Why a gloss kitchen floor is the wrong choice
Water on a polished tile is slippery. Oil on a polished tile is dangerous in a way that is difficult to overstate, and a kitchen produces oil continuously — from frying, from packaging, from hands. Specify a matt or lightly textured GVT at R10 or better, and accept that the floor will be slightly less bright than the gloss alternative.
Matt has a second advantage that becomes obvious after a month of use. A polished floor shows every footprint, every splash and every smear, and in a kitchen there are a great many of all three. A matt surface with some visual texture hides daily life and needs mopping far less often to look acceptable.
On the walls the calculation reverses completely. A splashback is vertical, so slip resistance is irrelevant, and gloss is genuinely better: it wipes clean in one pass, reflects light back into what is often a dark working area, and resists the grease film that builds up behind a hob. A large-format gloss tile behind the hob, with as few joints as possible, is easier to keep clean than any arrangement of small tiles.
What to specify
Kitchen Floor
- 600x600 or 600x1200 mm
- Matt or lightly textured GVT
- R10 minimum
- Mid-tone, not pure white or black
Splashback
- Large format gloss
- Or a single big slab
- Minimal joints behind the hob
- Epoxy grout
Commercial Kitchen
- R11 or R12 floor
- Full body porcelain
- Coved skirting detail
- Chemical resistant grout
Worktop
- 20 mm porcelain slab
- Or 1.5 mm HPL on board
- Mitred waterfall edge
- Heat and knife resistant
Practical points
- Avoid extremes of tone — a pure white floor shows every crumb and a near-black one shows every dust mote and water spot. Mid-tones with some pattern hide both.
- Epoxy grout behind the hob — cementitious grout absorbs grease and discolours permanently. Epoxy does not.
- Run the floor under the units — or at least under the appliance spaces, so a dishwasher can be pulled out without stepping down.
- Coved skirting in commercial kitchens — a curved junction between floor and wall has no corner for debris and can be hosed out. Most food-hygiene regimes require it.
- Porcelain worktops take hot pans — unlike solid surface and laminate, a 20 mm porcelain slab can have a pan set straight onto it.
- Keep a box spare — kitchen floors get damaged by dropped equipment more than any other domestic floor, and a matching replacement tile is impossible to buy two years later.
Frequently asked questions
Should kitchen floor tiles be matt or gloss?
Matt. Spilled oil on a polished tile is genuinely hazardous, and a gloss floor shows every footprint and splash in a room that generates them constantly. Keep the gloss for the splashback, where it wipes clean easily and reflects light.
What is the best tile for a kitchen splashback?
A large-format gloss porcelain, or a single big slab where the run allows it. The fewer joints behind a hob the better, because grout is what absorbs grease and discolours.
What slip rating does a commercial kitchen floor need?
R11 as a minimum and R12 where there is standing water or a heavy grease load. Commercial kitchens also normally require a coved skirting between floor and wall so the junction can be cleaned properly.
Can porcelain be used for a kitchen worktop?
Yes, in 20 mm slab form. It takes hot pans directly, resists knife marks, does not stain and never needs sealing — advantages over both natural stone and composite worktops.
Request kitchen tile pricing
Tell us the floor area and whether the job is domestic or commercial and we will specify and quote it.
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