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.

Did you go for the abbey? That's what I have! It's a stunning floor. My tilers were shit though and I'm still upset about that. But absolutely stunning floor.

Thank you so much! This is brilliant.

I saw someone sealing the floor after they’d put the whole floor in, but are you saying to seal each stone tile before installation? @Whataretalkingabout (I’m really lost on this at the moment) we have got builders who will install, but I am not sure if they will take extra care unless I nudge them to do it beforehand.

We had our floor laid and sealed by an experienced tiler rather than builders. He laid the stone and then sealed it at the end. I don't know what brand of sealant he used but it was quite pricey. It's invisible with a matt finish.

We were expecting the tiler to tell us that we will need to re-seal the floor every year, but he said that's not necessary - the seal lasts a long time. But we'll probably do it anyway after 3 years just to be on the safe side.

We've had it for about 1.5 years now and there's been a fair number of spills (oil, red wine, coffee) but no stains.

We went for the Abbey Sandstone, time worn. I will update this with a picture when we’ve done. But I will try and find a proper tiler to do the floors.

Experienced tiler… okay I am on it 👍 @BlameItOnTheGoose

If you don’t mind sharing do you have a picture? I can’t wait to see ours done, but we have a little way to ho still. I loved that tile since I got the sample. There was another I liked at ca pietra too but felt too warm. I am actually so happy now we ordered it. Okay, maybe we will regret things afterwards but I am the type that adjusts quite well, especially if it was my ‘mistake’ hahaha

@PicnicBunny

This is natural light, only a bit of the floor as feels quite identifying, haha! Shadow is just from kitchen cupboards. I didn't end up with any of the pale pinky ones they are more grey (I'm not a fan of grey really, but I was only doing the floor not the whole kitchen as the kitchen is fine). It is a nice grey and the patterns in the tiles are beautiful.

Mine was laid lengthways not width ways as it looked too blocky the other way which is the way most would automatically tile it, but it was my choice to do it this way. It's done with an off white grout.

Some tiles do have natural blemishes and one of the things I'm very cross about is that my tiler let someone inexperienced lay them and a blemished one is in the middle of the floor. It should have been used for a cut or put around the edge of the room. So I would make sure they lay them out and you inspect where they have put them all. Don't think what looks like a blue mark will rub out, because that's what mine thought! But it was genuinely a mark in the tile and a bit of an odd one. The tiles are so big that once they are down with adhesive there is no way you'll get one out without taking up half the floor, and as they come in varying lengths you wouldn't get one exactly the same size to replace a damaged one with anyway. That, and the cut edges are worn which means you can't just cut one to size because you wouldn't have the lovely worn edge.

Oh wow that’s really lovely! It’s nice to see a real picture of the stone floors instead of the highly exposed white on white Pinterest pics. I think we will be laying ours lengthways too.

I am excited now to get my floors in. But how do I make sure I get some pale pinky ones in there too? Dh was concerned about the free layout style. Hopefully the tiler will have an idea how to do it, but after reading these comments on this thread I might need to hover around totally micromanaging the situation. I like the off white grout tip too. Thank you so so much @thewonderfulthingabouttigger

Be micromanagey! You'll be glad after, trust me.

Antique white I think the grout was called.

You absolutely can't guarantee to get any pink ones sadly. But they do say order the lot in one batch as if you under order and need to order another few m they may be from a different batch and the differences could be bigger

They are quite dusty when they come but you should still get a good vibe for how they look. They'll look terrible laid out with no grout and I was a bit panicky about it, thought they looked like a pavement, but transformed once the grout was added. My tilers also fucked the sealing and I paid a stone specialist to come out, strip it and redo it. A long and painful story.

Here is a photo of the big blemish in the middle of my floor that I'm raging about, but it is a natural mark in the stone. There are dark blue speckles in other ones too but this was a collection of it all in one blob that they thought would come out when cleaned up. Also attached a few photos showing the different patterns, some are speckled, some have a brushed diagonal effect and others look like they have sea spray washing over them, really pretty. But another reason you want to inspect before they are adhesived, to make sure any distinctive ones are where you want them, you don't want all the darker ones in one place or all the ones with the same pattern in one place.

watching with interest- how much will labour costs be in excess for stone compared to tiling porcelein tiles?

Great choice OP! We have tumbled limestone and I love it. We have dogs, tween boys, plenty of sports etc going on and they wipe clean with no trouble. The porcelain ones always look 'almost' as good but you can always tell as they're too regular. When ours were laid I saw every tiny imperfection in each stone but after a couple of months it all just looked like 'stone floor' to me and I stopped obsessing about it!

@PicnicBunny sometimes you have the choice to have your tiles done "at the factory by the manufacturer" or once they've been installed. If possible it's better done beforehand by people who are experienced doing it on a regular basis. Be sure that whoever lays your tiles has experience with stone as well.
As for the sealant product, a good quality one is very expensive but very worth the cost. It is a solvent based product that should be applied with a carbon filtered mask. Better to have it done in an empty house and go away for the weekend if it isn't a new build.
And yes, micromanage and ask lots of questions and be a pain in the ass! At the same time , if they have experience they'll be able to give you advice too! This is your floor and you're the one who will live with it and walk on it and care for it daily, so you deserve the best possible job.

Stones arrived today 🙌 but won’t be put in for a whille…(Weeks?!?) We still have more work to do on the kitchen extension. Thank you all so much for the help and guidance. I am totally gonna micromanage the floors

If they do go in anytime soon I will update this post with a pic. Now the layout… mmm Need to speak to the tiler, and I have made notes from all the amazing experience in the comments above. I have started showing DH the comments and he has to read them too lol ! It’s like having secret fairies at the bottom of the garden! Love you all.

Well that was amazingly fast!! They look beautiful from what little I can see. Try a few laid out in different directions on the floor where they 'll be placed. It's the shadows in the grout lines which is most noticeable. Better to lay them lengthwise. It makes the room wider, as odd as that may seem.
Look forward to seeing the work in progress OP! Best of luck!

So excited they are laying the tiles today! Thought I’d update this post!

Four of the tiles are damaged :( wondering if I should complain. Mmmm dh thinks they’ll be able to put them under the island and hide them under cabinets

Looking brilliant! Customer service at Quorn Stone brilliant.

Finished, and sealed! Thank you everyone on this thread xx

Stunning! Well done OP.

I would do the porcelain simply for the ease of care. But please be advised like others have said that you drop something on it, and it's glass, it's gone.

@PicnicBunny so - i know it's early days but 2 months on how are you finding the cleaning OP? Threads like these on mumsnet are fantastic for info.

I'm where you were at the start of your thread 😂Choosing between real limestone or a fake limestone in matt porcelain, or concrete.

Has anyone else reading got any more wisdom?

We've got to cover 35 square meters, and i'm more worried about the cleaning/staining difference than the price to be honest!

I've got free samples of real tumbled limestone and porcelain fake matt limestone on their way to compare them. We've booked an appt. at Farm House Flagstones as well to look at their concrete versions of tumbled limestone.

So it begins .... lol

Following as I'm having the same dilemma at the moment. Lots of conflicting opinions. Also keen to learn how OP is getting on - easy to clean or not?