The visual side of your kitchen’s design always comes second when compared to its practical value. This is where you cook, wash dishes, keep all the ingredients and some of the chemicals, as well as dine on rare occasions. Now, one thing that all of them have in common is that there are so many things you can spill and make a mess of your floor. This is why wall-to-wall carpet or even hardwood floor are not ideal solutions to this room. The only adequate and, at the same time, elegant solution is to go with tile flooring, but even this can be quite challenging at times.

tile flooring in kitchen

Underlayment

When you’re building a house, you don’t just start building walls by sticking the bricks in the soil. You need a good foundation and the more solid it is, the more stable your home will be. The same thing goes for the tiles. You cannot just purchase an adequate number of proper sized tiles and start placing them in your kitchen. Some preparation is necessary. This usually means putting the underlayment. There are four requirements this underlayment needs to fulfill: that it’s smooth, flat, rigid and, of course, clean. Depending on the situation, a cement tile backer board might be needed, as well.

Tile Size

Most people tend to disregard the size of the actual tile and only look at the surface of the room. This is one of the most grievous errors one can make when constructing a tile floor. Having a small number of large tiles can make your room visually shrink, while the opposite is also true. Sure, larger tiles like those of 500 x 500 mm are optimal for the kitchen, but this all really depends on how big it actually is. For smaller ones, even going with 300 x 300 mm format is completely acceptable.

checkered tile floor in kitchen

On the other hand, being unique usually means thinking outside the box, so why settle for only one uniformed tile size. Having several different tile sizes and fitting them all in a mosaic-like fashion can be extremely rewarding for all those who have patience to do so. Finally, you can also decide to extend tiles in order to cover the walls, partially or all the way up to the ceiling. In this case, it is quite probable that you will have to use both square and rectangular-shaped tiles in order to avoid gaps.

Set Budget

There are many inexpensive kitchen flooring solutions like vinyl and linoleum tiles. However, what you pay is what you get and these two usually don’t work out in the long run. The more you are willing to spend, the more quality flooring you will be able to get and this will definitely have an effect on so many things. First of all, linoleum tiles decay over time, which means that, sooner rather than later, you will have to completely replace them. On the other hand, those made of quality materials are most likely to last indefinitely, making them a smart long-term investment.

Easy to Maintain

Finally, the most important reason for you to install tiles in your kitchen is that they’re extremely simple to maintain. Still, not all tiles are as easy to clean. For example, glass tiles are easily recycled and come in various colors. Seeing how they provide some degree of traction, this makes them more or less slip-proof, which is why they are useful in both kitchens and bathrooms. Ceramic tiles or natural stone are two additional valid options, but can cost a bit more. In the end, if budget is not an issue and you want something both practical and beautiful for your kitchen, going with granite tiles is probably your safest bet.

easy maintenance flooring

Using tiles as your kitchen flooring is a broad term, which might require some additional clarification. There are some questions that will need an answer before you begin, like what material of tiles you are going to use, what you are going to do about underlayment and, of course, how big the tiles are going to be. Still, after you have all of this covered, you will be well set and ready to install the optimal tile flooring solution for your dream kitchen. Like so many times in life, the end result is always worth all the effort invested.