Consider These Flooring Tiles For An Upgrade Look With A Big Impact

If you're remodeling your kitchen and find yourself overwhelmed by the abundance of flooring options available at the home improvement store, we feel you. Luckily, there's a flooring trend that makes the decision a whole lot easier: large-format tiles. No matter the material, whether they're stone or porcelain, tiles that take up large surface areas on the ground serve up an upgraded look with a big impact. Specifically, they can make your kitchen seem more expansive and open — something many of us are looking for, especially when kitchen space is at a premium.

It may seem insignificant, but patterned flooring or small tiles, such as checker print, can impart a cluttered appearance on the kitchen. Similar to outdated kitchen looks like subway tile backsplashes, busier tile flooring can make limited areas like galley kitchens feel even smaller. In contrast, large-format tiles can make a room feel bigger. Large tiles in the kitchen are a great choice for expanding on other minimalist kitchen features like spacious marble countertops, cabinets with sleek edges, and open shelving, which help the room breathe. Though tile floors have some downsides, such as poor heat retention (read: cold feet), they are typically more durable and simple to maintain than wood flooring. Further, large tile floors are even easier to clean than small tile formats, since there are less edges and crevices for dirt to accumulate in. This equates to a style and functionality win-win in the kitchen.

Large-format tiles pair perfectly with other trending kitchen designs like biophilic kitchens with lots of natural light, windows, and plants. To give your kitchen an airy spaciousness, it helps to choose large tiles that are a light or neutral color, like white or beige, and match other kitchen features like cabinets, appliances, and islands — since darker flooring colors can make the space feel cramped. You can even apply the same light and bright large tiles to the walls or kitchen backsplash to create an even more seamless look. That way, the expansive flooring tiles will blend in with the rest of the kitchen and create less busyness for the eye to take in.

Choose marble tiles for a palatial look, adding simple yet amplifying accents like gold sinks and cabinet hardware. Install large swatches of gray granite for a natural appearance. Or choose large cement tiles to give your kitchen more of an open industrial-chic appearance. For a subtle yet tasteful touch of visual interest and comfort for standing while doing the dishes, you can also make an additional purchase of a rug or two to add a bit of warmth the to space. If you're working with a particularly small kitchen, avoid busy patterns with the rugs as well in order to let the space breathe.