Porcelain Tiles for the Kitchen
Porcelain tile for the kitchen is a beautiful and durable choice. Porcelain tile comes in a rainbow of colors, allowing you to imitate stone floor tiles or go with something bright and colorful. Porcelain flooring is a bit expensive, but the durability makes it a cost effective flooring. Porcelain tiles are harder to cut than ceramic tiles so are best left to professional installers. Porcelain tiles for kitchen flooring may be just the way to go because porcelain kitchen tile is easy to care for and durable.
Most people think of porcelain as being fragile and easy to break, but in fact, porcelain flooring is very durable and is one of the strongest flooring choices available today. The beautiful hues and color variations of porcelain tile make it a sought after flooring choice for just about anywhere in the home. Porcelain tiles are also used on countertops, backsplashes, walls and around spa tubs when used in the mosaic form. It is easy to create a look all your own with all of the many porcelain tiles that are available.
Why should you use porcelain tiles for kitchen flooring? There are many reasons but the most important reason is the high traffic that a kitchen normal sees. In typical homes, the kitchen is the most used room in the entire house, so it is very important to choose flooring that is durable, easy to clean, and will be able to withstand years of wear and tear. Porcelain tile is a very hard and durable surface that will be able to withstand all of the abuse that your family will give it.
Porcelain tile is more expensive than ceramic tile, but is cheaper than the other types of stone flooring. If your budget will not support stone flooring, then you may want to consider porcelain tile. The beautiful color variations of porcelain tile can give you the same feel as stone, without the price tag, or let you go wild and bold. The large porcelain tiles helps to give a room a large, open feeling, and it looks wonderful too.
Porcelain kitchen tile is not a flooring that most do-it-yourselfer's can install themselves because of the hardness of the tiles. The hardness comes form being fired at very high kiln temperatures (1200-1350 degrees Celsius, or 2192-2462 degrees Fahrenheit). Tiles are measured by MOH (measure of hardness), a scale developed by the Porcelain Enamel Institute; ratings of 6-7 are quite common. Due to this hardness, it takes special tools and machines to cut the tiles. This makes it more difficult as most homeowners do not own or don't typically own or know how to work these machines. Unless you are experienced at installing porcelain tile, then you may want to leave the installation to professionals to make sure that it will be installed well.
While some salespeople tell consumers that they do not have to worry if their porcelain tile chips because the color runs entirely through the tile, in some cases this is not true. Some tiles only have color in the tile glaze while others have color running through the body of the tile. It's good to ask before you purchase your porcelain kitchen tile which style you have. You don't want to find that out after you have a chip in your tile.
Porcelain tiles for kitchen flooring are a great choice. The durability and ease of maintenance are great benefits to having porcelain tile in the kitchen. The beautiful colors will make your kitchen look great instantly no matter what design style that you have. The beautiful porcelain tile will add value to your home and interest to your kitchen. If you are looking for a wonderful high-end look for your kitchen, then porcelain tiles are a great choice.
Useful. I searched all over for a straight answer to the question: Could I and should I use porcelain tile in the kitchen - and now I know.
This is a great place for simple information about flooring.
Mark at October 17, 2007 9:34 PMWe are doing a complete remodel. Our cabinets will be creamy light oak stain. Our counters will be Ladies' Dream Granite (lava layers of beige gray burgundy). Very mural. This will be on the island as well. I am suggesting porcelain floor medium tones with a quiet pattern. My husband likes a tile with same colors but with a definite pattern. It has charater, but I feel they will both be too strong.The kitchen is 15'x11'. help!
Liz & len at July 7, 2008 7:43 AMLiz
Ladies' Dream is beautiful, it will look wonderful on the countertop and island countertop. I'm inclined to agree with you about the flooring tile though, I too think something softer in color would look better and really help to make the Ladies' Dream stand out. It sounds like you want your countertops to be the focal point in your kitchen and a patterned floor is going to detract from that and make the whole space seem 'too busy'.
The Flooring Lady at July 7, 2008 11:14 AMWe had approx. 900 sq ft of porcelain tile installed in our home about 2 years ago. We have a problem with it showing dirt easily especially in the kitchen. When we take up the throw rugs to mop, you can see the area where the rug was and even after mopping you can still see the discolored area. Is there something we are doing wrong? We use either Simple Green or vinegar in a commercial mop bucket along with a commercial mop to clean it. Thanks for your suggestions/help.
Brenda
brenda mcneil at March 14, 2009 12:07 PMWas your flooring sealed after installation? If so, it may need resealed again - after you remove the stains.
A couple products to try that may help would be StainSolver -- it would
The Flooring Lady at March 16, 2009 8:30 AMbe better than OxyClean because it's got more bleaching action and Enviro-One -- it's been good for
stain removal in general. You might also want to check out the products available at AquaMix - they have very good products and they're also very happy to answer questions when you call them. Good luck!
I am moving to AZ with my family and the house we purchased has a porcelain living space were I would like to put a pool table. What kind of problem would I have if a ball hits the tile?
Rob at May 2, 2009 7:34 PMHi Rob,
The Flooring Lady at May 3, 2009 12:53 AMIt depends on the porcelain itself, though yes, I would think that billiard balls would be hazardous to the tile's health. :~( Porcelain tile is strong, but can crack and chip - the thinner it is, the more likely it is that this can happen.
My name is Rev.Mike Larry i am with the Presbyterian Church of God and i
will like to porcelain wall tiles,below is the
specification of my inquiry:Models: All Models
Colors: any colors that you have ,
the sizes ;
Description:
300x300 matt brown stone effect ceramic floor tile.
OR
400x400cm matt brown stone effect floor tile.
if you any of this size email me back with the total cost of .
revmike larry at July 23, 2009 4:44 AMQuantity:300 pics of that
kindly email me with a total pickup price of 300 pics ..I will like you to send me an
email response with the picked up price for this sizes and if you don't have this
size or type available kindly email me with the sizes you have available. I will
like to know your forms or terms of payment you accept Kindly respond to me as soon
as possible for us to proceed further with the order.
thank you
larry
Hi Rev. Mike, I'm sorry, but this is just an informational site. I don't actually sell flooring.
The Flooring Lady at July 23, 2009 1:36 PMCan you recommend a porcelean floor tile color for me. I have cherry cabinets and Imperial green granite counters.
Jim at September 23, 2009 8:20 PMJim,
It is really hard to make a decorating choice when you cannot see the actual room. The color of the flooring would really depend on your personal taste. But sometimes using the same material/color for both kitchen flooring and countertops helps unify the kitchen and gives it a more sophisticated and up-to-date look.
The Flooring Lady at September 25, 2009 11:40 AM