Stone floor or porcelain in kitchen. Pros and Cons

[PicnicBunny]

DH and I had our heart set on tumbled limestone flooring but DH keeps getting advised by people we are making a mistake and should go for porcelain floors that look like stone.

I’ve got a sample of this https://www.mystonefloor.com/products/abbey-time-worn-sandstone-tiles

and have tried to find an alternative but we really love this floor. DH has been talked out of it, so here I am ‘doing my research’ lol

Can anyone give me some real advice about limestone vs porcelain tiles for kitchen floor?

Any advice would be really helpful. We’re getting an extension and kitchen and utility room done, and I’d love this all over.

Do you mind me asking where you got them from?

Are you having UFH?

2cm thick stone is going to mean your ufh takes a looong time to warm up the floor/room. So you will probably end up leaving the heating on low overnight/when you are out in rather than switching it off (tbh this is what they recommend with ufh anyway). Not a dealbreaker but just to warn you.

I would be especially wary of any stone that has filled holes (like the grey sample in your photo). This is what my parents had and the stone was basically like swiss cheese. The manufacturers can fill the external holes but not the ones in the middle of the slab, so the stone is actually full of holes and very vulnerable to water damage/cracking.

If you are going for stone I would get something very close textured like a Portland stone rather than anything holey like travertine.

Sorry @PicnicBunny late to this party - I suspect you have chosen by now - I had limestone once and would never ever do it again. It needs constant maintenance . We have some stone tiles which are made out of volcanic lava - ha ha in our kitchen. Bathrooms are porcelain. As others have said all hard floors - dropping something the thing may well break. But I would rather lose the odd plate or mug than the contact maintenance of wood in a kitchen ( done that also )

Good luck whatever you choose

@PicnicBunny I purchased the stone effect porceilain from 'floors of stone' and DT Stone is where i got my Limestones tiles :)

Tumbled limestone everytime! I have a mix of 300 year old original limestone floors and new ones. Both look amazing. If you chip porcelain tiles, they are broken and you can see the white china. If a limestone tile chips, it adds value as its now genuinely tumbled. Who is talking your dh out of limestone? People who have chairs in porcelain tile factories? Limestone tiles are easy to lay down, easy to keep clean, great in bathrooms, kitchen, hallways, bootrooms with high traffic.

@BasiliskStare and @NellyBarney what absolutely opposite views :)

The style of our house is mock Tudor. We’re taking out the conservatory and turning it into an extension to make kitchen larger and taking up the ceiling too to give it that Tudor-ish look and thought stone floors would feel more in keeping with the style.

I really like things that age and look better as they look errr… aged and haggered. (Much like me by the time we finish this house 🤯🤦🏻‍♀️😃) Like the stone floors have been there forever, but also clean! I have two boys teenager and seven year old who are in and out of the garden. There will be a patio in front of it directly (porcelain tiles there)

Which is giving the builders the idea that we’re doing it all backwards. I just know they want to tell me “porcelain inside the house and stones outside ! “ Will it be a lifetime of pain and midnight scrubbing I am creating for myself?

Also no under floor heating but we do have two radiators, one under some unit almost ground level.

@LookingOptimistic I ordered some samples x

@NellyBarney I’m going to show DH your comment. You’ve convinced me to stay with stone.

Hi I am interested to know why u decided against under floor heating as I too am looking at stone for kitchen floor and read many threads that they will be super cold without UFH but i am worried if something goes wrong have to rip the whole thing off etc!

It really depends on your preference. I would recommend stone 100 times over!
Until 2 years ago I lived in a 50 year old house for 15 years with pale pink marble throughout with no seams. The high gloss was gone but beautiful satin finish that is so easy to care for. I just mop with an old fashion household floor cleaner made from linseed oil once every 15 days after vacuuming.

I chose my new place because of the gorgeous sand colored marble floors. I just adore the natural beauty , smoothness. They never look dirty, even in the kitchen.
Have them sealed properly by a professional, ( if possible before installation). In case people have forgotten, stone is pretty sturdy and always looks good - even if 1000 years old and chipped and stained! It can be renovated and easily repaired. ;)
Porcelain shows dirt so easily and looks awful with cracks. It will never be as beautiful as real stone and styles change so quickly.

My sister in Florida had limestone floors put in to replace very dark and very rustic terra cotta tiles about 20 years ago throughout a low slung tropical bungalow style house. They go so well with everything. They are still so beautiful and you never get tired of them. I'm sure they will add great value to your home. They are even a pleasure to clean, if that's possible to say on MN!

Hope this helps.

Porcelain tiles every time. Much easier to maintain, no need to seal and re-seal, and very easy to clean.

I have two stone experiences.

1. Very old house with three foot voids under it. Not much natural light and poorly functioning central heating system. Could walk into the house in the middle of a heatwave and the kitchen was still 16 degrees and cold. Completely abandoned the ground floor for months at a time. Probably not applicable to not very old houses! If you have a lot of natural light it might be better.

12. 12 yo house with UFH. It takes five hours for the heat to come through and warm the room up then 48 hours for them too cool down when it gets too hot.

I would talk to installers about fixing problems. They might want to stick with electric based rather than water for this reason.

Personally, I will never live in a house with a stone floor again!

I had porcelain. Practically indistinguishable from a real stone floor. I loved it.

Something along these lines. https://www.marlboroughtiles.com/shop/french-limestone/tile-selection

They are terrible for Hoovers too. Either the hoover bashes and chips the stone or the stone bashes and wrecks the hoover.

Absolutely fine if you are physically capable of sweeping the space - we are not.

A load of ours have cracked over winter where there has been a lot of rain and the house has moved too.

We’ve had slate put down in the kitchen/ utility. We toyed with the idea of porcelain imitation but slate is beautiful and every tile is unique. We sealed it and it’s waterproof without any sort of sheen. I love the feel of it under bare feet! The rest of the house is engineered wood, the ‘natural’ aesthetic is my favourite style.

Anything that drops chips or smashes. There's no 'give'.

This. So many sentimentally valuable things have smashed to pieces when accidentally dropped.

Actual stone every time for me. It ages better, feels lovely, looks lovely, and I've always found it fairly low maintenance. Porcelain just seems to constantly need cleaning (based on other people's experiences - never lived with porcelain tiles personally).

It sounds like actual stone will go better with your overall renovation plan too.

Thank you to everyone for replying. This is why mumsnet is so special and so brilliant!

Small update. We have ordered the stone tiles ! ❤️🤞 **

Your lower back, hips and knees will not thank you.

Why??? 😶‍🌫️

Because there is no 'give" in that type of flooring.

When we moved we left our much admired stone floor behind. What surprised me was my hips, knees, and lower back stopped aching with a month.

I was in my late 40s at the time and spent a lot of time on my feet in the kitchen - meals etc.

We had this same dilemma. Went with limestone and couldn't be happier. It's a thick, hard wearing stone with some variation in colour so always looks good even when dirty. Well sealed. Underfloor heating beneath.

I totally understand. The standing for hours does that to me already on my awful kitchen wood laminate.

Did you seal it before you put it in? Any tips?