Floor tiles: design options for the kitchen

Floor tiles - this is one of the most convenient and profitable materials for flooring. She has a number of positive qualities that put her in first place in demand among buyers who seek to decorate their kitchen as well as possible. This design option will easily help you make any room stylish and cozy, while not requiring careful care.

Tiles are considered to be the most practical flooring for the kitchen.

Also, the tile is guaranteed to serve you for a long time, which will save money and not remember about the repair because there is no need to do it. Floor tiles will be a great addition to your kitchen, making it stylish and comfortable. However, like any other product, floor tiles must be chosen wisely, based on the design of the apartment, your preferences and many other factors. In this article we will tell you absolutely everything about the floor tiles for the kitchen, the criteria for its selection and the main advantages.

Benefits

We list the main advantages:

1. Easy washing process. Thanks to the smooth surface, the tile is very easy to clean, which does not require any effort. In addition, it has antistatic properties that even wash it with aggressive, caustic agents without causing any damage.
2. The service life is at least 15 years.
3. Sustainability. The tile is capable of without enduring the transfer of fire, water and temperature changes that are characteristic of every kitchen.
4. Price. It is significantly lower than wood or stone coatings.
5. Big choice. Modern stores offer a wide range of products in different colors, quality, sizes and textures that will satisfy any customer.
6. Locality. You can tile the entire kitchen, but in addition, with it, you can decorate a small local area. Other materials make it much more problematic.
7. Thermal conductivity. When you connect floor heating, the tile will conduct heat well and provide your home with comfort.

Ceramic tiles have the best value for money

Advice! If you want your room to be upholstered with these more expensive materials, then you can safely give preference to tiles that mimic natural materials.

disadvantages

• Ceramic tiles are cold. If you are finishing the floor from this material, it is better to have a floor heating system.
  

  Without a heating system, you will have to lay mats on the floor and make a habit of wearing slippers

• Poor soundproofing. The disadvantage is noticeable when decorating the walls of the room with tiles.

Advice! To avoid the effect of "thin walls", lay an additional soundproofing layer.

• Injury hazard. The smooth surface of the tile is slippery and tough. Falling on such a floor will be much more painful than on a wooden or made of linoleum.
• If you drop a rather heavy object on the tile, it may break or become cracked.

Important! A dropped item will crash because of the hardness of the tile!

• The difficulty of laying. When decorating a room, it is important to accurately and correctly calculate the required amount of material and correctly, efficiently lay it.

Laying a ceramic coating requires professional skills

Note! Before laying it is very important to make sure that the surface is perfectly flat, otherwise, in the presence of emptiness and air, the tile will quickly crack or peel off. Also, its installation is a rather dirty business, requiring skill and a lot of trouble.

Quality indicators

What are the main criteria for choosing a tile? Carefully read a number of tips that must be considered when buying.

Before purchasing tiles, you should pay attention to the operational characteristics of products - durability and strength

Important! The tiles must be of good quality. The best choice for the kitchen will be the purchase of tiles on a PEI scale of at least class III, according to GOST it is better to buy grade 5.

On the packaging of the floor tiles the caliber is indicated - the permissible deviation from the nominal size. It is important that all packs purchased have the same caliber, otherwise the seams between the tiles will be crooked

Additional Information! Tiles exist 1,2 and 3 grades. The probability of a defective specimen of the first grade is 5 pieces out of a hundred, in the third - 25.

Another quality criterion is the Mohs scale, showing hardness. We advise you to purchase products with a hardness of at least 7 units.

Glossy or matte? As for the glossy, it is guaranteed to provide the kitchen space with style and comfort, it will look neat and beautiful. However, according to the Mohs scale, which is described above, such material will not exceed 5-6 units, so sand, fine glass or crumbs will easily leave small scratches on it.

Glossy tiles are very beautiful, easy to clean and visually lighten the space.

Matte surface is more resistant to mechanical stress.

Matte tiles are more practical. Unlike gloss, it is much more difficult to leave scratches or other damage on it. If you decide to buy a matte tile, then give preference to a smooth material, without relief, pattern, pattern and roughness, otherwise leaving the coating will be significantly more difficult.

Important! Remember that the better the quality, the higher the price! When choosing a tile, focus on your financial capabilities, your own preferences and the interior of the kitchen.

The size and format of the tile affects the cost, the degree of difficulty of laying and the amount of waste

Design of floor tiles in the kitchen: which one to choose

We choose correctly the design of floor tiles in the kitchen:

• Buying a kitchen cover is only necessary in combination with design. In no case can you make a choice without trying on the options under consideration to the interior.
• Originality can be achieved using an unusual shape. For example, octagonal, hexagonal or with rounded corners.
• For a kitchen in blue, buy a light finish. It is advisable to add a pattern in the form of dark or black stripes. This will create the effect of expanding the space and beautifully complement the blue color of the room.
• For a classic design, both light and dark floors are ideal. However, it is better to add patterns or decor elements, otherwise the tile will look dull, giving uniformity to the entire kitchen room.

A bright floor pattern is chosen when they want to dilute a plain interior

Trend tile color and styling options

The flooring must be combined with any surfaces or interior items.

How to choose a color?

Basically, preference is given to a solid color tile and without patterns. It will look neat and stylish in almost any room, regardless of design and interior. The main thing is to choose a tone that will not stand out much from the background of another decor, attracting attention to yourself. A great choice is a tile that imitates wood, stone and other natural materials.

Light brown tiles fit well into a kitchen of any size, regardless of room lighting

Advice! Do the decoration for the floor in neutral colors, because this part of the room, as a rule, is not the main element of the design. For lovers of bright floors there is a fashionable and stylish option, in which all the furniture in the kitchen is decorated in a classic, restrained style, and the main role is played by a bright color floor.

It is best that the tone of the floor be intermediate between the tone of the furniture and the walls: the headset is lighter, but the wall covering is darker.

• The most practical colors are white, pastel or light. Unlike dark ones, such as black or brown, crumbs, splashes, small spots and drops of water are practically invisible against such a background. However, light tile has a significant drawback: over time, the bonding and contact areas darken, becoming black. White color is the most versatile and convenient, so it fits almost any design, which makes it a favorite among other colors.
  

  For grouting between light tiles, it is better to choose a dark composition - light seams will still get dirty quickly and darken

• Green. Looks great and stylish in the kitchen, decorated in dark colors. Among light furniture, this option will look too catchy and inappropriate.
• Blue. The best option, which combines with any design, thanks to a wide range of shades. Note! If you can not decide on a color, then among its shades you are guaranteed to find the one that suits you, so stop your choice on it.
• Wood, stone. The most popular types of flooring are floor tiles, decorated in the color of natural materials. This option always looks restrained, simple and colorful. The wooden floor looks comfortable and natural.
• Original coloring. Monotony does not always suit the inhabitants of the apartment, as it differs in conventionality. For those who want to cheer up the design of the kitchen, a tile with a pattern or pattern is ideal. It can be, as simply engraved, or be a roughness and relief. There are a lot of varieties of decor: from flowers to images of cakes.

Important! If you wish, you can create an individual, original and unique pattern to order, which will decorate only your kitchen.

Styling options

Popular tile laying options

For small kitchens, which can often be found, for example, in houses of the Khrushchev’s building, for visual expansion of the space, it is better to lay the tiles diagonally, in a run or Christmas tree. It is also better to use a small size, since a large one will make a small room visually even smaller.

Diagonal styling visually increases the area of ​​the room

In large rooms, on the contrary, lay large tiles. But it is worth considering that the larger the size, the less stability and strength. For narrow kitchens, a long, rectangular shape and laying across the floor are suitable.

The size of the tile for flooring depends on the scale of the room

The most popular option for laying floor tiles is the base. It consists in laying pieces of material parallel to the bottom of a friend in a ruler and pressing tightly, leaving no space between them.

In order to make design and interior more fun, checkerboard is used. Its meaning is to alternate two or more colors among themselves.

Tiles of contrasting colors are usually staggered.

Geometric patterns. It is possible to lay tiles not only strictly symmetrically. With its help, you can create various original shapes and images.

Rectangular tiles can be laid with herringbone, creating an imitation of parquet

Important! They can be not only geometric, but absolutely any, but it is the first option that is very popular.This installation method is virtually waste-free, which is a huge plus.

Floor tiles can divide the kitchen space into functional areas

Wood or ceramic floor tiles

Today, making a floor of real wood is quite expensive. A good alternative is a floor tile decorated in wood. It is also called a ceramics market. Despite the fact that such material is inferior in price, this is a much more profitable and practical way to design a kitchen room.

Ceramic imitation of natural wood can look quite realistic, therefore, is in demand

Ceramoparket has a longer service life and strong stability, and wear resistance. Such qualities are achieved thanks to special processing methods. Ceramoparket easily tolerates temperature changes, does not deteriorate under the influence of cold or heat, as well as moisture. This makes it an ideal candidate for kitchen finishes.

High-quality imitation of wood or parquet is not cheap

The disadvantage is the cold surface, which deprives comfort when moving and threatens to get a cold. However, this problem is very easy to solve because it is able to conduct heat. That is, in order to avoid the problem of "cold floor" you just need not to refuse to conduct a floor heating system. And of course, which is important, tile under the tree looks elegant and stylish, naturally imitating the color and texture of the tree.

Advice! When choosing a flooring, give preference to unglazed wood-like tiles, since it has a high level of glide, which is why it is resistant to abrasion and deterioration.

Stone floor tiles

Such flooring is made exclusively from natural materials such as clay or sand. Therefore, one of the hallmarks of porcelain stoneware is environmental friendliness. It also has a number of useful properties that make it a great option for decorating the kitchen. These include the tolerance of absolutely any effects, both natural in the form of heat, cold, moisture, elements and so on, and chemical, that is, caustic and aggressive detergents.

Stone tiles can imitate natural material so naturally that only a specialist can find out what exactly is laid out on the kitchen floor

Stone tiles have long been among the first materials that are chosen for the decoration of the kitchen. This is due to the long service life and versatility, thanks to which it is suitable for almost any design and decoration of furniture and premises.

A real stone, of course, as it was, will remain one of the most demanded resources with which you can stylishly decorate any room. But porcelain stoneware is more accessible to customers due to the low price, but at the same time it is not inferior in quality and characteristics.

Porcelain tiles are available in a variety of designs and formats.

Quite recently, about 10 years ago, porcelain tile began to gain popularity. Today, with the help of new technologies, development and scientific and technological progress, it is possible to produce granite that does not have significant differences from a real stone. It often cannot be distinguished from its predecessor. And, importantly, porcelain stoneware is stronger and more reliable, and also does not need thorough care.

Floor tiles for other materials

• Metlakhskaya. Such a tile is very similar in performance to porcelain stoneware. It is made by pressing. Most often it is made in bright colors or with a pattern.
• Carpet. Substitute carpet. A feature is the ease of laying and replacing tiles in case of damage. But, unfortunately, fading occurs over time.
• Cork. It features enhanced sound, hydro and thermal insulation. It is made from crumbs and the remains of cork trees.
• Clinker.It is made from two or more types of clay, flux and chamotte are also often added. The advantage is environmental friendliness and the ability to look stylish and colorful even after a long time and years of operation.

Cork coating - warm, soft, not afraid of water, but easily damaged by mechanical stress

Clinker tiles on the kitchen floor are rare. Clinker is considered to be the best of ceramic materials, but it is quite expensive.

Video on how to choose the right tile

Photo gallery

Tiles on the kitchen floor - beautiful options (selection of photos)

Porcelain tile: design options (selection of photos)

Ceramic: design options (selection of photos)