Karndean or Amtico

redmalc

Hi
Arranging for a complete Kitchen revamp and refit shortly,just going through the quoting stages and we have now narrowed it down to two designs.
As anyone had Karndean or Amtico fitted in their kitchen if so what are the plusses and minuses for each,we are unsure if it is practical,we have no children or pets so not a lot wear,views please

suisidevw

Not a clue, but my brother has Karndean in his hallway and his kitchen, they have a baby and a choc lab and 2 years on it still looks incredible. I'd defo use!

Tall_Tone

Had Karndean in the kitchen for around 2 years and there is not a mark on it.
I have real wood throughout the rest of the downstairs, this stuff looks like wood, but does not feel like wood, so its fine in the kitchen, but would not be right (imho) in other rooms (apart from a bathroom)

There is not a huge amount between the two, except price, but both are better than the own brands people sell cheap which seem to break when you try to cut them.

seemasfriend

We have had Karndean flooring in our last two homes, the current one is an apartment and we have it throughout. I can't praise it enough. Easy to maintain, looks like new after seven years and we get compliments from almost every new visitor.

Hintza

We have Karndean in the bathrooms, perfect.

I would just ask what are the potential differences in height between the kitchen and other rooms.

We had decided on good old natural linoleum for our kitchen, but it became a drama to get the floor level (self build) built up by 20mm. We ended up putting in a stone floor (of 22mm) which is fantastic and we love it but at the time was a real compromise.

keystone

Karndean over Amtico every time for me. Its cheaper, easier to lay and in the fianl analysis your average Joe can't tell the difference when its down. I suppose Amtico might give higher points on the bragging rights scale though.

Cheers

madget_2

We've had Karndean in our kitchen for almost 4 years or so now and have been very happy with it. I'd certainly recommend it. Also, as Keystone, points out, it's the cheaper option! :-)

alisont

We had Kardean in our new kitchen fitted about 13 months ago - not a mark on it - love it - never had it before but would get it in the future again - fitter said it should last at least 12 years.

We had the boards underneath sorted out first as they were uneven and Kardean like to get their floors fitted just right.

We have just ordered some vinyl to replace carpet in the loo and bathroom - this will last for a few years until we get the bathroom refitted - then we will be looking at Kardean - I know I will notice the difference between the two!

My votes for Kardean

phoebe1989seb

Another vote for Karndean

We had it in the bathroom in the house-before-last for about eight years - it wore well with four cats and three humans, inc a teenager.

In our last house we had it in the kitchen - like another poster we chose it to match the original 1930s oak flooring throughout the rest of the downstairs.

In our current house we opted for solid limestone in the kitchen, but still chose Karndean for two of the bathrooms. Only issue we had was a scratch caused by careless fitter scraping something across it

CKdesigner

I'll be the lone voice of disagreement!

We have experience of both and Amtico is considerably better in my opinion. This was also voiced by close friends who had an Amtico floor for many years in their kitchen. Always looked like new even though they had kids that grew up and several Jack Russell dogs, unfortunately they had a bit of a flood in the kitchen and needed to lift the flooring to replace boards etc. They decided that they didn't want to put Amtico down again as they were advised by the flooring company that Karndean was as good and would be cheaper. After a couple of years the Karndean was showing serious signs of general wear and fading by the back door. Our friends are really unhappy with the Karndean and wished they had paid the extra for Amtico.

There are other alternatives though - I believe there is a German made product that is primarily made for commercial use but this only makes it slightly harder wearing than Amtico and I believe its slightly cheaper as well, can't remember the name if it though, sorry!

Also don't forget the Spacia range from Amtico, same quality, limited choice but seriously cheaper.

CK

Paul_the_Painter

Wear layer on the Amtico Spacia is a bit less than the "real deal" but nevertheless a great product. Given the huge fixed cost in having either, I'd go for the the Amtico, as per square metre there is not much difference.