Really should a kitchen ground match the countertops you’ve chosen for the room? It’s a selection you’ll have to have to make whether you’re planning a whole remodel of your kitchen area suggestions or simply just upgrading your area with brand-new kitchen area flooring and substitution cabinet counter tops.
The flooring is fairly actually the foundation of your kitchen area, and as these kinds of, it demands to do the job along with your cabinetry and counter tops to generate a cohesive, nicely-designed room. There are execs and downsides to matching your kitchen flooring with countertops, particularly if your counters are extremely light or incredibly dark. You will also need to have to imagine about the cupboards, which occur involving the two the flooring and the perform surfaces.
We’ve quizzed Residences & Gardens specialists and interior designers to find out the execs and drawbacks of matching your floors and countertops or opting for contrasting colors in your kitchen design.
Really should a kitchen ground match counter tops?
Most of the pleasure and strength we put into a kitchen transform arrives with deciding on the cabinets and countertops – after all, they are the fundamentals of any kitchen area structure. But there is certainly an argument that we should really choose the floor initial, as that will tell each individual layout final decision we make just after, such as irrespective of whether the kitchen area floor really should match or distinction with the countertops.
‘Flooring is a person of decorating’s most significant conclusions: it is the foundation issue, both equally literally and visually, for almost everything else,’ asserts interior designer Abigail Ahern in her new e book, Masterclass (opens in new tab). ‘Every look at and piece you area in a area will be affected by what is underneath, so search upon your flooring as the base on which all other decorating conclusions are designed.’
Mild or dark, patterned or basic, your kitchen area flooring and countertops can function in partnership, or else be beautifully distinctive in their layout. The finest possibility will rely on the dimensions of your home, the search of your cabinets, and the amount of money of light-weight in the area. You could also want to look at adjacent or linked parts, these as a utility space or pantry, a dining room or kitchen area having location, or a seating and living spot inside an open-strategy kitchen.
The professionals of matching kitchen flooring and countertops
(Impression credit: Humbert & Poyet/Francis Amiand)
Lucy Searle, World Editor in Main of Residences & Backyards, is a professional when it arrives to building kitchens – she has reworked nine kitchens of her possess and picked up a ton of experience along the way.
‘My tip would always be to search at your flooring, cupboard, and countertop options up coming to each other, to check that the shades, textures and end, and materials, all search very good together,’ she claims.
‘The benefit of matching your counter tops to your kitchen flooring is that you have a continuity of color and finish, specifically if your cabinetry also matches the appear. Traditional illustrations are a marble countertop with a marble tile ground for luxe enchantment, a concrete counter with a gray concrete flooring, or wood countertops with a complementary wood kitchen ground.
The cons of matching kitchen area flooring and countertops
(Graphic credit score: Charles Yorke)
The draw back of matching kitchen flooring with countertops is that you can have too considerably of a excellent issue.
‘Most people’s views about creating a kitchen are all to do with the design and style of the units, but in actuality, the partitions, flooring, and worksurfaces are the major spots of the home and so will make a substantial perception,’ describes Katherine Sorrell, a previous Associate Editor of Residences & Gardens and writer of Space and Mild: How to Maximize the Potential of your Household (opens in new tab).
‘It actually is dependent on your taste and the search you want to realize,’ states Houses & Gardens’ Lucy Searle, ‘but I would be cautious of replicating a patterned tile kitchen area floor on a countertop except if you happen to be aiming for a Mediterranean or Moroccan-impressed plan.
‘Similarly, a white kitchen area can seem sterile and missing in character if each surface area, like the ground, is a gleaming and shiny white – you want some light-weight and shade to introduce depth and character. Even though dark kitchen cupboards and black kitchens can glance mind-boggling without a lighter floor that provides contrast and lifts the scheme.’
Matching a darkish kitchen area ground with dark counter tops
(Image credit: John Lewis of Hungerford)
The choice you make about matching your kitchen area flooring with your countertops – or not – might count on whether or not you feel kitchen countertops should be gentle or darkish. Match dark with darkish, or gentle with mild, and you can bring a streamlined, cohesive glimpse to your plan, in particular if the kitchen area cabinets are in the very same tone, so they act as a bridge among flooring and countertop, rather than breaking up the coloration and move.
‘The three variables you have to always contemplate are pattern, texture, and shade,’ states designer Abigail Ahern in her reserve Masterclass. ‘Unsurprisingly, gray is the most preferred colour for flooring – it’s an quick neutral that works with any design. Dark floors are also attractive as they can truly feel cozy and refined, when light-weight floors make rooms experience ethereal.
‘If you’ve inherited wood flooring but they’ve noticed far better times, like I did in my property, instead than ripping them out, look at portray or staining them. It is so much a lot more value-productive than entirely changing them, and the seem is timeless.
‘There’s been a go absent from white and ethereal in the direction of darker, far more saturated hues just lately, but this is a quite personal preference. I would say that with darker flooring it’s simpler to see any imperfections, but I enjoy them.’
Matching a mild kitchen area ground with gentle countertops
(Graphic credit rating: BA Restored & Funktional Place/Kacey Gilpin Images)
The advantage of matching a gentle ground with mild-colored counter tops is the ethereal brightness they will provide to a scheme. Pale surfaces will replicate organic and artificial mild, so are a very good preference possibly to showcase the attractiveness of a gentle-filled home or to lift a space that is generally in shadow.
‘Use pale hues with unobtrusive patterns (naturals this sort of as the grain of wooden or the patina of stone, or subtle, abstract, or natural and organic prints), and incorporate a variety of lovely textures – potentially including wicker baskets to stone shelves, or a linen blind to a window over a ceramic sink,’ indicates Katherine Sorrell in her e book House and Gentle.
‘A wood flooring which is either polished or painted a pale coloration will actually assist to mirror mild, as very well as glazed ceramic tiles, some vinyl, or rubber,’ carries on Katherine. ‘Worksurfaces could be manufactured from wooden, stone, metallic, laminates, stable materials or even concrete – check out to pick out anything that is as glossy, clean and gentle in shade as achievable.’
