In the midst of remodeling your kitchen, one of the biggest challenges you may be facing is what type of flooring you should select for the kitchen. This is a critical decision because whatever flooring you choose should complement the rest of your home and should be durable enough to withstand the kitchen environment.
Should My Kitchen Flooring Match The Rest of My Floors?
For several years, in the design world, the kitchen was viewed as a separate entity from the rest of the home, but modern home designs embrace all kinds of looks. That means homeowners can use any type of flooring in the kitchen area as long as it complements the design of the home. Whether your kitchen flooring should just be an extension to what you are already using throughout your home or if you should choose something different, depends on your personal taste.
That being said, there are both advantages and disadvantages to extending your home’s flooring to the rest of the house. To help you make the decision, here are several reasons that you should or should not match your kitchen floors with the flooring used throughout the rest of your home:
Advantages:
- If you have an open concept kitchen, extending the flooring will make things appear larger and more spacious.
- It allows your spaces to flow together and provides a cohesive, well-balanced look.
- If you are using hardwood floors, it is definitely a great option because hardwood floors are extremely durable and they add to the overall value of the home.
Disadvantages:
- Matching hardwood floors, even if they are of the same species, can be difficult. In fact, you may not be able to select a grain that is exactly identical to your existing floors. But, that being said, you can obtain samples before you make a purchase to get an idea of the look.
- Using hardwood flooring in the kitchen presents its challenges. While hardwood flooring is a durable construct when exposed to water and other harmful elements, it can cause it to age prematurely; homeowners should select hard surface flooring that is capable of withstanding moisture.
When Should You Keep Your Kitchen Flooring Different?
You should keep the flooring in your kitchen different if:
- Carpet is installed throughout the other areas of your home
- The kitchen is closed off from the rest of the home
- The kitchen floor is on a different level from the other areas
So if you are flooring a 1300 sq’ area, which involves a kitchen, living room, dinning room with a hallway leading to bedroom and bathrooms and the dining area is a step down and you wanted to do the laminate wood flooring that is waterproof, should I lay it all same direction and everything except for the steps down to dining or what??? And what floor would be the best to use for an easy waterproof installation that looks like wood floors ? What’s the difference in using wood floors vs laminate and how big should the boards be????
So if you are flooring a 1300 sq’ area, which involves a kitchen, living room, dining room with a hallway leading to bedroom and bathrooms and the dining area is a step-down and you wanted to do the laminate wood flooring that is waterproof, should I lay it all same direction and everything except for the steps down to dining or what???
Typically we recommend laying it all the same direction and with most of the laminate and waterproof luxury vinyl products offered today the choice of direction is up to you. We have installed floors where the direction changes from one area to another (example: foyer goes one direction and kitchen goes the other direction) but that is not typical.
And what floor would be the best to use for an easy waterproof installation that looks like wood floors?
Coretec, Mannington Adura and Dixie TruCore all have interlocking plank systems that look like wood floors and are waterproof. They easier to install than a traditional hardwood and the method of installation between the products is comparable.
What’s the difference in using wood floors vs laminate and how big should the boards be????
Wood floors are great for their natural beauty as well as durability and, depending on the type of wood, can add considerable value to your home. Laminate flooring is made from pressed wood, it is more durable and resists scratches, moisture and wear and tear. The trend lately has been wider with and longer length boards but there are more narrow widths and everything in between.
Hope this helps!
Hello, I have a very narrow house. The entire house has wood flooring. When you enter the house, it is straight and narrow and the kitchen is straight ahead. I currently have porcelain tile but it is dated and cracked. Your eye leads you straight into the kitchen which is a galley kitchen. The floor in the entire house is wood. I would love to redo the entire flooring but i have researched that wood is not good for the kitchen. I do use it often. So my question is, what kind of tile can I put in my kitchen if my floors are wood. Can I put the ceramic wood looking tiles there? How would imitation wood ceramic tiles look against real wood floors? Pease help!
Maggy
I have pinky beige tiles on top of a dark granite work surface with warm chestnutty tones wooden cupboards. I am going for let flooring but don’t know whether to match to the tiles or the cupboards. Help!
Rosy – thanks for your comment! Ideally, if you bring a picture of your space to the showroom closest to you we can help you choose something that will look great! If you aren’t comfortable coming in we have tools on our website where you can try on different lvt floors in your actual room! https://www.levis4floors.com/design-now-viz. Either way, aim for coordinating with the other elements in the room rather than matching. Hope this helps!
That should have read lvt flooring!
No problem! Thanks for clarifying!
We’re looking to remodel our kitchen the flooring we have picked our in a beige lvt. My question – we want to remove a half wall that separates the family room from the kitchen. Currently the family room,dining room, and foyer all have hardwoods. Would it be okay to leave the hardwood in the family room or put the tile in there to match the kitchen?
It sounds like it would be just fine to leave the hardwood in the living room!
We have older hardwood floors throughout our entire house with the exception of bathroom upstairs which we have a gorgeous porcelain tile. We are in the process of remodeling our kitchen and don’t know what to do! When you enter our home your in the living room. The dining room is behind the living room with a wall in between the two rooms. There is a wall that separates the dining room from kitchen. Within kitchen, you step down into a separate small room. Issue-contractor has suggested knocking down wall that separates dining room from kitchen and add tile floor in both rooms. I seem to think the tile will clash with hardwood floor in living room although I’ve found a beautiful ivory tile with light brown veins/marble. I was thinking add the porcelain tile to the 3 rooms (dining, kitchen and room off kitchen). That leaves the entire living room and stairs with original hardwood floors. Will this flow nicely or will it be a disaster? Should we leave wall up and just add porcelain tiles to kitchen and room.off kitchen? Does knocking down wall add/remove value? So sorry for the many questions but need direction and help.
Hi Patrisha! It sounds like you have two good options here. If you take down the wall, does it make the space feel larger? Look at the space and see if the areas you want to tile will make the whole space look more open or more separated. If the answer is more open, then you know what to do. In most cases for resale value, buyers like a more open feel. Feel free to bring photos in to one of our stores and we can give you more accurate advice!
I want to put laminate in throughout my home except for the bathrooms do you think this is
a good idea? The bathroom would have ceramic that matches the laminate.
This sounds like a good plan because it will give you consistency throughout your home. We would be happy to give you an estimate and a more specific opinion if you’d like!
The flooring in our living area, dining room, kitchen, and half bath all have the same grey laminate plank flooring. But the flooring in the kitchen his messed up bad. It is a semi open concept, because we took out the wall between kitchen and the living room when we moved in. I do not want to re-floor the whole area. My question is, would it be strange to tile the kitchen and into the half bath off the kitchen and leave the rest? And what would compliment the grey floors? We have white and grey cabinets and a white with grey subway tile backsplash.
Todd,
This is a common occurrence and you’re not alone! There are definitely ways to tie all of the floors together. The right tile will make it look intentional. You can bring photos to any of our locations and our staff will help you find the perfect product (locations are here: https://www.levis4floors.com/locations) or you can send us your info here (https://www.levis4floors.com/estimate) and we will bring samples to you as well as provide an estimate. Looking forward to helping you out!