstairs but it’s the wool content in the carpet they like so our cheaper carpets upstairs were safe 🤣

moving soon and we have tiles in kitchen and oak flooring in the other downstairs areas. Carpets upstairs but I will be checking them regularly 🤣🤣

I like hard floors everywhere downstairs except the lounge, I do think a carpet gives that cosy feel in a lounge that rugs just don't quite manage.

We have wood effect vinyl planks in the whole house apart from on the stairs and landing (like Amtico but less £££££)
Its warm enough underfoot and much softer than laminate

We have hardwood flooring with a 2 year old. It was the same when he was a tiny baby and no problem. We have rugs down in living room area so comfy for little ones. He always crawled off and onto hard floor no problem though. And chooses to play on it over rug now most the time. We also have it in bedrooms, with rug.

I would never have fitted carpets again.

We have Karndean's LVT parquet in the bathrooms, kitchen and hall. It gets a lot of compliments and I love it so much.

We have carpet in the bedrooms and living room though as I find them less intensive in terms of cleaning and the living room has the most foot traffic room in the whole house. I lived in a flat once that was wood floor throughout and felt like I was sweeping or hoovering every day.