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If you come to replace your kitchen floor it can be tricky to know what to choose, there are so many factors to bear in mind. It is widely regarded that kitchen floor tiles are the best choice as far as ease of cleaning, longevity and design go but what are the benefits of tiling your kitchen floor and what are the downsides?

Kitchen Floor tiles – the upside!

There is a wide range of stunning kitchen floor tiles available on the market, the advances in manufacturing technology now means that floor tiles are stronger and better designed than they have ever been. The choices available are outstanding from striking monochrome formations, through to ceramic or porcelain tiles in the most wonderful shades and designs.

Choosing to tile your kitchen floor is a good idea if you are looking for a hard wearing product to last, other options such as vinyl or laminate flooring may wear more quickly. Cleaning floor tiles is very easy due their surface (especially if you choose glazed floor tiles) so if you drop something from your frying pan when you are cooking you won’t need to worry too much about greasy stains as marks can be wiped away in an instant. If you have pets or children you can easily wash the floors down leaving them not only looking good as new but also leaving them hygienic.

If your kitchen leads to an external door to the outside (as many kitchens do) or if you generally wear outdoor footwear in the kitchen you would best to purchase floor tiles that have a high PEI rating of perhaps 4 or 5. The PEI rating stands for the Porcelain Enamel Institute who devised tests to see how suitable floor tiles are for varying levels of foot traffic, the higher the rating the less likely you are to end up with lot’s of unsightly scratches or surface marks.

Floor tiles work really well with underfloor heating to create a perfect floor all year round, lovely and warm underfoot in the winter months and cooling in the summer months.

A big trend in kitchen tiling right now is the natural stone effect tiles (to me a big plus point for floor tiling), this is very hot in both kitchen flooring and wall tiling. Stone effect tiles tend to be a rustic more textured finish and come in natural tones such as beiges, browns and greys, they work very well, especially in older properties and in country style homes. If you are interested in using stone effect tiles on your walls please click here for more detail.

If you are looking for a more modern, sleek look there are a host of glossy, sparkly and shiny floor tiles available in colours such as black, gold or red; in a newer more minimalist home these look amazing.

So thats the key plus points to using kitchen floor tiles, let’s now take a look at any downsides.

Newport Floor Tiles

Floor tiles are a sleek and stylish option for your kitchen floor.

Kitchen Floor tiles – the downsides

As far as floor coverings go floor tiles are a great idea but like everything in life they are not 100% perfect so, here is my take on the downsides.

As tiles are fixed to the floor with adhesive there is not a lot of flex in them so it is important that the surface they are being laid onto is level with no dips or holes as this will increase the likely hood of cracking. it is also key to use the correct adhesive for the job, if in doubt take advice from a professional.

Whilst on the subject of fixing the other element to bear in mind is the grouting, as I said previously tiles are very easy to keep clean but the grout is a little more tricky, especially as it is on the floor and being walked over frequently. You can overcome this by using a mild bleach and water solution to clean grout as often as you can, if your design idea can take it try to select a coloured grout rather than white as this is easier and compliments floor tiles beautifully.

In Summary

On the whole if you purchase floor tiles that are well suited to the area that they are being laid and take sensible precautions to take care of them they can be a stylish and convenient kitchen floor covering that will give you many years of trouble free service.