Kitchen's suffer from extreme humidity variation, so you should fully adhere the solid or engineered flooring to avoid a bowing/warping floor in a few months time However, here's another viable option; luxury vinyl tiles (LVT). Generally, LVTs are 2.5mm thick, made from 100% pvc (therefore waterproof), come with a thick polyurethane wear layer that normally is backed up with a manufacturers warranty, with a wood or stone effect finish. LVTs are great with underfloor heating and unlike ceramics, they don't break when heavy objects are dropped on them and unlike wooden floors, once laid, LVTs need no further maintenance other than regular vacuuming and washing. LVTs are almost indestructible! There are many options available but us Flooring Gurus recommend going for a recognised brand. The whole idea about an LVT is for it to look authentic. They need to genuinely look like the wood or stone flooring they are mimicking. Cheap alternatives, when installed, look ... well ... awful! Try looking at Polyflor's Colonia and Camaro. We sell these products online at www.flooringmegastore.co.uk and if you made contact with us, we'd be happy to despatch a few free of charge samples to you, plus a glossy catalogue, to help you research the products a bit more. We're the Flooring Gurus!

You could do a black paint trim over the wooden bits. It would go with the work tops. But not so much with the creamy doors; Or get all of the kitchen units spray painted white? I think if you try to match the floor with the wood of the units in the kitchen you may leave yourself open to a mismatch or even just an overload of wood. I didn't feel there was enough black there as the island top kind of took me by surprise on first seeing it. But could you remove that granite altogether and see how it looks then? Maybe it's the black that's the problem not the wood at all

Hi. I'm looking for some thoughts and hope you all could help. We're looking to change the layout of our kitchen. Currently we have a long sitting room / dinning room and small kitchen. Looking to close off the sitting room and combine the dinning room and pitching. We've sketched our thoughts below. Is there anything else we should be looking to add or move to try and make this plan better. Thanks Paul

I disagree. This is standard whitewood T&G flooring. It's generally laid across joists by builders on the first floor of two storey houses as a cheap subfloor ready to take a floor finish. I've seen it sanded and varnished / stained and while it looks OK for a few months, it doesn't wear well as it's a (very) soft wood and is very noisy, particularly in the rooms under. If you want a wood finish without breaking the bank, there are some good laminates that you can lay over the T&G boards. A semi-engineered board would be better but will cost a bit more.