Cork floor vs engineered oak

[Frazzledhi]

Hello all, we are renovating and we were hoping to match the beautiful dark parquet we have in the living room and hall and put down the same in the kitchen diner. Supplier has let us down and long story short we have to put something else down. There are double doors between kitchen diner and living room so the floors will be adjoining and the floors need to look “right” together. We have narrowed it down to cork and quite a dark oak engineered floor. Wondering if anyone has done something similar and how you feel about your choice or if you’ve had cork in a kitchen… how did it turn out? I think the cork is beautiful but worried about it not being hard wearing enough (we have a 1 and 4yo, no pets).

here is the cork https://www.colourflooring.co.uk/collections/cork-flooring/products/forrado-corka

Why not continue the same parquet through, personally I dont like different floors across an open space, or even through doors actually

I dont like the cork or the other thing next to it if that is one of the options

I agree with pp. Parquet. Deffo not the cork

We can’t carry the parquet on (that was our first choice too but it’s insanely expensive and our supplier promised they could match the blocks in the living room but turns out they can’t). So cork or engineered floor is what we’ve narrowed down to. Husband wanted to do painted floorboards (the blue thing in the middle in one of the pics) but I don’t like it so that’s out.

Was the painted floor idea the bit that goes into the kitchen?

If so, I could see that working with the right colour units

I think the wood option is very orange, it looks like cheap laminate. I say this as someone with the same laminate in this very room!! (which I hate)

What about a very similar parquet design thick vinyl planks? Ive seen some look very realistic and effective

The cork looks absolutely awful. Sorry OP. The other one doesn't look much better but it's the lesser of two evils.

Could you take up the floor in the other room and match it to what you end up with in the kitchen to see if that's cheaper?

Or do vinyl like PP said.

I think you need something that comments but doesn’t look like it’s trying to be the same colour.

E.g.stone

I had the same issue as you with not being able to carry the wood in the hallway through into the kitchen. I tried to find a matching wood for ages but couldn't find an exact match so ended up going for something completely different (patterned lvt). I think if you can't get an exact colour match it just looks weird and doing something that is completely different looks way better.

Here is the engineered oak we like https://www.beswickstone.co.uk/Hampton-oak-colour-8-Heavy-Brushed-Smoke-Engineered-Oak-Code-08

don’t think we’ll put different parquet down as it won’t match. If we think long term the two floors look terrible together we’d rip up the parquet (and out my heart) and put engineered across the whole ground floor.
Thanks for opinions on the cork!

@MidnightPatrol yes would consider stone but have a toddler who is still falling over constantly and we can’t afford to put underfloor heating in at the moment so would be too cold.

@Bucket07 know what you mean about going completely different, hence looking at cork or painted floorboards but the latter doesn’t look right to me and the cork has been vetoed by mn. Don’t think I want lvt in the kitchen (would in bathroom or utility though).

Is that what is in your picture?

It looks so different on the website

Yep same stuff, it’s really nice irl looks like old floorboards.

How about tiles? We have some beautiful red Moroccan tiles for our kitchen diner. They weren’t too expensive. I would make a feature out of the different flooring as it will look better than trying to match.

We have had babies and toddlers and it’s never been an issue.

I originally felt the same re lvt but really glad we went for it in the end- it's warm, so easy to clean and if you drop crockery it doesn't break. Amtico is v good quality.

Ah yes have heard of anticipation will have a look thanks

Amtico not anticipation!

We have engineered oak in the living room and large grey limestone tiles in the kitchen diner, with a large rug. They complement each other well.
I think your attempt at matching the parquet (which is fab BTW) with something else wood-like is a mistake. Tiles is a contrast, perhaps even patterned tiles, would be better. Our tiles aren’t too cold underfoot and our grandchildren were perfectly ok when toddlers - they didn’t hurt themselves any worse than falling on the oak floor! You could always install a plinth heater under the kitchen units to keep the worst of the chill off the tiles.

@Plaided agree on making a feature of the difference but we’ve had tiles before and they were so cold I wouldn’t put them or stone in if we weren’t getting uf heating

Another vote for Amtico here - there's some gorgeous designs.

Here’s where it meets up.

Neither the cork nor the wood are the right tone to complement the parquet, they are both too yellow in tone, whereas the parquet has more of a reddish tone, something in cherry or mahogany would probably tone in better.
However I agree with pp that it would be better to have a completely different material rather than wood planks, tiles would be much better, then you can have a complimentary colour/design rather than trying to match. There's no problem with having tiles without underfloor heating, my son has them in his house in a large part of his ground floor and it's not cold, he lives in a rainy part of the country. With toddlers you just make sure they don't run around in slippery socks, but presumably you'd do that with any hard floor, it's never been a problem with anyone I know with tiles and children.

I know you think tiles are too cold but generations have had them without this being an issue. I would rethink

We have karndean LVT and had stone before - it's so lovely and warm underfoot and was super easy to lay. We already had engineered wood throughout downstairs except the kitchen so we've had to join the two at doorways but I don't think it looks too bad. If we'd have gone for wood effect I think that would have been worse though.

Don't get cork - my DM has stone effect cork in her kitchen and regrets it as it's easily dented and doesn't feel any warmer than our LVT