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Whether you’re building a new house or renovating an old one, you’ll no doubt have to address your kitchen at some point in the process. Kitchen floor ideas can help you set the tone for your space, and help you solidify what you want from your kitchen. Do you want a kitchen that’s understated and easy to clean up? A durable flooring material should be prioritized. Do you want something that’ll be comfortable for hours of meal prep? Maybe a softer material would be best. Are you not much of a home cook and see your kitchen as mostly a space for hosting? Aesthetics should be top of mind. The questions you ask yourself about your flooring will no doubt inform every other part of the design too.
More than anyone, professional interior designers know the importance of the right kitchen flooring choice. “The right flooring choice underscores and embellishes the emotional impact you’re trying to create in a space since it’s the first surface that you physically interact with,” says designer Nick Spain of multidisciplinary design studio Arthur’s. “You have to step into a space before you can really experience it, and the very first thing you’re feeling is that grounding connection of your feet against the floor. It can be hard, soft, ridged, smooth, fuzzy, squishy, quiet, loud; all of these sensations create drastically different first impressions within a matter of seconds.”
For designer Leah Ring, founder of multidisciplinary design firm Another Human, kitchen flooring is a useful element for expressing the style of the space. “We often look for kitchen flooring options that allow us to inject more color into the space. We generally opt for tile or linoleum because there is such a great range of fun, saturated colors and both materials are durable,” says Ring.
Read on for 11 of our favorite kitchen floor ideas from homes featured in AD and Clever.
This moody Oakland home was designed by Nick Spain of multidisciplinary design studio Arthur’s.
“For our Oakland kitchen we knew that we wanted a natural material with soothing tones that still had a slightly wild bent. Cork was the one material that checked all those boxes,” Spain explains, regarding the cork flooring in a midcentury Oakland home featured on Clever. “The one we chose has a terrazzo-like visual quality that speaks to the period of the home but is so soft underfoot that you almost feel like you’re wearing socks even when you’re barefoot. It’s also much harder to break an object like a wine glass on it if it’s dropped, which is something I’m particularly sensitive to given my perpetual butter fingers.” Cork is also celebrated for its sustainability, adding yet another reason to consider it for your kitchen floors.
This Seattle ADU by designer Prentis Hale was created for a retired couple.
For the kitchen flooring in a Clever-featured Seattle ADU, Prentis Hale opted for radiant concrete slab. Aesthetically, concrete was a great fit for the minimal structure made of metal cladding on the outside and pine plywood on the inside, and especially in the kitchen specifically, which is accented with a black countertop, backsplash, and exhaust hood. Functionally, radiant concrete floors gives off heat more efficiently than using typical vents or radiators and they save you from cold floor mornings in the winter months.
Architect Davis Ross and his partner painter Mark Dutcher reimagined this home, which was built and owned by LA architect Martin Gelber for nearly 40 years.
With its peak in popularity firmly in the past, some consider linoleum outdated, but it still makes a perfectly good, cost-effective flooring choice. The color and swirl-like patterns offer a distinct look that works particularly well with retro style kitchens. Pictured is the AD–featured home of architect David Ross and his partner painter Mark Dutcher, where the original ’80s maple cabinets were kept and the old linoleum was swapped for new. Ring is also a fan of linoleum. “We’ve used linoleum in several kitchens lately in teal, purple and green, to add a nice base of color in the room and imbue th§e kitchens with a bit of a retro feel,” she tells AD.
The terra-cotta-tone floor tiles contrast with the blue backsplash in this Peter Spalding–designed kitchen.
In the wild world of tiles there is so much to choose from, but hexagonal tiles are a classic flooring option. With the eye-catching shape, you can get creative with grout to add another dimension. For the renovation of his Clever-featured Portland kitchen, Peter Spalding opted for white grout to contrast with the terra-cotta-tone hexagonal tiles. For a more subtle look, you could match the grout color to your tiles, or for a more dramatic look, you could opt for black grout (though as a warning, that tends to be a messier option).
Megan Norgate of Brave New Eco designed this Melbourne kitchen with herringbone tile floors.
As evidenced by the Clever tour of this accessible home by designer Megan Norgate of Brave New Eco, herringbone tiling’s advantages are more than just meets the eye. For a family that includes a son who uses a wheelchair, the tile pattern created an easier surface for his wheelchair to glide upon, making the living space all the more livable. Herringbone floor tiles also add visual interest to your floor, and can be used to either match or contrast with your backsplash. For a similar effect, consider another geometric pattern, like chevron.
This kitchen by architect Vincent Appel is simple but moody.
Certain flooring materials lend themselves to use on multiple surfaces in your kitchen design for a uniform look and black granite is one of those materials. In this Clever-featured pied-à-terre designed by Vincent Appel of design practice Of Possible, black granite is employed for all three surfaces, along with black kitchen cabinets, to create a cohesive look in the space. Black granite is extremely durable, sleek, and is a timeless material that you can feel comfortable investing in. For another material that lends itself to multiple uses, try another natural stone, like marble flooring.
The kitchen of homeowner and designer Alison Damonte, which she worked on with Lexie Mork-Ulnes of Mork-Ulnes Architects for her own home, is both playful and relaxed.
One of the most playful kitchen flooring ideas, terrazzo is a major statement piece. You’ll often find used for the floors of old banks, libraries, and other public places because of its trendiness in the mid 20th century—and impressive durability. The material is costly, but it can serve as a centerpiece in your design, or as a subtle first, depending on the color you choose. In this AD-featured home designed by Alison Damonte and Lexie Mork-Ulnes of Mork-Ulnes Architects, the white terrazzo floor speaks perfectly to Damonte’s design philosophy, which she describes as “maximal minimalism.”
Green lower cabinets contrast with the peach uppers and hand-painted tiles in this kitchen by interior designer Yasmin Ghoniem.
As a bespoke option, hand-painted tile can be more expensive than other kitchen floor tile ideas, but the unique personality it can add to your space can more than make up for the extra cost. In the Clever-featured compact kitchen in a 562-square-foot home by interior designer Yasmin Ghoniem, hand-painted tiles by Creative Finish Sydney add a personal touch. While some might associate a small kitchen with a stifled cooking experience, making the space’s design more lively can help make cooking a much more fun, creative experience. Plus, you might be able to afford something a little more exciting when the cost per square foot won’t be multiplied as many times as in a larger kitchen renovation.
Project AZ replaced aging parquet floors with engineered hardwood in this apartment renovation.
A popular choice for new builds, engineered hardwood is a wonderful option for those who love the look of hardwood but want something a little more budget-friendly. Depending on the type you choose, engineered hardwood is typically less expensive than real wood flooring. Though it’s by no means waterproof, engineered hardwoods are generally water resistant and less sensitive to water than real hardwood floors. In this Clever-featured kitchen designed by Project AZ, engineered hardwood replaced aging parquet floors. This home proves another great advantage to engineered hardwood: If you’re designing an open-plan kitchen, you can easily use the material for the kitchen and living spaces, compared to stone tiles or vinyl flooring that you might not want to extend into living spaces.
Architect Morri Adjmi’s New Orleans kitchen is flooded with light.
Architect Morris Adjmi chose warm gray limestone flooring to give the white kitchen of his AD-featured New Orleans home a “weathered feeling.” The home dated back to 1840 but had been overhauled many times and needed another renovation to bring it back to earth without removing the sense of history that the home carried. The elegantly aged feeling of the kitchen is enhanced by the limestone tiles, which vary in size, adding to the flooring’s sense of personality. Limestone is a timeless choice that can be lower maintenance with proper sealing and installation.
Checkerboard cement tiles add a sense of playfulness to this kitchen designed by Another Human.
“In the Buff, Straub and Hensman kitchen, we aimed to recreate the kitchen cabinets in a tone that was very similar to the original cabinetry, so I knew that the cabinets and countertops would be in neutral tones," Ring says, explaining the process behind choosing cement tiles for this AD-featured home’s kitchen. “I wanted to add visual interest with the flooring material and was thrilled when the clients approved the checkerboard pattern! Cement tiles certainly aren’t for everyone as they do patina over time, but in such a historic house it felt nice to select materials that would age over time and feel at home with finishes like the original millwork and beamed ceilings that have such a beautiful time-worn patina.”
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