Choosing the Best Kitchen Floor Tile: What you Need to Consider

A quality kitchen floor tile will provide a long lasting finish in this busy part of the home, allowing for simple cleaning and maintenance while also adding a stunning design feature in the space. Floor tiles are available in a wide selection of different styles, sizes and even materials, allowing you complete creative freedom in choosing your own unique look for your home. In this guide, we look at the many fabulous designer tile solutions available and unpack what makes each option a great fit for different needs and interior design styles.

Kitchen Floor Tile Material Options

When shopping for your new kitchen floor tile, there are several different tile materials available to choose from, each offering its own unique style and benefits. From stylish porcelain tiles to natural stone, terracotta or concrete, the design possibilities are truly endless!

Porelain tiles are perhaps the most popular choice for use as a kitchen flooring solution thanks to their many impressive benefits. Porcelain tiles are almost completely non-porous, not requiring sealing in order to be protected against staining. These tiles are not only resistant to staining but also to water, heat and scratching, making them an excellent all-rounder type of tile that is perfect for use in a busy kitchen.

Next, natural stone floor tiles are another exciting choice, offering immense longevity along with a rich and timeless aesthetic that can easily tie in with an endless variety of interior design styles. Although natural stone tiles do require sealing in order to be protected from staining, they more than make up for this fact with their timeless beauty and immense longevity.

Terrazzo tiles offer an immensely long lasting and durable solution for the home. In this example, timber kitchen flooring has been combined with terrazzo tiles to create separate zones in an open plan home.

Concrete tiles, terrazzo tiles and even terracotta tiles can also be an excellent addition to this part of the home, once again offering an incredibly long lasting flooring solution with endless appeal and charm. Similar to natural stone tiles, concrete tiles (also referred to as encaustic tiles), raw terracotta tiles and terrazzo tiles will require sealing to be protected against staining. These tiles are available in a wide selection of vibrant colours, shapes and patterns, making them the perfect choice for those seeking to create a dynamic feature floor in their new kitchen design scheme that combines rich textures and vivid colours for a stand-out look.

Styles, Patterns & Textures: Trending & Timeless Floor Tile Solutions

Your choice of floor tiles for the kitchen will be dependent on a couple of key factors: your home’s architectural style and the design aesthetic of your new kitchen. Floor tiles are not just available in a selection of different materials but also in an endless variety of styles, patterns and textures, allowing you a world of freedom when it comes to finding your perfect match. From rich and vivid pattern tiles to striking natural stone designs and more, your choice of kitchen floor tile should create a bridge between the different colours and materials present in your kitchen design scheme to create an aesthetically balanced and cohesive colour palette.

Timber tiles are an incredibly popular porcelain tile flooring solution for the home kitchen as they create a modern yet timeless aesthetic that will add a layer of colour and texture in this part of the home. These types of tiles are designed to emulate the variations in colour, tone and texture as seen in a traditional timber flooring while providing all the benefits of a porcelain finish. Scratch, heat, stain and water resistant, porcelain tiles are an ideal solution for a busy home kitchen, ensuring an exceptionally low maintenance finish that can be used to create a continuous look throughout open plan home layouts.

Timber tiles can be used throughout open plan home layouts as a continuous flooring solution throughout the kitchen, living and dining areas. These fabulous tiles are available in a selection of realistic timber inspired styles, allowing you to take advantage of all the benefits of a porcelain finish while enjoying the beauty of timber in the home.

Terracotta tiles are another exceptional choice for the home kitchen. These rich and charismatic tiles will fill your home with a sense of warmth and comfort, adding a rustic quality to your interior design scheme that can easily be complimented with a range of earthy materials and textures such as weathered natural stones, raw timbers and soft linen fabrics. Similar to timber look tiles, you will also find terracotta inspired tile options made of porcelain which will ensure a low maintenance finish in this busy area of the home.

Blending the classic charm and beauty of traditional terracotta tiles with the immense durability of a modern porcelain finish, our fabulous Terrera collection is available in a selection of earthy colours in a variety of shapes that can be mixed together for a unique patterned floor finish.

While terracotta tiles and timber look tiles are a fabulous choice for those seeking to create a rustic aesthetic in their kitchen design scheme, large format porcelain tiles in stone or concrete inspired options will provide an excellent choice for more contemporary or modern design styles. These tiles are often a minimum size of 600 x 600mm and are designed to emulate the look and feel of natural stone or concrete, combining the rich aesthetic of these classic materials with the longevity and durability with a modern porcelain finish.

Sleek, modern and sophisticated, the fabulous Andale collection is available in an impressive array of large sizes that will create a seamless finish in your new kitchen design scheme.

Caring for your New Floor Tiles

When making your kitchen floor tile selection, it is important to take care and maintenance considerations into account as these may have an effect on your final decision. As noted above, certain tile materials such as natural stone, raw terracotta, terrazzo tiles and concrete/encaustic tiles will all require sealing in order to be best protected against staining. It is recommended that these types of tiles be sealed prior to installation as tile grout and adhesives may discolour the tile during installation if they are not protected. After installing your new tiles, you may then re-seal them for the very best protection after installation with this process being repeated every couple of years or so thereafter (depending on their wear).

If you would prefer not to have to seal tiles, you may instead look at using a porcelain kitchen floor tile instead. These tiles are almost completely non-porous which means that they will not absorb liquid or powder spills. Porcelain floor tiles are an excellent choice for busy homes as they will also offer a surface finish that is resistant to scratching, heat and moisture.

When it comes to cleaning your new tiles, most floor tiles will usually only require a simple sweep followed by a mop with warm, soapy water. You may also choose to include tile cleaning solutions in your routine that are specific to your chosen floor tile’s material. For more detailed information on caring for different types of tiles, see our Resources page here.

Your choice of kitchen floor tile should complement your home’s architectural style and your new kitchen’s specific design scheme and colour palette. From luxurious natural stone tiles to modern porcelain tiles and more, there are many exciting designer tile solutions available to choose from, each offering its own unique sense of style. If you are on the hunt for the best floor tiles in Melbourne, make sure to stop by our Richmond tiles showroom to explore our fabulous collection of designer tiles!