Mixing ceramic/porcelain wood look-a-alike tiles with real wood?
I want a white kitchen. White (maybe light grey) cabinets. White quartzite counters. White marble backsplash. Bright, fresh and clean.
My problem is the floor.
The rest of our house is a dark hardwood. I wold love to continue the hardwood throughout the whole house including the kitchen but many people have warned me about wood flooring in the kitchen.
Would it look good to use the ceramic/porcelain tiles that look like wood in the kitchen and keep the real hardwood through out the rest of the house? Will it flow or will it seem weird?
Or should I go another route and do maybe a Versailles pattern or brick pattern travertine or some other stone?
Comments (9)
11 years ago- 11 years ago
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Ceramic Tile - Looks like wood?
Comments (20)I love the wood ceramic tiles! I saw many while I was shopping for the new kitchen floor that I thought were great. My husband and I took a vacation to St. Martin this winter and the villa we stayed in had awesome grey toned wood ceramic tiles throughout the entire house. They were really nice. A great color (a blueish grey), sleek, contemporary, perfect. The only thing I did notice was that there wasn't very much variation between tiles. I saw the same knot detail in many of the tiles. Does that make sense? I guess they have a couple of molds, they're not designed randomly with different knots and lines and stuff... so if you look closely you might notice the repeats. Here is a link to the villa with pics! The villa was AMAZING, btw!!! Views of Orient Beach and St. Bart, a huge master bathroom with a special light show in the open rain shower, a cute Ikea kitchen with island, DW, induction range, a full fridge and a counter fridge... the works!! If you go off season with three couples it's an excellent bargain! We love St. Martin and this was the coolest place we've ever stayed. btw, this is not MY villa, we just found it on the internet and loved it. Check out the tiles! Here is a link that might be useful: Villa Alanca...See MoreReal wood next to vinyl 'wood look' tile?
Comments (17)I have to agree with the majority here and say my preference would be to avoid putting any material that is faux next to it's real counter part. Fake travertine tiles next to the real stone, laminate with a granite look next to a granite counter, and vinyl wood look next to real wood flooring. I think each has it's own place and look nice on their own, but they shouldn't be installed next each other. I also have to agree about the wood floors. We have Brazilian walnut in our kitchen and it's held up great. Our electricity went out once for 4 days, the fridge leaked water all over the floor and we thought for sure it was going to require replacing. Within a matter of a couple of days, it had dried out completely and looked good as new. I love having the wood in our kitchen and doubt I'll ever have anything else. If the only reason you are putting vinyl in your kitchen is because you don't feel it's a good fit please reconsider; I think you'll be pleasantly surprised....See MoreResale value: real hardwood vs wood look porcelain tile
Comments (30)I know this thread is a bit old but I wanted to chime in as people are continuing to debate and google-search the decision between wood floor and wood-look tile. I am a Realtor and I don't think this is necessarily "just a trend." Wood-look tile is continuing to change dramatically and can be quite impressive! I often see investor-flipped, new-construction, or standard pre-owned homes/condo's with updates, etc. In the past year, I have seen a big increase in wood-look tile. Sometimes it looks good, other times, just okay. When it is of lower quality, you may as well just do a cheaper tile. I absolutely think laminate is on the out, unless you are getting a higher quality. If you go cheap, it looks cheap and feels cheap. Families today often want updates, nice finishes/fixtures, and the idea of also having something that looks great, but also durable, is a big plus! So, I would say, go ahead and do wood-look tile, BUT, do it right! Invest in the higher quality product and be sure to take in consideration the grout color. A lighter color looks more obvious AND you have to seal it to help keep it clean. A medium-darker color is less obvious and easier to keep looking good year around. I am in the Fort Worth, TX area....See MoreWood Look Tiles with Real Wood
Comments (4)First off, check to see if you can purchase more of the engineered hardwood. If your floor is older than 2 years, you probably won't find the product ever again. Let's assume that's the case and move on to the rest of the question. Please DO NOT add wood-look tile to real wood. You can MIMIC the look of wood by using travertine-look porcelain tiles in the COLOUR you want. Striated travertine-look has the same 'grain' as wood. It comes in large format tiles (the same or LARGER than wood-look tiles) and it doesn't have to 'match' your wood it just has to compliment it. As for replacing the 'open' spaces with tile (including the front area to the right of the picture #2) it is your call. Right now it looks broken up. If you are looking to add visual flow with the flooring, then removing the engineered hardwood in that area will work very well. The next question becomes: what happens with the stairs if you remove the engineered wood from that space. Usually wood on stairs has something that it coordinates with. Right now that is the area to the right in pic#2. If you remove it, the stairs become a 'stand alone element'. This can be good or it can be very, very bad. To leave the stairs in place with the wood, you are FORCED to work with their colouring. As a stand alone element you have to WANT that colour in your house. And I mean DESPERATE to keep the colour. Does the wood continue UPSTAIRS?...See MoreRelated Professionals
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11 years ago- 11 years ago
11 years agoHardwood floors are much easier on your back and feet. That said, I just installed the wood look porcelain tile in our fire room (wood burning stove) and we love it. When we redid our kitchen, we stayed with the same red oak flooring we had in the rest of the house ( which was a challenge to work around, to be honest). As long as you are happy with the dark wood, you should be fine with either option. You could switch up the pattern.... We love our herringbone:
- 11 years ago
I had the same dilemna. I have golden oak floors throughout the rest of the house, but I wanted a darker floor in the kitchen. I would have loved an rustic, wide plank wood floor. This floor would not have matched the floors in the rest of the house and I was warned that the transitions from one floor to the other would not look so good by the saddles.
In the end, I decided to go with the wood look tile because it works better with radiant heat than wood. I am so glad we did. Between the children and dog it was a good choice for us. I still have to stain the saddles at the two doorways that lead out of the kitchen, but it will be fine. If I used any floor other than golden oak, I would have the transition issue anyway.
Love my tile floor! So easy to maintain.
- 11 years ago
kateskouros