All about ceramic floor tiles in the kitchen

In the ratio of price and quality, ceramic tiles are the best option for finishing the floor in the kitchen, and therefore the most popular. Find out how to choose the perfect floor tile, following our customer information, and also get ideas for floor design from the selection of photo interiors.

Pros and cons of the tiled floor in the kitchen

Ceramic tiles have much more pluses than minuses:

• Due to its smoothness and antistatic properties, it is very easy to clean and does not fear aggressive cleaning agents.
• Can lie in good condition for at least 15 years.
• Stoically tolerates both flooding, and burning, and temperature changes (in contrast to wood / laminate).
• Allows you to locally repair the floor, replacing only the damaged areas.
• Ceramic / tile tiles are cheaper than porcelain stoneware, parquet and wooden boards and even more so of stone, but can adequately imitate the textures of natural materials.
• A variety of colors, textures, sizes of tiles and masonry patterns allows you to create a unique floor design and even correct some of the shortcomings of the room.

And here is the list of minuses of tiles and ways to minimize them:

• Ceramics are very cold, so it is desirable to combine it with system of warm floors (good material has excellent heat conductivity). You can also tile only the working area, and the dining room to decorate with warmer material – wood. Below is an example of combined floors with tiles and laminate.

However, you can do even easier and lay down the floor mats and get in the habit of moving around in the kitchen in slippers.

• Another drawback of ceramics is the poor sound insulation, which is corrected with an additional soundproof layer.
• The tile is somewhat traumatic due to its slipperiness and stiffness. The bruises on the tiled floor are more painful than on wood or linoleum.
• Ceramics can crack if you drop something heavy on it, say, a cast-iron frying pan. By the way, accidentally falling on the floor utensils will inevitably be broken.
• Laying tiles – it’s pretty troublesome and messy. It is necessary to accurately calculate the consumption of the material, properly lay it, and most importantly – to make the base perfectly smooth. After all, if there are voids under the tile, then it will necessarily crack. Therefore, all repair work is best to trust the masters-tilers, and not to take up the job yourself.

Quality indicators and labeling

How to choose a tile on the floor in the kitchen, which will withstand increased traffic, frequent washing with chemicals and constant temperature changes? To determine the quality of the material, marking on the package will help.

• For the kitchen, tile not lower than class III on the scale of wear resistance PEI or at least grade 5 according to the State Standard is suitable. Also on the raised wear resistance the sign of a foot on the shaded background can inform.
• Floor tiles can be 1, 2 or 3 grades. The first grade of tiles allows only 5 defective tiles per hundred, and the third – 25 or more.
• When choosing a floor tile, make sure that it is truly floor standing. This will tell you a sign in the form of a foot. Wall tiles with a palm sign for flooring are not good. By the way, floor tiles, on the contrary, can be stacked on the floors and walls.
• To the floor as little as possible scratched, choose the tile that has a hardness of at least 7 units by the Mohs scale. Then neither the sand brought from the street, nor the knife or glass shattered on the floor will damage the surface of the ceramic.
• Which tile should I choose for the kitchen – glossy or matte? From the point of view of practicality, matt or semi-matt tiles are preferable, since it is more resistant to scratches and abrasion. The main thing is that the matte tiles do not have a pronounced relief and roughness, otherwise it will be difficult to take care of it. Glossy tiles are very beautiful, easy to clean and visually facilitate the space, but, unfortunately, can only have 5 or 6 points on the Mohs scale, and therefore easily damaged by harder materials – sand, glass and metal.

• To the floor in the kitchen was not too slippery, you should choose a tile with a friction coefficient of at least 0.75. By the way, if for you in the priority of safety movements in the kitchen, then we advise you to choose a tile slightly rough as in the photo below and with a slight relief. Unfortunately, such a coating is somewhat more difficult to maintain than a smooth or glossy tile.

• To ensure that the floor in the kitchen can withstand washing, even with aggressive cleaning agents, choose the least porous tile with minimal moisture absorption, that is, a tile marked with AA.

Of course, the higher the quality, the more expensive the price. Typically, the price of a good tile without an overpayment for the design and brand is from 20 to 36 euros per square meter.

Dimensions and formats

The form of floor tiles / ceramic tiles is often rectangular or square.

• The most common sizes are the formats: 20 × 20, 25 × 25, 20 × 30, 30 × 40, 33 × 33, 40 × 40 cm and their variations, departing from the canons by 1-3 cm. Often there is also a small-format tile 15 × 15 and 10 × 10 cm.

The format and size of the tile determines not only the appearance of the floor in the kitchen, but also the final cost and complexity of the finish, the amount of waste and cut tiles. Here are a few tips for choosing a size and shape:

1. Ideally, the size of the tiles should be such that when stacking them, pruning was required at a minimum and waste was formed as little as possible. Calculate the right amount of tiles and determine the optimal size for your kitchen size will help the drawing layout. The simplest calculations and drawings can be made independently, armed with a calculator, a notebook and a calculation guide (cf. here).

2. Calculation of complex layouts is best entrusted to a specialist. The main thing is to give him the exact dimensions of the kitchen taking into account all the features (ledges, niches, pipes, etc.), choose several tile options that you like, and decide on the layout pattern. As a rule, the service of the designer-designer is provided free of charge with the subsequent ordering of the material.

After calculating the exact number of tiles, add to this number another 10-15% of the stock. It is necessary for sure in case of battle, detection of marriage and local floor repairs in the future. If suddenly purchased tiles are not enough, the risk is great not to find a tile of the same tone / caliber.

3. Before paying for the purchase, make sure that all boxes have the same gauge, that is, the actual size, which may differ from the nominal by 5-7 mm. The caliber is indicated on the package next to the nominal size, for example, like: 30 × 30 cm (W288x288 mm) or just an alphabetic / numerical code like in the example photo below. By the way, such an error is not a marriage, but only a technological feature of the production of ceramics.

4. If the base is uneven, then for its finishing it is necessary to choose a tile 10 × 10 cm or 15 × 15. So the differences in the floor will be the least noticeable, and the coating will be very strong. True, a small tile to lay and keep clean is somewhat more difficult.

Tile Tone

In addition to caliber, the most important is the tone of the tile, that is, the actual shade of the claimed color. The fact is that the tone always differs slightly from batch to batch, despite the same color and belonging to one collection. The difference between the various tiles may seem quite insignificant, but after styling, most likely, will become noticeable. The error in shades is the same feature of the production of ceramics, which producers decide by sorting the material according to the tone.

Buying a tile or taking delivery of goods at home, check the match of the tone on all boxes. It is usually indicated next to the caliber in the form of an alphabetic or numeric code.

What can I do if the tiles of one tone are not enough? In this case, take the tile as close as possible to the main one and lay it where it will be least noticeable. For example, under the kitchen set, refrigerator or under the table.

Floor design, tile color and styling options

And now let’s talk about the most interesting – planning the design of the flooring, choosing the color, texture and pattern of the layout of the tiles. Here are some tips that you should take into service:

• If small kitchen, then push the walls will help tiles laid on a diagonal, herringbone or in a runaway. Remember that too large tiles can visually “squeeze” and without that a small space.

• If the kitchen is narrow, then the tile should be chosen rectangular and lay it across the floor.
• On spacious kitchen floor tiles are preferred medium or large size, small tiles risk getting lost and reloading the interior with a number of seams. However, keep in mind that the larger the tile, the less its strength.

• Tiled floor without seams (from rectified tiles) – universal and easy to care for. However, because the coating is almost monolithic, it becomes less durable.
• If the kitchen lacks natural light, then the warm shade of the floor will be most organic. Conversely, if the room is sunbathed most of the time, then the tile should be chosen for a cool shade, for example, gray or blue.
• Light and medium saturation tiles, oddly enough, are much more practical than dark, for example, black or dark brown. Spots, drops of water, crumbs and dust on it are practically invisible. However, too light tiles have a weak spot – seams, which quickly get dirty and eventually darken.

• Floor tiles should be combined with walls or other elements of the interior – an apron, a kitchen set and even curtains. For example, the color of the tile can be selected in the tone of the picture on the wallpaper or in the same style with the apron as in the interior on the photo below.

• Most often, the floor plays the role of a neutral background, which does not interrupt other elements of the interior. But sometimes it is the floor covering that becomes the main accent, for example, if the tile is bright, with a contrasting trowel or with a pattern. In this case, it is very important to decorate the rest of the interior with sufficient restraint.
• As a rule, for modern interiors choose tile smooth, monophonic or imitating wood, stone, skin of reptiles and other unusual textures.

• For classical cuisines more suitable tile for a stone of a square shape and small size (from 10 × 10 cm to 30 × 30 cm), tiles for wood (though, it is usually a porcelain) or tiles with a pattern.

See also the material: How to put the tiles with your own hands.

In case of going to the store

Before going to the store carefully measure the kitchen, roughly determine the pattern of laying, the color and design of the coating as a whole.

• Do not forget to grab a notebook and a pen to write down the parameters of the vending options: the article, the price, the name of the manufacturer and the collection, and most importantly the dimensions (the caliber at the planning stage can be ignored). Back home, carefully consider what kind of tile to choose by size and design, calculate the consumption of material, if possible make layouts, read reviews and promontitor the market. Perhaps in some online store the tile of the article you need is cheaper.
• And again, we remind you that before you pay for a purchase, you need to recheck the caliber and tone of the boxes, and also buy material with at least 10% margin.

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