help me pick some flooring... (1 Viewer)

[Philip_G]

It's time to replace the crap vinyl that came with the house (it was free, too $$ to upgrade the flooring with the builder) so with 2 dogs it's probably going to be pergo, but the cabinets are a bit of an off color and I'm having a hard time finding something.

darker than the cabinets won't work I'm afraid, it'll be too dark, lighter is tricky because a lot of the light maple colors have almost a gray tinge to them and clash, BAD. The cherry colors are close, but once up against the maple cabinets have too much orange to them, the only thing I can think that might look OK is a light maple parquet type thing, but it's special order so all I have is a sample of a light maple parquet, I'll try to find a picture. In the meantime here is the kitchen and ugly ass vinyl.
Anyway, anyone got any ideas?

 

[Linda Thompson]

Here's a good Pergo selection, with swatch images:

http://www.nationalwholesaleflooring...ory_Code=Pergo


To complement the cabinets, I'm thinking that the lighter oaks might be your best bet. I especially like the Oak Blocked in the Accolade line, but it might be too overpowering (dark) in a larger area than the swatch, so you might need to look at one of the lighter ones, or at least one with more light/dark contrasts, in the other Pergo lines. I personally think the maples might be a bit TOO light, not really having much "dark" in them to help complement the cabinets.

 

[Philip_G]

Ack, should have mentioned oak is out, so it'll need to be a light maple or something without such an open grain, oak next to maple doesn't work for me (I dislike oak in general)

but yeah, lighter is probably going to have to work.
the problem with samples is they're too small, I've found a couple samples that I thought were perfect, took a whole box home and assembled it for a test and found out it reall didn't work at all!

 

[Linda Thompson]

Well, if oak is out, maple is pretty much your only other choice. A couple of the beeches might work, but I have my doubts.

See if you can find a supplier who'll let you take home samples (several pieces, if possible) of ALL the maples, and go from there. With just pictures to go by, it's so hard to tell about things like overall lighting, etc.

Good luck!

 

[Mark Paquette]

Philip_G, you have my kitchen! Your cabinets and vinyl flooring are basically identical to mine. My house is 4 years old and I've stuggled with the same things you are, what color of flooring to replace the vinyl. I still haven't found anything that wouldn't clash with the cabinets. I'm thinking about doing large ceramic tiles, but have no clue how to install tile. I've installed wood flooring, but not ceramic. I'm interested to learn what your final choice is on a floor color.

 

[Brandon_T]

I swear those are the exact same cabinets I have, and I went with a wood laminate floor that looks like ceramic tile. It was a lighter grey with some minor accent colors. It looks terrific, and it cost me about $3.00 a sq.ft and I installed it myself

 

[DonnyD]

I often remodel kitchens and have used a variety of options for flooring. Laminites are a pretty good option but most persons select ceramic as a primary choice. It would definitely be mine. For that size kitchen, 12" laid staggered would look pretty good. Use a neutral tone tile with grout color that ties in the countertop........

 

[Philip_G]

Mark- is your house a KB? Might be the same floorplan, lol.

brandon- the cabinets are merillat "toffee maple" something or other. I chose them because they were different than the blonde maple you see around here, and my previously mentioned hate for all things oak.

Maybe I'll look at tile. The house is on a concrete slab so I've got a good subfloor and suppose I can lay tile right over the vinyl, I'll see what grabs me, tile might be cheaper anyway. No go on the grout matching counters though, counters are a bone colored corian, no way I want to keep white grout clean with two dogs, and I'm a slob
I guess tile is the smart choice as it provides more color options, I just liked laminate for its durability and ease of installation. Heck you don't even have to pull the baseboards.

 

[Shane Martin]

We went tile. I can post a picture of it if you want. It may actually work with your cabinet selection. Our cabinets are a shade darker.

 

[Evan M.]

I install and refinish floors on the side. Personaly I would opt for tile WAY before laminate. Tile will last and not sratch. If you have any water it wont get sucked up underneath and possibly cause damage. If you do choose to go laminate I would avoid Pergo. There are a ton of good laminates out there and Pergo is not one of them. Avoid the big box store if possible. They carry pretty cheep stuff. Go to a flooring store. Also DO NOT install tile over vinyl. The vinyl needs to come off. Vinyl has a little bit of cushion in it that will cause the tile to flex and crack.....even on a slab. The thinset will not adhear properly to the vinyl either. Best of luck to you. If you have anymore questions feel free to ask. Also visit the www.doityourself.com forums. They have a ton of good info and REAL pro's post and moderate the forums.

 

[DaveF]

As an owner, I just had to make this decision last year. I found that while tile is still more attractive than laminate, laminate patterns look very close to tile these days. Also, tilt in a kitchen will shatter dropped glass dishes, while there's a fair chance they will survive lamiante. And tile could be broken by a dropped pot, while lamiante may tear or scratch. Laminate is also a bit softer to walk on.

In the short term (a few years), laminate seemed a more livable material in the kitchen than tile.

Now, if there was a clear-coated tile, giving it some bounce and protecting the tile from breaks, that would be ideal!

 

[Evan M.]

This is also true but to a point. If tile is installed correctly you will have to beat the heck out of it to make it crack......but it does and can happen. Replacing a tile though really is quite simple and can take about 15 minutes to do.....the key is always buy an extra box of tile to keep on the side just in case. Still a good point though Dave.

I am certainly not denouncing laminate. There are FANTASIC looking laminates out there and to me a much nicer option than vinyl. I have installed laminates and they are nice and "soft" to walk on too. Certainly a great product that will only be getting better. I am just partial to the real macoy......wood and tile just have that nice solid real feeling to me. Also tile and wood increase the value of a home......not drasticaly but you will get your investment back when it is selling time. Another option is engineered wood. It is thinner than solid wood but hard as a rock and installs much like a laminate would.

 

[Philip_G]

Dave-
did you go with a laminate with a tile print then?
I had been looking at the wood prints.

There is always that quickie laminate/tile stuff lowe's sells, do they still sell it? the snap together and grout floating crap? Looked shady to me.

 

[DaveF]

That's good to know, as I'm not particularly house-handy.

 

[Evan M.]

Funny you say this because I actually thought of this conversation today. I was at a buddy's today and his daughter dropped a glass on the laminate....it didn't break. I said that was a nice that it didn't break, they then said that is what they like about the floor. They then said that they are planning on re-doing everything in tile and wood once the kid grows up though.........

 

[Philip Hamm]

Two words:

Bruce Hardwood - If you can find a maple you like, I'm not sure what they carry. My floors are a very dark cherry stained oak or ash. I also don't like oak in general, but the Bruce Cherry colored oak looks nice and matches my dark Cherry cabinetry very nicely.

Hardwood does dent and scratch, but it's very easy to clean, doesn't break stuff that falls as easily as tile, and looks great.

Tile's nice but it chips and cracks when you drop stuff.

Laminates that I have seen looks and feel cheap to me. I probably haven't seen good ones.

Personally I think vinyl flooring, much like Formica countertops, is highly underrated and underappreciated. For everyday durability and utility I'd take vinyl over either tile or laminate. We have vinyl in my wet bar and it's fabuous and attractive to boot. There are some nice vinyls out there.

Here's a photo of our empty Bruce Hardwood kitchen on closing day. Never mind the wack looking hanging lamps, they were temporary.

 

[Dave Poehlman]

We have a light shade of laminate flooring throughout our kitchen and dining area and let me tell ya, you can see every crumb on the floor. So, if you like sweeping... go with the lighter stuff.

Of course, you mentioned you have dogs.. so, you probably don't have to worry about crumbs much.

When I redo my floors, I'll be looking at something that hides dirt better.

BTW, I know it's a PITA and a little more expensive, but whatever you go with, I'd angle it 45° to break up the "squareness" a bit. That's my opinion.

 

[DarylA]

Philip-
Duraceramic tiles. Great product and several colors to choose from. http://duraceramic.carpetcourt.net/ Just had it installed. Am very pleased.
Daryl

 

[DaveF]

I just realized that I confounded "laminate" and "vinyl" throughout this discussion. Sorry for that. I have vinyl / linoleum flooring for my kitchen and bathrooms, which strongly resembles tile.
Agreed. Mine is a white base with sandy brown features and it shows scuffs from the vacuum cleaner and misc. crumbs from cooking.

 

[Philip_G]

Well, you DID say you weren't house-handy