Tile versus wood flooring

W

Wisecom

Registered User
Messages
52
I'm conflicted as to what flooring to put down in my dining room\Kitchen. Have built a new extension onto existing kitchen. Turned old kitchen into dining room and extension to be new kitchen.
So basically the dining room and kitchen are one room, although the dining room has a flat ceiling and the kitchen has a pitched ceiling. On one hand I think that tiles need to be put on the floor of both rooms because having half tiles and other half(dining room) wood will make both rooms appear smaller. On the other hand i'm not sure if tiles are right for a dining room and they will make the room seem cold and will look silly in a dining room. Any thoughts? Has anyone done one or the other?
 
Hi there, my sister in law has a similar layout to you and has wood floor going throughout the whole downstairs of her house, kitchen and everywhere else, it looks really impressive, makes the space feel huge and really flows well.
 
Thanks. Sounds good but I would have concerns that a timber floor in a kitchen would get a lot of marks and get wet a lot casuing it to warp?
 
You need to be careful with wood in a kitchen. We had it at one stage and the diswasher leaked. The whole floor warped and had to be removed. Not a nice experience!
 
Peeete said:
You need to be careful with wood in a kitchen. We had it at one stage and the diswasher leaked. The whole floor warped and had to be removed. Not a nice experience!
Click to expand...

Depends on what typre of flooring your go for a solid or even semi solid wooden floor should not warp provided the leak is not substantial. I have wooden floors through out the bottom of the house, kitchen included and they are fine very easy to keep clean. I would agree that tiles in the dining room would be very cold feeling but thats a personal choice.
 
I have young kids and solid wood throughout kitchen dining and it certainly looks a lot better than half and half. No problem with spills as long as the spill is wiped up immediately. I've had 2 sink overflows and numerous glasses of various liquids on the floor. Get a water alarm for under units.
 
It is of course possible and the type of wood makes a difference - but a substantial spill (i.e. diswasher, washing machine malfunction) will affect most types of wood.
 
We have a layout something similar although our extension is a sunroom,we put tiling throughout hall, kitchen, dining and sunroom and we did a skirting in tiles, approx 6 inches high, finishing off with a silver trim on top, it looks really impressive...
 
Having put down several floor types over the years, I can safely say that if you want low maintenance, go for tiles. Once they're down, that's it! With solid wood, and even semi-solids, they do mark and wear over time (and while this is not necessarily a bad thing as wood does mature and age) they are not as resistant to more severe damage (like floods in a kitchen as other posters have noted) as tiles. On the downside, they are a little colder (not a bad thing in the summer) and less forgiving if you fall or drop something on them! To combat the issue of cold, maybe consider underfloor heating for the tiled areas? Good luck.
 
A quick point on the subject of flooding, I'm in my mid 30s and I've never experienced a kitchen flood. Washing machines may be the worst offenders but if at all possible they should not be in the kitchen.
 
They have a semi solid oak through out the house, for about 4 years now and it really does still look great. I'm not sure about leaks or anything like that but the washing machine, dishwasher etc are in the kitchen and the floor hasn't been water damaged in any way. I have a similar house to them that is half tiles and half wood in the kitchen/dining area. I got the tiles because of my dog however now that she is older and trained I regret it. When we can afford it we are going to get the wood put down throughout.
 
Hi took a look at the natural stone carpet site and could be the alterative for me but what were the costs like?
 
Have experience of stone carpet and would not recommend it for kitchen where small spills naturally occur. It retains dirt and residue and because it is not smooth it is difficult to clean.
 
I think it would look fine to have tiles in the kitchen and wooden floor in the dining room as long as there was a nice border (maybe small tiles) between the two areas.

Or if you prefer to go for all tiles, try to get the heated ones. I don't think you should go for wood in the kitchen as a small amount of water damage can result in a big repair job - I had a recent post on this, but not sure how to reference it - but all the posts basically said that it was practically impossible to repair the damage easily.
 

What are heated tiles?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register