There are few rooms that can excite the senses like the kitchen, and few features spice up a cooking space like an amazing kitchen floor. Of course, your chosen surface (as with your backsplash, counters, and kitchen island) must stand up to repeated foot traffic and the occasional mess, but it also presents an opportunity for showstopping design.
But where do you even begin? According to San Francisco–based designer Noz Nozawa, you should consider what kind of space you’re working with. “The first factor is where the kitchen lives in your home,” she says. “Is it part of an open-concept great room, where there will be a very visible flooring transition between kitchen and living space? Is the kitchen in its own room? Then the balance of style versus utility really comes down to the people who live there!” China Indoor Tiles
If you’re a person who prioritizes easy clean-up, for instance, consider forgiving surfaces like porcelain tile. If you’re craving a rustic farmhouse look (and don’t mind scrubbing grout), consider gorgeous terra-cotta tiles. “As ubiquitous as they are, I absolutely love hardwood floors in a kitchen. There’s something very warm and easy about them,” Nozawa adds. “But I also love large-format tiles where there are fewer grout lines to keep up with.” The upshot? You do you. “Don’t let fear of water damage or spills influence your kitchen flooring choices!” the designer insists. “As someone whose dishwasher has absolutely flooded my kitchen before, I get it, but try instead to make design choices based on the best life you can dream of for your kitchen space.”
Craving even more kitchen floor ideas? Look no further than the ELLE DECOR archive, where designers have proved time and time again that kitchen flooring needn’t be boring, be it classic checkerboards, paved tiles, or sleek marble underfoot. No matter what you ultimately choose, your guests are bound to be floored.
This Bay Area kitchen is blessed with sky-high ceilings (not to mention towering redwoods within view outside) and Nozawa accentuated the height via white walls, cabinets, and ceilings but kept the look grounded with chocolate-y timber floors. “There’s something very warm and easy about them,” she tells ELLE DECOR of wood floors. Bonus: The vintage rugs add an additional dash of color.
The creative challenge for this Parisian apartment designed by architect Elliott Barnes was to use a single material throughout the home. Barnes selected Vals quartzite, a durable and luxurious stone for all of the home’s floors, including here in the kitchen where their smoky hue is in perfect contrast to stainless steel cabinets.
The kitchen in this Spanish-style home, the residence of design-world insiders Joe Lucas and David Heikka, features charming glazed terra-cotta floors that were original to the house. The couple opted to keep them and simply douse the cabinets in a complementary bright blue.
You can’t get much sleeker than this minimalist kitchen in the Los Angeles home of Mara Brock Akil. ELLE DECOR A-List designer Tiffany Howell opted to keep the existing cool gray stone tile floor, a move that matches the twin stainless-steel islands and Arabescato marble walls.
Planks feel plain? Opt for a parquet pattern—as shown in the Brooklyn home of Mars Hobrecker and Coco Romack—which achieves a similar visual effect as tile but without all of those pesky grout lines.
You’d never guess that this petite kitchen used to be a retro bathroom clad entirely in blue marble. Rather than ripping out the material, L’Objet founder Elad Yifrach embraced it, creating a one-of-a-kind look that now ranks among our favorites in ELLE DECOR kitchen history.
In some spaces, checkerboard flooring has the potential to feel busy, but designer Michelle R. Smith loosened things up by creating four-tile squares in lieu of alternating single tiles. To that we say, checkmate!
Every material was chosen with care in Montana Labelle’s enveloping Toronto home. Here in the kitchen, large-format stone tiles set the stage for a sculptural kitchen island and a killer custom tile backsplash.
Like the look of wood flooring but hoping to amp up the drama? Go to the dark side! In designing Cameron Diaz’s New York pad, ELLE DECOR A-List Titan Kelly Wearstler chose a black stained option, the perfect balance to all of the jewelry-box tones around it.
If you’re looking for a French touch in your cooking space, take a page out of ELLE DECOR A-List Titan Robert Couturier’s book. In this charming Manhattan townhouse, he paved the floor in a country-chic pattern of red and white cement tiles.
Can there ever be too much of a good thing? Pas de tout in the case of this Paris apartment. Designer Hugo Toro lined not only the floor, but also the countertops and walls in Brèche de Médicis marble.
Materials rule the roost in this ultrachic Milan apartment designed by Hannes Peer. Travertine kitchen floors, in an icy palette inspired by the Alps, create a chic base against timber-clad walls, dark marble countertops, and gleaming brass cabinets.
Art historian Carolina Vincenti naturally selected antique cement tiles from 1925 to cover the kitchen floors of her Rome apartment. Matching yellow walls (and a feline companion!) complete the sunny look.
Designer Amaro Sánchez de Moya selected a classic checkerboard pattern in Carrara and Nero Marquina marbles for this happy kitchen in a Seville pied-à-terre. The black-and-white floor pops against the white cabinets, ceiling, and walls and complements the black appliances. The whimsical backsplash tiles, meanwhile, are antique.
It’s no wonder that a pair of Capirote restaurateurs have a standout kitchen in their home designed by Giuliano Andrea dell’Uva. The wall tiles are of a custom design, and the eye-catching hand-poured terrazzo floor was influenced by the late-19th-century Villa San Michele on the island.
Designer Steven Gambrel, whose name is synonymous with vibrant kitchens, created a custom 3D-effect floor in this Chicago home with oak that had been ebonized, fumed, and waxed.
In the kitchen of this St. Petersburg apartment designed by Tim Veresnovsky, the parquet floor is striking against the striped eucalyptus veneering of the kitchen cabinets, counters, walls, chair—and even the pendant.
Exposed brick isn’t just for your walls: Designer Shawn Henderson’s rustic floor in the kitchen of his upstate New York farmhouse stand out against the bleached oak cabinetry.
Taking inspiration from Art Deco–era buildings, designer Bradley Stephens created a custom kitchen floor in this New York apartment with varying terrazzo inlaid with brass lines.
We love the hypnotic blue-patterned floor tiles by Emery & Cie that English firm Retrouvius used in the kitchen of this London townhouse.
Anna Fixsen, Deputy Digital Editor at ELLE DECOR, focuses on how to share the best of the design world through in-depth reportage and online storytelling. Prior to joining the staff, she has held positions at Architectural Digest, Metropolis, and Architectural Record magazines. elledecor.com
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