Make like a ship's captain and use some small galley kitchen ideas to transform your small kitchen with a galley-style layout. Though it makes for a narrow passage (pun intended) traditionally averaging between four to six feet wide, the compact floor plan is a smart solution to make small kitchens live up to their full potential of space, functionality and style. Generally, galley kitchen layouts situate the sink and refrigerator on one wall opposite the stove and oven, leaving the cabinetry and floors to contend with. Think continuity when it comes to painting the cabinetry and walls. A monochromatic palette, for example, gives the illusion of spaciousness, while open shelving achieves the same goal and scores extra points for being an on-trend design practice. For the middle aisle of the kitchen, consider flooring that runs vertically—such as hardwood planks—or try tiles placed on a diagonal. Light-colored floors establish the same space-enhancing benefits of light-colored walls.
Another feature of this kitchen layout that enhances the galley style is a window or an interior pass-through window. Imagine how open the kitchen will appear when linked to the great outdoors or the adjoining room. A window above the sink can make your compact space appear larger thanks to streams of natural light flooding the room, while a pass-through window offers more depth to your kitchen and a link to the adjoining room. With everything in arm's reach, a galley kitchen floor plan offers major functionality, improved upon by smart storage. Again, that's why water-going vessels favor this efficient model. Scale down on larger appliances and features, like the sink and refrigerator: Pass on the oversized farm sink and go for stock-size appliances. So that your tiny kitchen layout works double-duty, consider installing pull-out cutting boards and retractable tables, for example. Be mindful that counter space is limited in this model, compared with other kitchen layouts, so add to your countertop real estate with a portable kitchen island that offers work space, storage and easy concealment when you'd like to tuck it away.
Given that space is at a minimum, the advantage of this layout is an altogether tidier kitchen—or at least that's the idea! Eliminate space-hogging lighting and opt for task or recessed options instead of low-hanging pendant lamps. Raise the style factor further by choosing slender stools and built-in seating as opposed to bulky arm chairs. Finally, pare down decor and accessories for a clean, smart look. Very Small Kitchen Ideas Small Eat-In Kitchen Ideas Small Kitchen Seating Ideas Living the #TinyKitchen Life? Keep Cooking With These Compact Appliances Furniture for Small Kitchens 9 Teeny-Tiny Kitchens Packed With Character One-Wall Kitchen Ideas and Options Tile for Small Kitchens Paint Colors for Small Kitchens Plan a Small-Space KitchenFarmhouse Galley KitchenSmall Galley Kitchen RemodelGalley Kitchen LayoutKitchen Ideas For Small SpacesSmall White KitchensFarm Kitchens IdeasSmall Kitchen Renovation IdeasCondo Kitchen IdeasFarm House Kitchen BacksplashForwardTips and tricks to maximize your small galley kitchen.
These ideas will make kitchen space larger and more functional. The two parallel counters of galley kitchens mean focusing on aisle space, light and storage. For more kitchen ideas go to Domino.Here at Home Flooring Pros we’re big fans of installing tile flooring in your kitchen. It’s true that hardwood flooring is also very popular as a high end option and you can’t beat vinyl if you’re on a budget but, if you can afford it, we still believe that searching for kitchen floor tile ideas is the way to go if you want a great looking, easy to maintain and highly durable flooring solution for your kitchen. Click here for other kitchen flooring options and ideas and you can also read our thoughts on the best kitchen flooring for you particular home. But, if you haven’t considered kitchen floor tile before, a brief visit to any tiling retailer is likely to blow your mind: the choice is seriously unlimited! It definitely pays to get a clear idea of the kitchen floor tile style you like best before even starting.
Mind you, even then, within each style there are tons of variations: for example even seemingly simple terracotta tile comes in many different tile designs, shapes, sizes and tones, each bringing a different feel to the space. So, how are you going to make up your mind? Well, to help you on your way, we’ve collected some inspirational images covering six different kitchen tile floor ideas. Remember, you’ll be looking to find floor tiles that compliment the overall design scheme of your kitchen. But in today’s more eclectic design approach you needn’t be scared of mixing things up a bit because, as you will see below, different design ideas often work together to make your kitchen the truly personal heart of your home. You may also be interested in our 30 bathroom flooring ideas. Natural stone tiles for your kitchen floor is a very classic choice and give a real sense of grandeur and stature to your space. Choose from either light marble or travertine tiles, with their delicately veined detailing, or deeper warmer toned slate tiles that lend a slightly more rugged feel.
Natural stones can work either with traditional farmhouse style kitchen designs or with sleek contemporary fixtures and fittings. You can also choose to have natural stones with a high gloss or matt finishes to further compliment your design, and there are some amazingly colorful slates that will give added interest to your flooring, much like a gorgeous area rug would. Another very strong and classic design idea for your kitchen is the modern rustic, farmhouse kitchen – think Shaker style painted cabinets, beautifully exposed beams, deep ceramic Belfast sinks and hearty range cookers. The whole rustic flooring look is very welcoming, comfortable, and feels like it could withstand the wear and tear of family life. This kind of look is perfectly complimented with a terracotta or brick floor tile. Because it is difficult to make perfectly identical terracotta tiles, the inherent variation in tone of the tiles add to the rustic charm and give added texture to your overall design. And as you can see, terracotta tiles come in all sorts of shapes including square, brick, hexagonal or arabesque to add a further dimension to this classic choice.
If you love the clean lines of contemporary furnishings, then you will want to consider choosing a simple solid block of color as your floor tile option for the kitchen. Without the variations in color and tone that you get in natural stones and terracottas, block color tile (either made of ceramic or granite/ cement mix) offers a clean background for your sleek modernist fixtures and fittings to shine. This look is most often completed with a high gloss finish on the tile which gives a very glamorous aesthetic, but using a floor tile with a matt finish can warm and soften what could otherwise could be a rather hard and cold design choice. And for maximum impact considering choosing less usual colors like high gloss black or electric blue! If you’re looking to make a more quirky, artistic statement in your kitchen then perhaps you should look at the Mediterranean inspired encaustic floor tiles to guide your design style. Also known as cement tiles, encaustic tiles come in literally thousands of colorways and patterns, so you may have a tough decision to make!
But once you do, you can be sure of a kitchen floor tile that will make a strong visual statement that then allows you to keep everything else simple. This style of floor tile is most typically paired with mix and match, eclectic furnishings for a thrown-together sort of a feel; but encaustic tiles can equally be the perfect backdrop for sleek stainless steel or more seamless classic fitted kitchen designs. You might immediately conjure up images of retro 50s style diners when you think of black and white checkerboard floor tiles, but in fact there are lots of ways to adapt the checkerboard tile idea to a contemporary kitchen. Keeping the rest of your décor monochrome (or with hints of gray) is a dramatic way to update the checkerboard floor, as well as offsetting the tiles somewhat, so that you don’t actually have a full checkerboard but a less busy grid formation that is perhaps kinder to the eye. Using checkerboard tiles sparingly to define the kitchen space is another great way to bring this classic look into the 21st Century!
25. East Side Art Collectors Finally, if you really like the practicalities of tiled flooring, but really love the aesthetic of a hardwood floor, then wood look ceramic tile might just be the perfect kitchen floor tile idea for you! Today’s 3D printing technology means that these wood look tiles are more realistic than ever, complete with textured surfaces and even aesthetic finishes to make them look hand-scraped or distressed. And manufacturers have risen to the success of this product by making sure that you can get wood look tile to match the kinds of designs you can achieve with the real thing, including parquet, wide planks, weathered boards and painted floors. So, whether you’re going for an urban loft look or a traditional family kitchen, there’s a wood look tile that’s just right! So what did we miss? Do you have any kitchen floor tile ideas that we haven’t listed here? Let us know in the comments below. We love hearing from our readers and seeing what they have done with their floors.