I can’t believe this hasn’t been asked on here many times before, but a couple of searches turned up nothing really, so apologies if I am duplicating.

We’re nearing completion of an extension that will house open plan kitchen/lounge in the downstairs, concrete slab with underfloor heating all nicely encased.

Just totally can’t decide what sort of flooring; it’s between engineered wood and luxury vinyl at present. I would be happy to go with luxury vinyl if it didn’t feel like it looked like a compromise, but then equally would really prefer engineered wood if could avoid having to do any sort of regular maintenance such as re-oiling or lacquering. Lacquered engineered wood looks the better option if in a kitchen area, but I’m just going round in circles.

Anyone got anything to cut through all this?? The Karndean LVT stuff doesn’t look any cheaper at all than the EW stuff I’ve been courting, so it’s not even as is vinyl is going to be a cheaper option anyway…

We have just completed a similar project. We went with Karndean and couldn’t be happier with the result.
Had an engineered wood floor in our last place and we much prefer the Karndean.
I think it’s pretty critical to get someone really good to do the prep and fitting.

Karndean / Amtico. Mines been great,zero maintenance with 4 messy kids.

We’re just getting some karndean installed now. Ludicrous lead times on lots of their range as they have to come from Europe… :/

Fairly unanimous so far then… Thanks for these everyone, very useful.

I think that wood is a bad choice for a kitchen where stuff gets dropped (utentils/water/etc.) and has a couple of intensive wear areas (in front of the sink and hob)
We have Amtico in the hall and it’s excellent – but, as above, preparation and fitting is key.

We have oiled engineered oak in our whole house.
We want to re-do the kitchen with something else.
It works elsewhere, but isn’t ideal for the treatment a kitchen gets and im terrified of staining it etc…!

Alternatively, we have solid oak in our bathroom and kitchen with no problems whatsoever and it also has the advantage of not being plastic. It’s fine with being reasonably wet and doesn’t get marked easily, it’s oak, they used to make warships out of it.

We’ve got engineered wood downstairs, it’s great for skids in your socks.
It feels like wood rather than just looking like it. Got a bit battered in places from dropping stuff, but I’m not too fussed. Got enough material to it for resanding and treating if we ever wanted to.

We partly did it as a fast option to make the house livable as it is a floating click system. With time and the money I’d have ideally broken up the concrete floor to see if there were any flags underneath to use or to be able to put down some solid wood floors from stuff I have at work without losing several inches of height in the rooms – important in an old place with already limited door/ceiling height.

Karndean here for last 12 years and looks good still. Would have it again, or amtico. Wood would be great but we’d ruin it.

Engineered oak with osmo polyx oil finish. Very resistant to damage and if it does get stained, a quick rub with a scotch pad, wipe on some more oil and it’s good as new.

Karndean here for ten years, still looking good.

Tarkett oiled engineered wood here. 20 years on and it looks and behaves like a real wood floor.

It’s had a few deep cleans with detergent and then reoiled with linseed oil over its life. Only takes a few hours per room.

Thread drift. Is it possible to tell from looking if a floor is engineered wood or real wood? We have wood of some kind in our kitchen and the high wear areas need attention. Be good to know what it needs.

More great stuff thanks.

@nixie it is my understanding that it has to be engineered wood (ie. wood topped as opposed to “real wood” I believe) if being used with underfloor heating… Some of the samples of EW we’ve had look very very nice indeed, nice grainy surface. Perfect for pasta sauce to permeate nice and deep *rolls eyes*

Thanks. We don’t have underfloor heating, though given how crap the kickplate heater I’m considering it.

We put down ew over underfloor heating. We used lots of glue to try and make as water resistant as possible. I love it but it’s needing oil every 6 months to get rid of scuffs from chairs
But…there’s a bouncy bit over a tiny change in level between original house and extension which makes me think a flexi vinyl might have been better

Quickstep for me. Their top of the range stuff. Waterproof, scratchproof, wipe down and really does look like a wood floor. Obviously, laminate rather than engineered wood or vinyl but really really good.

Plastic floors are just that…plastic. I did install Amtico in some bathrooms but soon tired of it. I’ve got solid wood floors throughout the house and love it. It’s the real thing! Possibly better to go for a full plank engineered floor over underfloor heating though.

Btw I’ve had this floor since 2005, in the kitchen area too and it still looks great.

We’re looking at flooring too. Currently considering LVT. Had Karndean in a previous house and it was excellent. Hall, kitchen, bathroom and it looked like knew when we moved out.