Kitchens and bathrooms are the two rooms where flooring gets the hardest time. Spills, steam, dropped pans, wet feet and underfloor heating all take their toll, and they are the rooms where people most often regret their first choice. Karndean is one of the ranges we are asked about most for exactly these spaces, so it is worth setting out honestly where it works well and where it needs care.
Why LVT suits wet rooms in the first place
Karndean floors are luxury vinyl tiles and planks. Unlike real wood or laminate, the wear layer and core are vinyl rather than timber or fibreboard, so standing water does not swell or delaminate them in the way it does a laminate board. Karndean state their floors are suitable for use in kitchens and bathrooms, and that is consistent with what we see coming back through our showrooms.
The practical difference shows up over years rather than days. A laminate floor near a dishwasher or a shower will usually show its age at the joints first. Vinyl does not have that particular weakness.
Kitchens: what actually matters
In a kitchen the main enemies are point loads and grit. Dropped tins and dragged stools mark floors, and grit walked in from outside acts like sandpaper underfoot. Karndean ranges carry different wear layer thicknesses, and for a busy family kitchen it is worth talking through which range suits rather than choosing purely on how it looks.
Underfloor heating is the other kitchen question we get. Karndean can be used over underfloor heating within the temperature limits the manufacturer specifies, and the floor needs to be brought up to temperature gradually rather than switched straight to full heat after fitting. This is one of the areas where using a fitter who has done it before genuinely matters.
Bathrooms: fitting is the whole game
In a bathroom the product is rarely the problem. The fitting is. Water finds edges, and an LVT floor that is beautifully laid but poorly sealed at the perimeter, around the WC pan or at the shower tray will let water underneath eventually. Once water gets beneath the floor it does not evaporate quickly and the subfloor suffers.
That means proper subfloor preparation, the right adhesive for the situation, and careful attention to edges and upstands. Our head LVT installer Ivan has fitted a great many of these, and the difference between a bathroom floor that lasts and one that fails at three years is almost always in the preparation rather than the product.
Where we would steer you elsewhere
We would rather talk someone out of a floor than fit the wrong one. If a bathroom has an ongoing damp or ventilation problem, fitting any floor over it just hides the issue for a while. If a subfloor is badly uneven or is a suspended timber floor with movement, that needs addressing first and it adds cost. And in a wet room with an open shower and no tray, a fully sealed sheet vinyl or a tiled floor with a proper tanking system is often the more sensible answer.
None of that is a criticism of Karndean. It is just that no floor is right for every situation, and being told so before you spend money is more useful than being sold to.
Seeing it before you commit
Photographs are a poor guide to how a floor looks underfoot in real light. You can see the Karndean range in person at our showrooms in Netherfield, Wollaton, Duffield and Ashby-de-la-Zouch, alongside the rest of our LVT collections. If you would rather not travel, we will bring samples to you and measure up at the same time.
Every floor we supply is fitted by our own employed teams rather than subcontractors, which is the reason we are comfortable talking about preparation and edges in this much detail. We are the ones who have to stand behind it.