I’m in the middle of doing a new kitchen and had been planning STW style to put in engineered wood floor after. Dogs/kids/bikes/etc all go over it.

One of my mates has told me that I should look at vinyl floor tiles that look like wood planks eg like engineered wood – I’ll admit that I didn’t realise that his (fairly new) kitchen had them as I thought it was real/engineered wood.

Has anyone used them? Some online research shows that there are loads available and they seem to get good reviews. I just wonder if they’re sort of OK but not really that good and after a year I’ll wish I’d done it ‘properly’ with real wood.

karndean and amtico do them.

I have them in the bathroom as I dont like wood where there can be leaks/splashes. Its not as varied as real wood, but the effect works OK.

Had Karndean in the old house and it was excellent. Would recommend.

My neighbours got wood effect tiles in her kitchen I was really surprised at how realistic they were to the point I had to actually tocuh them before I believed her.

http://www.toppstiles.co.uk/section1427/page1/wood-effect-tiles

Another Karndean fan here. We had some handmade furniture delivered and they said “We could have stained this to match your oak flooring”…………….

We also use it at work where it has been pummeled by roller chairs 24 hours per day, 7 days a week and it still looks fine after several years use. Other surfaces were destroyed in weeks.

Thanks guys – this sounds great. Karndean i had a quick look and they have loads of styles which is good.

No negatives though – surely someone will want to call it shite or say that it looks plastic or rubbish or sommmat? 🙂

Some of the Karndean stuff gets expensive very quickly.

Don’t forget you’ll need a decent base – plywood or scree underneath which addd to cost.

Theres another company called Polyflor (that used to do shops and now getting into domestic market) which is basically the same stuff, just cheaper (think the brand names are Camaro and Colonia) – a more limited range of wood effects but better prices.

My G/F has karndean in her house and it is excellent. She had to cut a hole in the floor to re-route her gas pipe and had to patch in a section with new pieces and you wouldn’t be able to tell where the join was. Testament to how well it lasts.

It’s recommended to get it fitted by experienced fitters as I could imagine it would look pony if not done properly.

Used quite a bit of Amtico in a project last year. As above, some of the ranges get quite pricey. We used one of the cheaper ones, and despite that it looks pretty good. Wouldn’t realise its not wood unless you got down on your hands and knees. Infinitely better than laminate. It was in a commercial nursery, and they use it in all their premises, so it must be hardwearing.