Can you put tile flush with wood in the same room?

Question

My kitchen/family room has an open floor plan (which I love). It's basically a giant 15 x 40' rectangle, with the kitchen taking up the first 15' the "nook" the next 10' and the family room the final 15'. It also has an open arch to the entry/dining area.

Right now there is an oak hardwood floor throughout the entire room and in the entry. The wood is beautiful in the family room nook area and entry, but I hate it flush up to my kitchen cabinets. I'm looking at redoing my kitchen, and *love* natural stone tile on the floors.

Can I tile the kitchen part of the room and leave the rest of the room hardwood? I've heard that "breaks up the space" and "makes the room look smaller". But it's not exactly a small room to begin with, couldn't it handle a little bit of space definition?

Also, how does it look where the materials meet? Can that be a smooth transition or will it look completely rediculous?

Answer 1

My kitchen is done that way and it looks fine. You just have to pick out a tile that blends nicely with the wood. My tile has a sort of mottled natural stone look that incorporates the color of the hardwood as well as some subtle colors from my granite counter. The tile I picked isn't darker or light than the wood, and it blends in beautifully. Where the materials meet they framed the hardwood by running a thinner strip of the hardwood around it.

Answer 2

Don't flush wood.  The rule is you're never supposed to flush anything that's bigger than your fist.  Oh wait, I broke that rule with some real hearty Lincoln logs a few weeks back.  Nevermind, carry on then.

Answer 3

The only way that you can make it even (flush) where the tile meets the hardwood is to remove the hardwood where you ar going to be setting the tile. First figure out how thick the hardwood and the tile are. The tile needs to be a little thinner so you will have room for your thin set mortar under the tile. Good Luck. Werner.

Also before doing any demolition make sure that your sub floor is strong enough to support your new tile floor without any deflection. If there is any deflection your grout and possibly even your tile could end up cracking and breaking. If you have no deflection with the hardwood floor still in place, you may want to just prep and tile over it and then use some border trim to make the transition between the existing hardwood floor and your new tile as the difference in elevation could be anywhere from 1/4"-1/2".

Answer 4

stupid!

Answer 5

you could but i wouldent risk it you might get hurt.

Answer 6

wood floors expand and contract with temperature and moisture, so if you butt the tiles right up to the wood, you might pop a tile when the wood expands. They make little "L" shaped strips of metal that go along the edge of a tile floor. If you use one of these, and if the wood has room to expand in other directions, it might work out just fine.

Answer 7

You could make any floor flush all you need to do is remove the wood floor make sure your sub floor has atleast 3/4 inch plywood down and then combined you should have 1 1/4 inch of total floor height. When laying tile you will want to install a product called ditra. This product is the best substrate and will ensure the tile will never crack or fail. This product can be purchased at any home center or tile warehouse. You can visit the tile council of americas web site for more info.

Answer 8

to start with we say u can

u have to take care of some points before going in for a change

1) are u changing to get a change in style or u want to define the areas

2) what is your preference do u like the looks to remain as they are or u want wider or smaller looks

3) in case u are interested to have the same getup you have to choose tiles textured as wood in mat finish u wont feel the room to have been shortened

4) You can also have wider and smaller looks by change in colour streem of tiles and paint of yr woodwork