Kitchen Flooring

[daveskirrow]

Hi,

I've just ordered my new kitchen and its due to arrive in a couple of weeks. I'm going to be fitting it myself (with the exception of the worktop) which should be fun.... The wife is going to love me in 6 weeks when we have a half finsihed, lob-sided kitchen but anyway, I digress...

The question I have is about flooring. I'm still not decided for sure but I'm thinking about a tiled floor. I've installed floor tiles before so no probs there. Gut instinct tells me to rip out everything and fit the floor over the entire floor, much of which will be covered by units. The lazy side of me is thinking of fitting the units first without the plinths, then installing the tiles so that they go under the units by an inch or so then putting the plinths on so it appears that the tiles go all the way to the back.

Any potential problems with fitting the units first and floor tiles later? It will save me a lot of hassle and will mean the kitchen is out of use for less time if I can.

Cheers, Dave

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Problem with that is removing any appliances - you'll have a step. I suppose you could fill the bits not tiled with hardboard, etc, to bring it to the right height, but personally I'd start with a nice even floor throughout.

However you decide to do it, remember to take into account the thickness of the tiles and and mortar, etc.

[Andy Hall]

It's entirely reasonable to do this and you will save cost on tiles.

Where appliances fit, you can cut appropriate thicknesses of ply to make up the depth to allow sliding in and out, or simply tile where the appliances go.

You can then tile underneath the kitchen furniture a little way and rip the plinth boards down slightly.

[Christian McArdle]

Well, it is definitely cheaper to tile up to the units, rather than under them. It makes it less adaptable if you decide to change the layout later, though.

I only tiled up to the units.

Christian.

[daveskirrow]

Thanks for your replies guys, just what I wanted to hear :)