Should a kitchen area ground match the countertops you have chosen for the home? It truly is a selection you are going to need to have to make no matter if you’re arranging a comprehensive rework of your kitchen suggestions or only upgrading your space with manufacturer-new kitchen flooring and replacement cabinet countertops.
The flooring is pretty actually the basis of your kitchen area, and as this kind of, it needs to perform together with your cabinetry and countertops to make a cohesive, very well-created room. There are execs and cons to matching your kitchen area flooring with counter tops, particularly if your counters are pretty light or incredibly darkish. You are going to also need to believe about the cabinets, which occur among both the floor and the operate surfaces.
We’ve quizzed Houses & Gardens gurus and interior designers to find out the professionals and disadvantages of matching your floors and counter tops or opting for contrasting shades in your kitchen structure.
Need to a kitchen area flooring match countertops?
Most of the pleasure and energy we put into a kitchen area transform comes with picking the cabinets and countertops – soon after all, they’re the fundamentals of any kitchen area structure. But there’s an argument that we must pick out the ground to start with, as that will tell every single design selection we make immediately after, together with no matter if the kitchen ground really should match or distinction with the counter tops.
‘Flooring is 1 of decorating’s most significant conclusions: it is the basis level, each literally and visually, for almost everything else,’ asserts inside designer Abigail Ahern in her new e-book, Masterclass (opens in new tab). ‘Every perspective and piece you area in a room will be affected by what is underneath, so glimpse on your flooring as the base upon which all other decorating conclusions are built.’
Mild or dark, patterned or plain, your kitchen area flooring and counter tops can perform in partnership, or else be superbly unique in their design and style. The ideal solution will rely on the dimension of your place, the seem of your cabinets, and the total of light-weight in the place. You may possibly also want to consider adjacent or connected areas, these types of as a utility room or pantry, a eating space or kitchen ingesting area, or a seating and living spot inside an open-prepare kitchen area.
The professionals of matching kitchen area floor and counter tops
Lucy Searle, Worldwide Editor in Main of Properties & Backyard gardens, is a professional when it will come to developing kitchens – she has reworked nine kitchens of her individual and picked up a ton of knowledge together the way.
‘My idea would normally be to seem at your flooring, cabinet, and countertop possibilities following to each individual other, to look at that the hues, textures and end, and products, all glimpse good jointly,’ she states.
‘The advantage of matching your counter tops to your kitchen area flooring is that you have a continuity of color and complete, specifically if your cabinetry also matches the seem. Classic examples are a marble countertop with a marble tile flooring for luxe appeal, a concrete counter with a grey concrete ground, or wooden counter tops with a complementary wood kitchen area floor.
The cons of matching kitchen area flooring and counter tops
The downside of matching kitchen area flooring with counter tops is that you can have far too considerably of a excellent factor.
‘Most people’s views about designing a kitchen area are all to do with the style of the units, but in simple fact, the partitions, floor, and worksurfaces are the biggest locations of the home and so will make a massive impression,’ points out Katherine Sorrell, a former Associate Editor of Houses & Gardens and writer of House and Light-weight: How to Increase the Potential of your Property (opens in new tab).
‘It definitely relies upon on your flavor and the glimpse you want to attain,’ says Homes & Gardens’ Lucy Searle, ‘but I would be cautious of replicating a patterned tile kitchen area flooring on a countertop unless of course you are aiming for a Mediterranean or Moroccan-motivated plan.
‘Similarly, a white kitchen area can seem to be sterile and lacking in character if each individual surface, together with the floor, is a gleaming and shiny white – you need to have some light-weight and shade to introduce depth and character. Though dim kitchen area cupboards and black kitchens can glimpse frustrating without having a lighter floor that provides distinction and lifts the plan.’
Matching a dark kitchen floor with dark countertops
The conclusion you make about matching your kitchen area flooring with your countertops – or not – could rely on no matter whether you feel kitchen area countertops need to be light-weight or dim. Match dark with dim, or light with light-weight, and you may bring a streamlined, cohesive glance to your scheme, particularly if the kitchen cupboards are in the exact same tone, so they act as a bridge among flooring and countertop, somewhat than breaking up the color and movement.
‘The three variables you will have to normally take into consideration are pattern, texture, and shade,’ suggests designer Abigail Ahern in her reserve Masterclass. ‘Unsurprisingly, grey is the most preferred colour for flooring – it’s an quick neutral that is effective with any design. Dim floors are also beautiful as they can come to feel cozy and advanced, while mild floors make rooms feel ethereal.
‘If you’ve inherited wood floors but they’ve seen improved times, like I did in my residence, relatively than ripping them out, contemplate portray or staining them. It is so substantially a lot more value-efficient than entirely changing them, and the appear is timeless.
‘There’s been a shift away from white and ethereal in direction of darker, much more saturated hues a short while ago, but this is a really personal preference. I would say that with darker flooring it’s simpler to see any imperfections, but I love them.’
Matching a light-weight kitchen area ground with mild counter tops
The edge of matching a gentle floor with mild-colored counter tops is the ethereal brightness they will provide to a plan. Pale surfaces will reflect purely natural and synthetic gentle, so are a great choice either to showcase the attractiveness of a light-weight-crammed area or to raise a space which is normally in shadow.
‘Use pale colours with unobtrusive patterns (naturals this sort of as the grain of wood or the patina of stone, or delicate, summary, or natural and organic prints), and blend a wide range of beautiful textures – potentially incorporating wicker baskets to stone cabinets, or a linen blind to a window over a ceramic sink,’ suggests Katherine Sorrell in her e book Room and Mild.
‘A picket floor which is possibly polished or painted a pale colour will seriously support to mirror light, as very well as glazed ceramic tiles, some vinyl, or rubber,’ proceeds Katherine. ‘Worksurfaces may be made from wood, stone, metal, laminates, stable resources or even concrete – check out to opt for a little something that is as shiny, smooth and gentle in shade as probable.’