Tell me about your laminate floor (Opinions needed post #22!)

[Disney Ontario]

I hate our laminate flooring,its all one peice athe looks like squares with light blue pattern inside. After these years it looks alittle worn and darker sections here and there. At an angle it looks shiny but not straight on.
Has any one tried a product "Restore" for laminate floors? Shown on tv,one wash and makes it shiny for along time.

 

[ChrisnSteph]

Opinions needed - which one do you think looks better with my cabinets? My favorite is #2, but I'm afraid it's too much of a contrast.

#1

#2

#3

 

[corie161]

Opinions needed - which one do you think looks better with my cabinets? My favorite is #2, but I'm afraid it's too much of a contrast.

#1

#2

#3

I actually like #2 the best with it. I don't mind the contrast. Of the other 2 I think I would have to pick #3.

We have laminate floors in the kitchen and dining room and they match really close in color. All in all I love the laminate, but I hated the way it looked when I cleaned it. Seems like it looked smudgey (for lack of a better word). I've been using Murphy's Oil soap for laminate and wood and it's definate improvement. Our laminate was fairly cheap and if I had to do over again I would go with something more expensive, but at the time there wasn't much to choose from.

 

[ilovepcot]

I actually like the flooring *under* the laminate you're showing off! Looks great with the cabinet color. Because I have several different woods in my kitchen and wanted wood laminate on the floor, I chose a laminate that is in squares and has nearly every possible wood tone in it. Looks great next to *all* other woods. It's a product made by Bruce.

 

[beckmrk04]

I like #3 the best, followed closely by #2, and don't like #1 at all.

 

[ChrisnSteph]

I should just turn this into a poll....thanks for the responses!!

 

[ilovepcot]

This is very similar to what I have. Didn't like it in the store but when we got a sample home and held it against all the other woods....nothing else would do. Mixes well with light, medium and dark woods.

 

[ChrisnSteph]

This is very similar to what I have. Didn't like it in the store but when we got a sample home and held it against all the other woods....nothing else would do. Mixes well with light, medium and dark woods.

That's pretty cool - I don't think I've seen a wood floor like that before!

 

[PooohBear]

To be honest, I don't like the way any of them look with your cabinets, I think those cabinets look best with a tile floor

 

[mamajoan]

Hi..
The house we left in California last year had and entire downstairs and stairs done in Pergo. We had it done by Home Depot crew who did a GREAT job.
We did the top of the line Pergo in Weathered Wheat and our cabinets were lovely Kaufman and Broad (builders) Oak.... We had people from all over the neighborhood coming in to view our floors. Most people liked it and opted to do theirs in Pergo.
It was easy to clean.. and since we had 1200 square feet of it to do we opted to do it with bucket, mop and vinegar... not sloppy wet.. just damp followed by towel dry.. great results.
Many children.. 2-3 dogs, heavy furniture and lots of shoes.. not a scratch or ding. We did have one overflow in the laundry which caused problems.. the pergo swelled and needed to be replaced. We were forewarned that this was a problem with laminate and were not surprised.
The stairs were a costly venture.. $100 per stair.. but worth every penny!

Does it look like wood?.. not really.
Is laminate a good solution for a busy family? In my opinion.. YES.

 

[Alice28]

I like #3.

We have pergo in our downstairs....about 1000 square feet of it I guess. I love it. We have 3 children and it holds up VERY well. We got high end Pergo; I think it's called Warm Cherry Pine or something like that (it has 'knots' in the wood- maybe I will take a picture and upload). We got it installed almost 4 years ago and I still look at it often and think, "Oh how I love my floors!" No, it's not as rich as real hardwoods. But it sure holds up well- I think I have one small nick in the kitchen from where I dropped a heavy knife. I have a Hoover Floormate that cleans them pretty well.

 

[FreshTressa]

Another vote for number 3!

I don't like 1 at all.

 

[nomie74]

Have you seen the laminate flooring that looks like tile? One of our rooms has knotty pine walls and we thought that it would be too much "wood" to use the style that looks like hardwood. I can't remember the brand, I think it was Dahl or something, but we got a great deal on it because we were buying a closeout style. If your kitchen is not too large you might check around, sometimes when stores have extra on a style they are not carrying anymore it will be on sale.

 

[Tigger&Belle]

I was also going to suggest the laminate that looks like tile (like I have). I would have gone with the wood looking laminate (our cabinets are white, which I don't like, but that's what were in the house and there are too many to replace), but we have wood in the foyer, which we want to extend into the living and dining rooms and I didn't want that butting up to the wood laminate in the kitchen. So we went with the time laminate. It is beautiful. After having it done, a friend of mine asked how the price of my floor compared to laminate (and she knew I was getting laminate, but it looks that much like tile. One thing I like about the Mannington is that it is not perfectly flat, but has a little texture, unlike some of the brands.

As far as getting the right color, we had the samples, which we viewed at various times of the day, under different lighting conditions, especially bright light. We had the flooring guy come to our house and give his opinion, too. I forgot if we went with his top choice or not, but it was good to get his opinion about the colors and to hear his thoughts. He took into account our cabinets, lighting, and walls (which of course could change in the future).

 

[tnkbl]

Thanks for the pictures. You know they can tell you what it will look like up against tile, but you have to see it yourself.

Sourthern4Sure your kitchen is the color of the main part of my house. I love it, it looks so happy! My kitchen is a deep red, wiht tile almost like yours. I think the laminate will look good.

 

[laurajetter]

I definitely like #2 best. The person who told you it is okay to have a contrast is correct, you don't need to match them exactly. In fact, if you try to match them and there are slight differences, I think it wouldn't look as good. It would look like you were trying to match them but couldn't get it quite right.

That is what happened in my son's nursery. We had furniture that was a medium brown and we picked a sample piece of laminate which we thought would match it. When we put it down next to the furniture, although it was a similar color, it had a slightly greyer cast and the furniture had a slightly more orangy cast...it just looked like a mistake to me, even though the difference was subtle.

We then got a sample of the lightest wood color, and it looked awesome next to the furniture... really set it apart. I think too much of one color is just that, too much.

Laura

 

[chasbos]

I like #2 also.

The only carpet we have in our house is on the stairs that lead to the 2nd floor.

For the rest we have all laminate flooring. And we love it.

And after DD7 threw up all over her bedroom last night - I am reminded why I like it so much!

 

[bigmerle1966]

We just had new floors installed and the walls painted, there is a good differance in the colors of the cabinets and the floors. With the paint color though it really doesn't matter, the whole thing together really makes the room look great. The cabinets in the picture are actually IKEA cabinets but they were stained the same color as the others in the room.

 

[Disney-Kim]

I have laminate floors too, kitchen too.

#2 is my fav. the contrast is great. the others match too closely...not my thing.

good luck !!!

ps...tile laminate with grooves/bumps....a pain to clean

 

[ChrisnSteph]

We just had new floors installed and the walls painted, there is a good differance in the colors of the cabinets and the floors. With the paint color though it really doesn't matter, the whole thing together really makes the room look great. The cabinets in the picture are actually IKEA cabinets but they were stained the same color as the others in the room.

All I see is an X.

Thank you guys for all your suggestions! Tile is not an option for us. I know it would look nice, but we want to use the same floor throughout the downstairs. Our layout is a little weird, and if you saw it you'd see why I don't think breaking it up is a good idea. We have linoleum in there now that looks like tile (you can see it in the pictures). It looks nice, but still looks like linoleum. I love looking at all your pictures!