They’re a true recipe for success.
Kitchens—we all have ’em, but how often do you neglect what’s underfoot in favor of focusing on the delicious meals you’re busy whipping up? Guilty as charged! The truth is, there are few features that spice up a kitchen like an amazing floor, so it’s fine time we start paying attention to it! Eye-catching design aside, your chosen floor (as with your backsplash, cabinets, and kitchen island) must stand up to the occasional chocolate cake–related mess, making it essential to pick one that sits at the precise intersection between looks and practicality. gypsum board 1
Where to begin? Per San Francisco–based designer Noz Nozawa, you have to consider what kind of space you’re working with. “The first factor is where the kitchen lives in your home,” Nozawa tells ELLE DECOR. “Is it part of an open-concept great room, where there will be a very visible flooring transition between kitchen and living space? Is the kitchen in its own room? Then the balance of style versus utility really comes down to the people who live there!”
If you’re, indeed, prone to making messes (err, happy accidents!) and thus prioritize easy clean-up, go with forgiving surfaces like porcelain tile. Craving a rustic farmhouse look straight out of the Strega Nona children’s book? Commit to gorgeous terra-cotta tiles. “As ubiquitous as they are, I absolutely love hardwood floors in a kitchen. There’s something very warm and easy about them,” Nozawa says, offering another alternative. “But I also love large-format tiles where there are fewer grout lines to keep up with.”
As with most kitchen design elements, the modus operandi here is: You do you. “Don’t let fear of water damage or spills influence your kitchen flooring choices!” the designer insists. “As someone whose dishwasher has absolutely flooded my kitchen before, I get it, but try instead to make design choices based on the best life you can dream of for your kitchen space.”
Our list of 32 gorgeous kitchen floor ideas from the ELLE DECOR archive represent just this kind of mentality. A word of warning: You’re going to be floored.
You’ll be seeing quite a few checkerboard floors in this roundup, but what’s special about this one—found in a Spanish-style Houston house designed by ELLE DECOR A-List firm Ashe Leandro—is the fact that it combines materials. At first glance, the tile is homogenous (aside from its contrasting colors). The reality is far more attractive, however: The floors feature both reclaimed terra-cotta tiles from Chateau Domingue and acid-washed limestone tiles from ABC Stone. Talk about a mix-and-match moment!
There’s something so timeless about kitchen floors crafted out of natural wood. In the kitchen of designer Kimille Taylor’s Upper West Side apartment, timeless is not equated with boring, seeing as how the oak floors are painted with a custom geometric design. Tired of your own wooden floors but don’t want to overhaul them completely? Whip out the paintbrush!
The unexpected red theory proves true with this exuberant floor from Forbo, in the Berlin Red color. The pictured kitchen of a Maine vacation home also includes matching cabinetry finishes and a vintage pendant (by Paavo Tynell)—creating a truly put-together, fun-loving, retro space.
In the kitchen of a Venice, California, Frank Gehry–designed abode, industrial materials take center stage and are instantly made warmer through all those timber touches. The room’s concrete floors pair exceptionally well with the sleek granite breakfast table and its surrounding chairs.
This Ibiza kitchen, brought to life by Madrid-based interior design studio Casa Muñoz, has us in awe. Sure, that patio access is great and all, but the glazed lava tiles—in a turquoise hue imitating the sea beyond—are the real showstoppers. Decking out the countertops in the same material is yet another way Casa Muñoz outdoes itself in this Mediterranean tableau.
In this galley kitchen, courtesy of Washington, D.C.–based design studio Third Street Architecture, a marble checkerboard floor is exactly what saves the space from feeling too constricted. The pattern has potential to visually expand your kitchen’s square footage, all while adding an element of play to the whole setup. More exciting meals incoming!
Exposed brick isn’t just for your walls: Designer Shawn Henderson’s rustic floors in the kitchen of his upstate New York farmhouse stand out against the bleached oak cabinetry.
In a 1950s California ranch, renovated to tip-top shape by design firm Studio Muka, the kitchen isn’t decked out in your average terra-cotta tile. Instead, the flooring is not only hexagonal but also reclaimed from the client’s 16th-century family home—a double whammy when it comes to building a cooking space with character.
If you’re looking for a French touch in your cooking space, take a page out of ELLE DECOR A-List Titan Robert Couturier’s book. In this Manhattan townhouse, he paved the floor in a country-chic pattern of red-and-white cement tiles.
Want to rebel against the all-white kitchen aesthetic? Do so with a quirky, multicolored floor like the one seen in this Reston, Virginia, kitchen—designed by architect TJ Monahan and inspired by the hit show Only Murders in the Building. The hardwood floor planks from Mirth Studio are in competition with the kitchen cabinets for the “most vibrant” award, but we’re equally obsessed with both.
This Bay Area kitchen, by Noz Nozawa, is blessed with sky-high ceilings (not to mention towering redwoods within view outside). Nozawa accentuated the height via white walls, cabinets, and ceilings but kept the look grounded with chocolaty timber floors. Bonus: The vintage rugs add an endearing dash of color!
The kitchen in this Spanish-style home, the residence of design-world insiders Joe Lucas and David Heikka, features glazed terra-cotta floors that were original to the house. The couple opted to keep them and simply douse the cabinets in a complementary bright blue. We’re charmed.
The creative challenge for this Parisian apartment, designed by architect Elliott Barnes, was to use a single material throughout the home. Barnes selected Vals quartzite—a durable and luxurious stone—for all of the home’s floors, including here in the kitchen where its smoky hue is in perfect contrast with the stainless steel cabinets.
We love these hypnotizing Emery & Cie floor tiles that British design firm Retrouvius used in the kitchen of this London townhouse. Like Picasso, your floors just might need a Blue Period.
Literary couple Darryl Pinckney and James Fenton, whose Harlem townhouse is drenched in color, painted the floors of their kitchen in Black Forest Green by Benjamin Moore. As a result, they’re now in fluid conversation with those bright red dining chairs and exposed brick wall.
Architectural designer Sandra Arndt went bold in the kitchen of filmmaker and collector Dorothy Berwin’s New York apartment. A bubblegum-pink table by Sabine Marcelis pops against the kitchen’s gleaming black floors, creating much-needed visual drama.
It’s no wonder that a pair of Capri restaurateurs have a standout kitchen in their home, designed by Giuliano Andrea dell’Uva. The wall tiles are custom, and the hand-poured terrazzo floor was influenced by the late-19th-century Villa San Michele on the island.
Designer Steven Gambrel, whose name is synonymous with vibrant kitchens, created a custom 3D-effect floor in this Chicago home with oak that had been ebonized, fumed, and waxed. Trompe l’oeils for the win!
You can’t get much sleeker than this minimalist kitchen in the Los Angeles home of Mara Brock Akil. ELLE DECOR A-List designer Tiffany Howell opted to keep the existing cool gray stone tile floor: a move that matches the twin stainless-steel islands and Arabescato marble walls.
Stacia Datskovska is the assistant digital editor at ELLE DECOR, where she covers news, trends, and ideas in the world of design. She also writes product reviews (like roundups of the top firepits or sheet sets)—infusing them with authority and wit. As an e-commerce intern at Mashable, Stacia wrote data-driven reviews of everything from e-readers to stationary bikes to robot vacuums. Stacia’s culture and lifestyle bylines have appeared in outlets like USA Today, Boston Globe, Teen Vogue, Food & Wine, and Brooklyn Magazine.
Anna Fixsen is the deputy digital editor of ELLE DECOR, where she oversees all facets of ElleDecor.com. In addition to editing articles and developing digital strategy, she writes about the world’s most beautiful homes, reviews the chicest products (from the best cocktail tables to cute but practical gifts), and reports on the most exciting trends in design and architecture. Since graduating from Columbia Journalism School, she’s spent the past decade as an editor at Architectural Digest, Metropolis, and Architectural Record and has written for outlets including the New York Times, Dwell, and more.
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