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Flooring Design Dilemma Kitchens

What flooring should I use for my kitchen next to honey oak hardwood?

3 years ago

Hi there, we're moving our kitchen to a raised area that will become our future kitchen that is a single step above our family room area that has honey oak hardwood flooring? We don't think we'll use hardwood for durability reasons and because the current oak on what will be the kitchen area is damaged.

We are considering tile and live in Seattle, where mud/rain can easily be tracked into our kitchen. We'd like to have something that would be as timeless as possible. Any ideas?

Featured Answer

Annie Acosta
Original Author

3 years ago

Thank you all for your suggestions. I hadn't considered vinyl before, but it looks like it has improved dramatically over the years since I last used it. When we have a better idea of the kitchen itself, I might ask again with more specificity.

The marble-looking tile also looks beautiful, too, by the way.

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Comments (9)

HU-130487226
3 years ago
Maybe a white marble looking tile, white or black large rectangular tile are always good options for kitchens :)
Annie Acosta thanked HU-130487226
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Patricia Colwell Consulting
3 years ago
How can we even beging to suggest anything with no info. IMO if you want help at least let us know what your kitchen will look like and some idea of your style.I would just continue the same flooring bit a vinyl tile would work maybe. There is no timeless anything get what you like.
Annie Acosta thanked Patricia Colwell Consulting
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I'm not sure what LVT is. :) I have an appointment with the flooring person for Saturday to test out samples. Cherie, we hate forced hot air because it bothers my and the kids' asthma and allergies so I am actually very happy about these baseboard radiators as radiant heat is much easier on the lungs since it's not blowing hot air all over the place. There is central air for the summer months. We live in Northern NH... it gets cold here for sure. I am going to keep the tile in the kitchen for now and the rest will be new flooring *all going in the same direction* ! We are ripping out the red carpeting, which is in all four bedrooms as well as on the stairs. We want to replace that with flooring and we don't want yet another type of flooring in the house so it makes sense to do the living and dining room as well. When we reconfigure the kitchen, we'll have to match it up and remove the tile at that time.
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littlebug zone 5 Missouri
3 years ago
As I understand the weather in the Seattle area, it rains a lot. Therefore, I wouldn’t do much gray.
Annie Acosta thanked littlebug zone 5 Missouri
HU-130487226
3 years ago
I agree with Patricia with vinyl being a good option. That is what we have in our entryway, living room, dining and halls right now. We used Stainmaster luxury vinyl in the burnished oak fawn color. So far we love it!. Lowes discontinued it or we would have taken our kitchen tile out and continued it in the kitchen. It seems quite durable as we have 2 German Shepherds and 2 yorkies that are all inside dogs. Attaching a picture of the floor for an example
Annie Acosta thanked HU-130487226
HU-130487226
3 years ago
Yes ma'am! I love the marble look its so elegant! There is marble looking vinyl as well :)
SJ McCarthy
3 years ago
I like to start with the counter tops. The counter tops often coordinate with the floors. The cabinets are often used to 'off set' the counter tops (example: light maple cabinets look AMAZING with a deep blue counter top).

Can you add pics of your chosen materials??? We can then help coordinate your flooring choice.

As someone who lives in Vancouver BC (just 2hrs north of you) I would say 'stay away' from anything gray!

I like to say, "Vancouver is garbage-can-gray from September through May". Seattle gets MUCH more rain than we do (sad as that is to say) which means you want something light and happy.
Maureen
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Consider your future cabinets, counter and backsplash and style vs only the wood floor. We just redid our kitchen floor (which meets the hardwood in living room) and narrowed down to a slate look alike laminate tile that didn’t compete/clash with wood (stayed away from light shades so contrast wasn’t jarring) and brought home a lot of samples to get it right - with kitchen components especially
raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio
3 years ago
Do choose your overall look for the kitchen, thinking about what component will be hardest/most expensive to change if you start to dislike it.

I wouldn't put wood look vinyl or tile next to natural hardwood - I just don't like the way they look next to each other - although overall, I think wood look tile is a great look. So, I would be looking for a natural stone look tile or vinyl - stay far away from tile with a pinkish undertone, and choose one that matches the overall warmth (ie cool colors vs warm colors) of the rest of the adjacent spaces. That will be about as "timeless" as you can get.

Sometimes the classic black & white square look doesn't fit the character of the rest of the house, sometimes it is perfect - so keep that in mind, too.

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