Which is best for kitchen floor?

[pampam]

Our kitchen floor gets a lot of hard wear. Right now we have vinyl flooring, about 25 years old and needs to be replaced.We,ve narrowed it down to 18" porcelain tile with some shine on it, and a matte vinyl flooring. The tile has a wow factor, and would certainly add value to the kitchen and house, but I'm afraid of dropping a dish or pot, smashing it and chipping or damaging a porcelain tile.
We have it in our bathroom and love it.

New vinyl would be easier on the feet and legs, and not so hard on dropped items but not as visual as the porcelain. Pros and cons to each.

Have you ever put porcelain or vinyl flooring in your home and regretted it? Why?

 

[katie01]

I only like porcelain in the bathrooms. I am in the kitchen standing for hours on end and would hate ceramic tile in the kitchen for that reason. Our hoise is set up so that we have a wood laminate in the foyer, but it's a beautiful and high end wood laminate that even a flooring guy (who came to install tile in the bathroom) couldn't tell wasn't real wood until he lifted up the air vent to see. Then in our house you walk past the wood laminate to a carpeted area, and then into the garage foyer and kitchen--the garage foyer, kitchen laundry room, and downstairs bathroom all have vinyl flooring. It sounds like too many different types of flooring, but you'd have to see it, it's broken up with the flow of the house and looks great I think (we are not the original owners, obviously they thought it looked great too lol). My in laws have a type of luxury vinyl in their kitchen that looks like ceramic tile but is not hard, it looks great and has held up very well too

 

[BigRed321]

Vinyl plank flooring

 

[ronandannette]

I only like porcelain in the bathrooms. I am in the kitchen standing for hours on end and would hate ceramic tile in the kitchen for that reason. Our hoise is set up so that we have a wood laminate in the foyer, but it's a beautiful and high end wood laminate that even a flooring guy (who came to install tile in the bathroom) couldn't tell wasn't real wood until he lifted up the air vent to see. Then in our house you walk past the wood laminate to a carpeted area, and then into the garage foyer and kitchen--the garage foyer, kitchen laundry room, and downstairs bathroom all have vinyl flooring. It sounds like too many different types of flooring, but you'd have to see it, it's broken up with the flow of the house and looks great I think (we are not the original owners, obviously they thought it looked great too lol). My in laws have a type of luxury vinyl in their kitchen that looks like ceramic tile but is not hard, it looks great and has held up very well too

That's LVP (luxury vinyl plank) that you're talking about and it's a very nice. It comes in versions like tile, stone or wood. It's not a budget product but it's almost a perfect combination of the OP's priorities - excellent appearance and very comfortable and durable.

 

[Albort]

my cousin kitchen has tiles that look like hardwood floors. I like it!

 

[dauser]

Cork!

 

[katie01]

This link has a pic of what my in laws have (similar), they've had it about 15 years no and have had no problems with it http://homerenovations.about.com/od/vinylflooring/ss/ManningtonAdura.htm

 

[ronandannette]

This link has a pic of what my in laws have (similar), they've had it about 15 years no and have had no problems with it http://homerenovations.about.com/od/vinylflooring/ss/ManningtonAdura.htm

Adura Plank is exactly what we have. I absolutely LOVE it.

 

[pampam]

thank you all. I never knew that LVT or LVP existed. I'll look at some today.

 

[Klayfish]

Unquestionably I'd go with tile. Tile will stand up really well to hard use. We've got 3 kids and a big dog. My experience with vinyl is that it dents, scratches, rips...even the better grade stuff. Tile takes a beating and keeps on looking great. Just be sure to seal the grout. Our new house has hardwood, because that's what my wife wanted. I HATE hardwood floors. They scratch, need more maintenance, creak, etc... Ugh... For me, I'd have a house without hardwood anywhere. Tile in the kitchen, laundry room and bathrooms, carpet everywhere else.

 

[scrhsa]

Cork!

This is what I want!!!!!

But what ever you get. Don't get white!!!! I absolutely HATE my white tile floors! They lighten things up and looks nice when spotless but they never are spotless!!

 

[jalapeno_pretzel]

Yes, Cork! We love our cork floor kitchen.

 

[lorimay]

We just built a house and we have porcelain tile, it's so nice compared to the ceramic we had at our old house. It's so much smoother and we were told they don't chip as easily, that of course remains to be seen.
But I bought a steamer to clean the floors with instead of a mopping them with chemicals.
I am obsessed with this steamer, it does such a great job on the floors with only water they feel so nice and clean when I am done.

 

[jrmasm]

For me, anything but tile. I hate standing on it.

 

[Aliceacc]

We have porcelain tile that looks like wood, and we LOVE it!!!!

We have yet to break anything, and it's been almost 2 years.

 

[Patch'sD]

We used Pergo Max Ebony Oak, which is a black laminate. Laminate has to be put down with glue in the joints to prevent water damage. Made the white cabinets pop. ***** to keep clean shows every spec of dust.

 

[HM]

We have 12 x 12 tiles. Love how easy it is. (I'm pretty sure it's not porcelain).
We had laminate in our prior house....it was fine, but not as nice.
I would not use wood (though all my neighbors have) due to the amount of wear and spills in a kitchen area.

Our main floor is wood in the foyer, dining room, living room; tile in the kitchen and eating area (it also goes up to the garage door and in the closet); the family room is carpet.

Edit to update due to response below. We've had this tile for nearly 11 years now and not a single tile has broken or shown wear. And yes, we've dropped plenty of things on it over time.

 

[TheIncredibles!]

Large tiles tend to break more often than a smaller tile. I'd avoid something that large unless it was stone etc. Also I'd rather poke my eyeballs out then have to deal with grout lines in a kitchen again My MIL had a pergo type floor that looks like tile in her kitchen. It was laid down in large pieces like a piece of sheetrock so there's very few seams. She loves it and after 18 years it still looks brand new.

 

[jam217]

When I renovated the kitchen, I went with tile because of the dog. The contractor wanted to put in hardwood but I decided against it because I was concerned about the dog running across it and scratching it up. I've had it two years with no regrets.

 

[wenrob]

We used Pergo Max Ebony Oak, which is a black laminate. Laminate has to be put down with glue in the joints to prevent water damage. Made the white cabinets pop. ***** to keep clean shows every spec of dust.

And hair, crumb, grain of salt. Mine was a mahogany color, my DH pulled it two days ago. Instantly quieter and brighter without it. I didn't realize just how nuts that floor made me. We're going with wood look porcelain tile in the kitchen/dining area and carpet for the living area. I had ceramic tile in both my previous homes and never found it to be an issue with things breaking more often or standing.