When choosing kitchen flooring, there are a number of things you’ll want to keep in the back of your mind. How hard you are on your floors, budget concerns, and design considerations all come into play when determining which type of kitchen floor is the right for your home.
Think Beyond Kitchen Flooring A strange thing happens when many homeowners start looking into a new kitchen floor: they realize the floors in the rest of their home could use some work as well. One of the more popular trends in kitchen flooring is to take advantage of this tendency and choose flooring that will look great in adjoining areas of the home. For example, the perfect stone kitchen tiles probably won’t look too shabby in the living room or the bathroom down the hall. From a design standpoint, tying your house together with common flooring is a great way to create a sense of continuity between spaces that would otherwise feel isolated and out of sorts.
Go Natural with Kitchen Flooring Kitchen flooring is no different when it comes to design trends than any other material: what is “in” changes with the times. Presently, natural looking floors have grabbed the upper hand over more refined looks. Tumbled marble and stone give you all the advantages of polished stone flooring tiles with a toned down, natural look, and porcelain tiles are also available in earth tones and rougher finishes. Even laminate and hardwood flooring have adjusted to meet natural flooring needs.
Beyond Kitchen Flooring Design: Practicality If you’ve got children or pets and tend to be hard on your floors, look at rougher hewn stone tiles for maximum durability. They won’t show scratches and scuffs like some other materials. Stay away from hardwood floors in your kitchen if you’re hard on flooring, since they can be scratched if you’re not careful. Also beware of porcelain if you foresee a lot of wear and tear. Some varieties are tougher than others, and fragile ceramic or porcelain tiles can chip easily under heavy use. For Those on a Kitchen Flooring Budget If you’re working on budget, but are still particular about flooring appearance, look into laminate flooring for your kitchen floor. Laminate can be a beautiful product, and is made to imitate everything from hardwood to stone. It is also one of the toughest materials on the market, making it perfect for homeowners with kids and pets and comes at a fraction of the cost per square foot than higher end flooring. It’s not quite as timeless, and you won’t be fooling anyone who takes a good, long look at it, but for homeowners on a budget, laminate is an excellent choice and much more durable than vinyl tile imitations.
Consult the Professionals for Your Kitchen Flooring Project If you’re looking into replacing your kitchen flooring, talk to a flooring contractor about the best option for your needs and situation. If you’re like most homeowners, you’re probably not going to stop with the kitchen floor. To get the most out of a new kitchen remodel talk to an interior designer or specialty kitchen designer to help you plan and coordinate your new flooring with the rest of your kitchen as well. These preliminary steps can go a long way toward achieving your desired finished project.
