Kitchen Flooring Dilemma
I am planning and pricing a much-needed kitchen remodel. Because I live in an absolute money pit I cannot change the kitchen layout but am tweaking to make it more functional. My largest dilemma is flooring. The dirty-looking white/cream squares with chunks of missing grout and plenty of chips and cracks must go. This flooring extends into the laundry room (last pic) so since this is open it must be replaced too.
The blue grey slate in pic #2 starts in the entryway and runs to the kitchen. It is, however, about 1 3/4 inches lower than the kitchen flooring. The dining room (I’m standing in it shooting the first kitchen picture) is an old narrow plank wood floor that is about an inch lower than the kitchen floor. One other adjoining floor not pictured here is a new 3” wood floor in the office (office opening is to the left of the range wall in last pic). That floor is also in the living room, nightmare story, supposed to be narrow plank.
DH wants to put a floating vinyl plank floor down - I had a hissy fit because I think it would be ridiculous to make the kitchen floor even higher and add some fake wood look next to the already existing wood. Although I’d like to rip out the dining room floor and put the 3” hardwoods there and through the kitchen that is not in the budget. I’m thinking about a 12x24 lighter grey tile since the painted cabinets we are loving are dark charcoal (looking at 2x6 white zellige subway tile in a herringbone pattern for backsplash and white quartz countertops with a waterfall on the peninsula). Would this be a reasonable way to do the kitchen floor since we just can’t afford the wood? If you have any other ideas I’d love to hear them.
Just as a side note, the soffits must go along with the microwave over the range. Both hanging light fixtures will go and can lighting put in. Also looking at replacing 2 cabinets next to kitchen sink window with shelves and adding 2 clear globe pendants over peninsula. Backsplash would go counter to ceiling by sink area too. Lastly, looking into trying to put a pocket door between the laundry room and kitchen. Will post additional kitchen pics in a response to this.
Comments (7)
eaw 513
4 years agoSome more views of our 1980’s mess of a kitchen. View into entryway, view of range wall (office opening is just to the left), view from kitchen into dining room.
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Kitchen flooring dilemma
Comments (11)I replaced vinyl floors in my kitchen with porcelain tile and with Armstrong Alterna in a guest bath. I've been happy with both products. I never saw any sheet vinyl that looked even remotely like real tile, so I can't see putting it with an upscale product like Cambria. You don't need to grout LVT, but we did because I wanted it to look like porcelain tile. The grout lines are very small and not deep, so they don't really trap dirt. They have their own grout for the product, but I don't know much about it. Maybe it's stain-proof like epoxy grout. I haven't seen any staining of my grout, but it is a bathroom. You can also use a darker color grout. There's a vinyl product called Amtico that has been used in Europe for decades and is regarded as very high quality. We considered that for our kitchen before choosing porcelain....See MoreCreative solutions for kitchen floor dilemma?
Comments (2)Thank you, that is a great suggestion. There isn't enough flooring in the kitchen to do that--some of the cabinets will be oriented so that all the pieces of flooring under them would be very short. But I hadn't thought about closets. We have three bedroom closets with heart pine. I'm just not sure I want to rip up flooring from all over the house to solve this problem. The other issue is that there is nothing underneath the plywood. It is installed flush with the hardwood flooring, probably because they then covered the whole thing with another layer of plywood underlayment, followed by sheet vinyl. I'm kind of tempted do something like that again, although it would be a shame to cover up all that wood....See MoreKitchen Flooring Dilemma
Comments (11)We pulled up carpet in our LR and added new Brazilian cherry to match. We left the transition board between rooms and it worked out beautifully, but we did have it all refinished at the same time. We did have one area where there was a repair needed after the finish went on (we used Bona HD traffic in Satin) and they tried to mask it off and just re-coat that little area but the sheen was off and they ended up recoating the whole area again (at their expense). I don't think it was anything that was their fault necessarily, he's just trying to manage expectations so you are clear what to expect. Clarify whether your installer is saying the WOOD itself cannot be matched (grade, grain, width, etc) or the stain cannot be replicated or the finish will have a different sheen from one room to the other....See MoreHelp! Kitchen Flooring Dilemma
Comments (8)Thank you! Yes, I've thought about refinishing the dining room and living room--it's just a very large area to refinish and the wood is fairly new (installed in the last five years). I'm also concerned about practicality as the laundry room/entry way is right off the kitchen and we will have to extend the new flooring in there too. I'm not sure I like the idea of wood in the entry way and laundry room as we have four very active kids....See More
Pam A
4 years ago- PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
4 years ago 
Rachel Lee
4 years agoSJ McCarthy
4 years agoeaw 513
4 years agoThanks to everyone for your comments. When we remodeled our hall bath for the kids almost 3 years ago our contractor sized up the kitchen since we had finally addressed the bulk of the major unsexy fix issues (roof and sheathing, electrical panel upgrade and assorted fixes, plumbing, all new HVAC, and 60K worth of good Anderson replacement windows/sliders). When he removed a kitchen floor vent and a threshold it became obvious that we have plywood sub flooring that is 70’s thin with a thick mortar bed and a single tile layer. We assumed that there was extra flooring but it does not appear to be so. I have said since we purchased this house that the tile has to come up and you’ve all confirmed that my instincts are correct. I’ll plan for removal and possible subfloor replacement. I am also searching for a tile that will complement the existing tile. Our new hardwoods are refinished solid 3/4 inch wood so they are good. I will source and reprice getting matching hardwood but cannot do so through the first company, that whole experience was almost lawsuit territory after 6+ months and several partial installs (bad original install followed by other installers who noted faulty thin plank product, several sales reps also said product was no bueno so after a complaint with the state attorney general and blistering BBB review got some movement and ended up with pretty flooring).
Sigh Despite good inspectors everything in this place ends up being far more than projected. Jjhmarie, do you have a suggestion for an alternate tag to get some kitchen maven suggestions?
Here are cabinet door candidates and tile.
jhmarie