good quality sheet vinyl , laid well, with a slate/stone look is a nice grounded look w cabinetry as well as the adjacent hardwood floor. If you care to replace it years later the Investment in this option won’t hamper that. Go have a look .

There are great choices in vinyl flooring that do not look like wood and those are what you should be looking at , fake next to real is always bad. Or use an unfinished wood the same species as you have and have it sit finished to match the rest. A well finished hardwood stands up very well in kitchens since you have hardwood elsewhere you know if it works with your dogs already.

Is something like this ok? it's travertine style but it still has that slight wood grain look.

What colour are your cabinets?

White cabinets and black quartz with silver sparkle. we also have an in island with a butcher block top that is almost the same color as our red oak floors in the rest of the house.

For the reasons other stated, I'd avoid anything with a wood grain look. I haven't seen this vinyl flooring in person but I like the concept: tile look with no grout. (I regret tile in our kitchen. Hard on joints and the grout is a pain to clean.)

Faux-gray-look wood was a fad that reached its height about 4 years ago, and has been on the wane ever since. Not only a fad that is over, but it is about the hardest color to coordinate with other colors in your home or your kitchen. We get so many posts on this forum from people with that gray floor and at their wits end trying to design a kitchen around it. You will be cursing it as you try to come up with counters, backsplash and wall paint color that will look OK with that gray. Avoid gray floor at all costs.

I'm already overwhelmed with floor options. So if gray any style wood looking floor is out, can somebody point me to pictures of vinyl flooring that will look good transitioning to our red oak, but also look great with white shaker cabinets, black counters that has a little silver sparkle to it, and white oversized subway tile backsplash? We're redoing our kitchen entirely by ourselves and I don't want it to be something that we regret by making bad design choices.

I should also note that the dining room that the kitchen opens up to is painted a light gray color.

The trick to getting the right color floor will be to marry the warmth of the hardwoods to the black and white kitchen. You don’t want to feel like your in the Wizard of Oz going from a black & white world to one with color. The gray wood look vinyl just looks very flat and lifeless against the warmth of the hardwoods. I would look for something that is a mix of gray and a little warmth like a marble or light slate looking vinyl. Something like this

Continue your red oak flooring into the kitchen. I've had hardwood floors now for over 50 years in multiple houses. I've had dogs, cats, muddy-pawed husband. It's a great floor in a kitchen and your house will look better with the same flooring throughout (tile in bathrooms, though).

agree, no gray floor next to your HW.

post pics of your kitchen then you will get more suggestions for a floor.

Vinyl flooring is a good choice for many kitchens but it is hard to find a style that does not look like fake wood or fake tile.

And please... no gray.

If you can't continue the wood, which is the best choice, then get vinyl hat is not trying to look like wood or stone. Fake looks cheap. Real vinyl, looking like vinyl is perfectly dignified.

Right now we only have upper cabinets installed, not trimmed out yet. Everything else is still a work zone. The only finished piece, minus knobs is the island/peninsula thing. The second picture is what will be our counters.

What if the vinyl flooring looked like the red oak in the rest of our house? Is that still a bad move? We're pretty set on vinyl because it will also be in our laundry area which is right off the kitchen. Hubby wants to be able to move washer and dryer to access pipes, etc. behind them without destroying the floor. Is there an exception to the no fake wood against real wood look in the case?

this is our inspiration picture

Love your cupboards, the wooden bar, and your counter tops. Listen to what people are saying here. Red oak would be #1. Vinyl that is clearly vinyl is #2. NOTHING that looks like fake wood next to REAL wood will ever look right. Vinyl can look fabulous. Consider a retro 50s patterned vinyl for your space. I think it would look awesome! Good luck!

Your inspiration pic has hardwood floors, not vinyl.

Our laundry/mud room is also off the kitchen. We’ve got stained white oak throughout the house, except for the bathrooms and laundry.

For the laundry, we selected grey hexagon stone tiles. The tiles have lots of variation, with visible fossil inclusions. It’s waterproof, has the smallest of grout lines, and is very durable.

Grey can be fine, as long as it’s a material that’s not pretending to be something it isn’t.

Click to enlarge.

Have you looked at marmoleum? It comes in sheets (like vinyl) in a variety of colors.

I've never even heard of marmoleum. I'll have to look into that. Thanks.

Here are some links to vinyl that range from retro to funky to modern. Please consider something that doesn't pretend to be a material that it isn't. It never looks 'real'. Lots of fun vinyl. Celebrate the freedom of a waterproof sheet.

https://www.mannington.com/Residential/VinylSheet/LuxuryVinylSheet/Search?FilterCollections=0

https://www.atrafloor.com/vinyl-flooring/pattern-vinyl-flooring/

https://www.armstrongflooring.com/commercial/en-au/products/het/translations.html

https://www.century-tile.com/product/136984938/armstrong_colorart_medintech_diamond_10_technology_coating_ixia_-_6_58_ft

https://shawfloors.com/flooring/vinyl/details/archipelago-12-sa622/maryland

Note that marmoleum is a lovely natural based linoleum product but is not as care free as vinyl. Standing water, drips not wiped will mar the surface.

wow! thank you for all those links! there are a lot of fun options!!

Another Houzzer replied to my vinyl question a few years ago, sending some of those links. I just need a house so I can put in a fun floor that I can scrub clean. House hunting now.

Another vote for the red oak in the kitchen. I've had it in my kitchen for 25 years with 2 kids and 3 dogs. It still looks good. So comfortable under foot. Put tile in the laundry room and hardwood in the kitchen.

our laundry room is more just a corner of the kitchen. we have an L shaped kitchen and the laundry is at the end of the L. it's separated from the kitchen only by the back door. it also has the same cabinets as the kitchen and will have a butcher block countertop too. so hubby wants it to have the same flooring.

You are really in a pickle if you are set on all your other finish choices. Your inspiration photo is successful because of the whole - the cabinets and countertops in that photo paired with vinyl floor will not be the same. Find an inspiration photo with vinyl floors and then you have your answer. Marmoleum in a brownish red tone similar to your wood floors might be your only option if you want one continuous 'not real wood' floor from kitchen to laundry. The problem with marmoleum is with installation. You need a perfect subfloor and experienced installers who know how to work with it. Ideally you want heat sealed seams so that water doesn't get into the crevices because it's not a water impervious as vinyl. Best solution for your inspiration picture is to do the site finished hardwood to match your floors in your kitchen and then a tile look vinyl (extra subfloor needed to bring this up to hardwood thickness) or porcelain tile (no extra subfloor needed) in your laundry. Best advice I can give anyone starting out a renovation is to have your flooring choices locked down before you do anything else. Good luck with everything!

BTW I am very familiar with 'old school' marmoleum as I specified it for commercial spaces - however, I understand there is a click lock version now which I know nothing about. Having an experienced flooring sales person with extensive knowledge on this is key.

If we don't do hardwood, do you think a tile look like this be ok? It's got a bit of brown and gray in it.

Do you like that look?

honestly, I'm kind of eh about everything about floors right now. I haven't found anything I love. the rest of the design is basically where we're headed with counters, cabinets, and backsplash. and this floor is an improvement over the dirty yellow, cream, and blue patterned linoleum we have now.

I hear you. I find those grey look vinyls kind of 'meh' myself. I know everyone is saying no wood look vinyl next to real wood and that is still the best route. But, your design does need that warmth of a wood floor. If you can find a wood look vinyl that at least matches your existing red oak floor COLOR you at least get the benefit of that - the warm color that your design needs. The LVP manufacturers haven't done that yet - at least as far as I have seen - to try to match old school red/white oak floor looks. Again, getting that warmth of wood color would at least be checking off one box towards your inspiration picture. Some flooring stores are allowing appointments and maybe you go to one of the bigger places near you to find sample options to take home.

I'm sad for you! You're investing in your home and need to get excited about everything in this project. Don't settle until you decide a floor choice is right for you. Perhaps you can go through a process of elimination with real samples.

As a vinyl fan, I suggest you go to a local flooring shop (hoping for safe reopening) and flip through the sample books. I did this for a rental property and was offered the book to take home. You can put the samples next to the wood and go from there. If I ever find a house to buy, my personal selection will likely be Shaw floors, the Archipelago series in Pine Barrens 00104 or Outerbanks 00514. One is warm tones the other more gray. I like the multi toned striated look for both hiding dust and debris and because it's not pretending to be wood, stone, or tile, yet it's an overall look rather than a pattern. The mock ups on the Shaw website look poorly done. I would expect the actual product to look more subtle than the 'room views'.

Don't give up! Your are fortunate to be able to reno your kitchen, so make it great!

Thank you everyone. I guess it's just a little discouraging right now when we're excited to be finally remodeling, but we can't go to stores and just wander and check out all the samples. Looking online is only so good and it's hard to literally get a feel of it from just a picture. I'm not giving up hope that we'll find something perfect for us!

I quickly read through. I agree with those who suggested continuing the red oak.

Also please don’t listen to those who say gray is out. It is still being done in upscale builds. That said, if you like gray, then a light gray slate tile might work.

Since you are considering gray, I’m assuming that is the direction of your kitchen.

We just remodeled our Florida house. I did white cabinets and a Silestone Calcutta counter. I will probably do a gray backsplash. This house is for me and my husband. When it’s time fir resale, the next owner can change out the elements they don’t like.

I love this one!

https://www.mannington.com/Residential/VinylSheet/LuxuryVinylSheet/Revive-Collection/Morocco/130490

I used the see in my room feature on Shaw Floors. Do you like any of these?

acm... I was looking at decorative patterns like that too. May be a nice option.

Kim H. that is awesome! thank you for those visualizations! I like the hexagon look but assume that's a tile. Maybe I'll play around on that website too.

Those are all vinyl that I put in the viewer. I like the hexagon look too. It came in several colors. It was a little hard because the photo I was using made your cabinets look grayer than I’m thinking they are

Even better that it's vinyl, thanks! I did notice the cabinets were a little off but still better than trying to picture everything in my head.

I love my hardwood floor in my kitchen area-so I suggest you continue your red oak flooring into the kitchen. Hardwood floors are ez to care for.

There are a lot of beautiful tile-look luxury vinyl flooring options on the market. That's what we would do so you don't have a stark contrast between your genuine hardwood floors and what you'd like to put in the kitchen. We often put real tile or luxury vinyl tile in kitchens for this exact reason and our customers end up being very pleased. Mixing and matching real wood and wood-look can be extremely tricky, especially when on the same level of a home. https://calvettabrothers.com/aduraflex-tile-tempo-steel-fxt277/ Something like this could be a great alternative.

Have you looked at Marmoleum? Unlike vinyl, it is a natural material. Very durable, it has been around for decades.

It comes in sheets and tiles.

Marmoleum Composition TIle · More Info

Country Kitchen · More Info

Farmhouse Kitchen from School House Electric · More Info

I have StainMaster Pet Protect 18 x 36 ivory luxury vinyl in my kitchen. It transitions well with the red oak wood flooring in an adjacent room. It has grey and tan tones.

S D do you have pictures?

Sorry it took me so long to check back to thread. I hope this helps.

This pic might be of more help

thank you! that looks nice.