When dreaming of your designer kitchen what comes to mind? An open plan design with a fabulous social area? Top of the range appliances? A gorgeous kitchen island for food prep and dining around? It’s very easy to get carried away with the design of your new kitchen without even thinking about the flooring – but don’t underestimate how important it is to get this right too. Your choice will not only be affected by your preferred style and colour scheme, you’ll also need to consider your lifestyle too and the practicalities of different flooring types. All sound a bit too complicated? At Kitchen Design Centre, we’re here to break it all down for you…
While some may find vinyl old fashioned and boring, there are some statement, stylish designs to be found. However, these don’t always come cheap. Whatever design you choose though, the material itself is hard to beat. It’s easy to maintain, very difficult to stain, and generally really durable too. You can also find vinyl that resembles other materials – for example, wood-effect vinyl flooring.
This type of flooring has been popular in Europe for decades. It’s also become more popularity in the UK too over the last 10 years or so and is an affordable, attractive, easy to maintain solution. Ceramic tiles are stain-resistant and sealed tile and grout are also water resistant. In fact, the only real disadvantages of tiles are the echo-y effect they give a room and nippy feet!
For a real country kitchen look, slate is a great option. You can stick to traditional black slate, surrounded with pale grout, or for something more modern, why not get creative and match the shade of the grout to the tiles or accent colour you’ve chosen for your kitchen.
For a warm and timeless look, you may like to choose wooden flooring. While, solid wood flooring isn’t recommended for kitchens because of the inevitable moisture and temperature fluctuations, engineered wood flooring works really well. It’s easy to maintain, durable and can add real character to a modern kitchen.
The benefit of laminate is that you can pick virtually any design you wish and get a replica of a wood or stone pattern of your choice in your kitchen for a snip of the price. Typically, this sort of flooring works out relatively cheap and often comes with a guarantee for 25 years or more. It’s simple to install, easy to look after and exceptionally scratch and stain-resistant too!
For a chic and unique look, why not opt for elegant marble? It has a crispness and bright, light design that makes it ideal for modern homes and that monochrome look, as well as period properties.
The rustic, farmhouse feel of stone flooring is a popular option these days. It’s natural, easy to maintain and long lasting – but does tend to be cold under foot. If you opt for stone, large floor tiles can add the illusion of space in a smaller kitchen, as can tiles of varying shades and sizes.
Inspired? Why not pop down to one of our kitchen showrooms to discuss your dream kitchen further? You can find us in Blackburn, Manchester and Colne.