Kitchen floor tiles

• How to buy kitchen flooring
• Effective flooring and worktop combinations
• Kitchen flooring facts
• Kitchen floor tiles
• Industrial-style flooring
• Wood and other natural flooring
• Flexible kitchen flooring
• Flooring shopper's checklist
• Useful flooring contacts

Stone floor tiles come in such a wide range of sizes, colours and textures that they can complement any style of kitchen - from country to contemporary.

Maintenance wise, even the best-quality limestone is porous, so it will suffer some wear and tear. Having said that, the latest sealants are very effective and, once applied, the floor should be easy to maintain.

Porcelain tiles are possibly one of the most versatile types of floor tiles, as they can can be made to look exactly like anything from limestone to concrete, modern metallics to weaves. The newest ranges include a wood effect, which is virtually indistinguishable from the real thing.

The bonus is that, as porcelain is maintenance-free and very durable, very often these tiles are more resilient than the materials they mimic!

Quartz composite tiles are part stone and part tile - containing around 38% quartz - and don't require sealing. One of the huge advantages is that you can have a matching work surface in the same material.

To add glamour, choose a composite with metallic flecks - this looks fabulous, especially when teamed with stainless steel.

Ceramic tiles are primarily made from clay and other natural materials, and come in many different shapes, colours and textures. They're less expensive than porcelain, but tend to be manufactured with fewer straight edges and square corners, which means that grout lines need to be thicker, resulting in a more grid-like finish.

If you go for glazed Moroccan or Syrian tiles, though, the appearance of these tiles can still be beautiful.

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