Flooring in the Kitchen

Flooring is an important aspect to the overall look of any kitchen, but one not everyone thinks about when kitchen shopping. We've had clients who have designed their entire kitchen  around the floor, while others have found the flooring harder to choose than the kitchen. To help, we've put together a couple of things to think about when choosing the flooring for your kitchen. In general there are 3 main types of flooring available, natural stone, wood and vinyl. 

1. Practicality

One of the most important aspects of kitchen flooring is how practical the flooring is for your lifestyle. We suggest taking in to account how easy the flooring is to clean and how often you will need to replace your flooring. For example, stone  tiles can be more high maintenance with the grout lines, while vinyl flooring can give you the look of a tile without the need for grout lines. Wood flooring although easy to clean, will wear faster in high traffic areas, and will then start to look tired. Some materials are more forgiving than others, if you drop a plate on a vinyl floor there is less risk of it damaging the floor, than with a tile that may crack or chip.

2. Material

Natural stone flooring is beautiful and a timeless feature in any kitchen. Natural stones come in many shapes, sizes and colours. While Karndean is a vinyl tile that replicates the look of any material of flooring, from wood to natural stone. There are many types of wooden flooring that are appropriate for a kitchen (and some types that aren't). In a kitchen we would recommend a wooden floor that handles moisture well and is hard wearing enough to withstand the high traffic in a kitchen. 

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3. Comfort 

Let's be honest, no one likes getting cold feet. If you are choosing a natural stone floor, consider installing under floor heating. Make sure to check which kind of under floor heating system will work best with your chosen floor. Karndean being a vinyl will not be as cold and still gives the option of under floor heating and finally, wooden flooring is warm and certain types of wooden flooring allow for under floor heating. 

4.  Style

The look of your flooring is very important to the overall feel of the kitchen. Wooden flooring can create a warmer look, stone floors can be very impressive, but at the end of the day you will need to choose the flooring based on you, your family and your kitchen style.

All flooring in the above images are available to purchase from the Herringbone Pantry. Our Canterbury studio has a range of stone floor tiles on display. Feel free to pop in or give us a call if you need any advice choosing the right flooring for your project.