Is Amtico/Karndean good choice for family home?

[LV0210]

Hi,

I will be having new flooring for the living room and kitchen (it is an open plan floor). In terms of flooring I was initially going to have engineered wood (I will also have water underfloor heating installed) but while I was in John Lewis one of the advisors suggested Amtico for the floor as it is better with kids.

Have you had any experience with Amtico, Karndean (which is better?) or are there any other equivalents worth considering?

Thanks in advance.

[snowboarder]

We have karndean - I think it's cheaper than amtico (but still not cheap!). I really like it - we used it to replace a wood block floor. It doesn't scratch nearly as easily and can be replaced quite easily if you damage a small part. The only thing I don't really like is that we have it across our entire ground floor, laid over a combination of old wooden floorboards and a concrete floor in the extension area - and you can feel the difference underfoot despite the screed that they lay to ensure the whol area is completely flat. I don't think the difference was this marked with the wood floor. Also it's much slimmer in profile than wood (obv!) so we also had to replace all our skirting boards too...not an issue if you are starting from scratch I suppose but a pain (and extra expense!) for us.

It looks really great though...

[tomo]

We ummed and ached over this for sometime. We also originally wanted engineered wood for the whole of our downstairs. Having looked at the options though, we decided on a quality laminate floor. We used quickstep which was significantly cheaper than either Amtico or engineered flooring, but similarly doesn't scratch and is very hard wearing. We got a white washed wood effect board, but in a wider and longer length than the usual laminate. I think it looks great. The only negative is the pattern repeat in the laminate, because it's essentially a photograph of a piece of wood, so greater care is needed to not lay two identical planks next to one another. You do obviously get a variety of planks in the box. We also had the issue with the difference in height with the previous flooring. Our fitters took off the skirting and lowered it. We will have to redecorate, but we were planning on doing that anyway.

Overall we're really happy with our choice.

[popsy]

We've got karndean in our kitchen/utility room and think its great. We had originally wanted wood, but a few people said not great in a kitchen because if something leaks it can warp and rise up. A few months after karndean laid our brand new Bosch dishwasher leaked, so very pleased we didnt get wood! Id deff get it again. Almost identical to amtico, but cheaper and has a high quality finish if laid properly. Also been great with our toddler.

[indya]

We have Amtico and are very pleased with it. Very hard wearing and a number of attractive designs made it a good choice for us. Several years later it looks exactly the same and hasn't budged. Good luck with your flooring.