The Best Tiles for The Kitchen

When it comes to flooring, most people are so preoccupied with the living room that they forget how utterly important the flooring design of the kitchen is.

The kitchen is often contaminated by kitchen fumes and grease. The frequent use of water in the kitchen makes the slippery floor a real safety hazard in this space. Therefore, the choice of tiles in the kitchen is in fact just as important as that in the living room.

The wide range of kitchen tiles options on the market makes reaching a decision a hassling business. What are the points of consideration in choosing tiles for the kitchen? Deco-Man’s here to give you some advice.

What kind of tiles for where

1. For the walls, matte and glossy tiles are recommended for the ease of cleaning, and a chic visual effect;

2. For the kitchen floor, matte tiles are more suitable because they are less slippery than other types when wet. Like the washroom, the kitchen is always more humid than other spaces in the house. We do not recommend using wall tiles on the floor since they are likely to absorb an excessive amount of water and become hard to clean.

Image: Couple Abode

3. Since kitchen fumes leave grease on practically all flat surfaces in the kitchen, do not use grooved tiles in the kitchen. When grease is accumulated in the grooves, cleaning them completely is virtually impossible. These dirty grooved tiles can, in fact, pose health hazards in your household.

4. The best tiles for the kitchen and the bathroom should have a low water absorbency. This is because water is almost always used in cleaning these spaces. Prolonged humidity exposure might cause water-absorbing tiles to come loose.

5. The colour of full-bodied tiles is the same all the way through the tile. They are the best choice for the kitchen floor, since this type of tiles is never glazed, which helps prevent slipping accidents.

Design: I-Chapter

6. If you really want tiled walls in the kitchen, opt for glazed tiles which are vibrant in colour and easy to clean. This kind of tiles has low water-absorbency, high strength and anti-bacterial properties.

7. For smaller kitchens, large tiles make space appear to be even smaller. In contrast, smaller tiles in a light shade can visually extend the space and make the kitchen look more spacious.

8. Laying tiles of only one colour might make space look boring. The general rule for choosing tile colours is not limiting the variation to 3 tones. Patterned tiles can be used to decorate the floor and add a bit of spice to the kitchen.

HKDecoman, now going global as Deco-Man, is a Hong Kong-based renovation platform which provides professional consultancy services and pioneers in the development of A.I. homeowner-engineer matching. We aim at educating the public about the art of home renovation and have our eyes on transforming the traditional renovation industry, bringing standardisation, transparency, convenience and automation to the business.