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maureen5520

flooring dilemma

last month

We are having a hard time picking out a floor for our kitchen renovation. The current kitchen floor we do not like and want to replace it. The kitchen floor abuts light red oak hardwood . We have tried to no avail to match the hardwood. We currently are looking at Coretec Ionastone which would pick up subtle beige and brown tones from the hardwood. Any thoughts or advice?

Comments (15)

  • last month

    If you want to match hardwood, you'd need to sand and re-stain the existing. It's done all the time. IDK what Lonastone looks like -- it's it wood-look LVP or something different? Don't put wood-look LVP or tile next to real hardwood, but if it's not wood-look then fine, it can be an option. Have you looked at other options like linolenum and the like or tile? Really it's just a matter of the flooring type you want and from there what you like.


    If you really want hardwood, then get it with the accompanying sand and re-stain of the rest. Don't settle for something you don't really want, if you can afford not to.

  • last month

    If you can afford to do even more, replace the red oak instead of sanding and refinishing. The current popular choice is wide 7" - 12" pale European Oak. It doesn't have the open grain of red or white oak.



  • last month

    instead of trying to match or replace adjoining wood look for tile or stone look LVT that coordinates.

    We got beautiful porcelain that looks like limestone but the grout sealer hadn't dried before my son busted a full jar of salsa with shards flying into adjoining living and dining rooms. So I would look for Linoleum, vinyl or cork.

  • last month

    Red oak can be matched. Please do not install faux wood next to real wood floors.

  • last month

    Agree with the above to just use new hardwood and restain,


    our house is 100 years old and when we added on and moved our kitchen, the floor pro feathered in new wood and you cannot tell where old end and new begins

  • PRO
    last month

    You’re asking the right question, flooring sets the tone for your entire home, and getting it right makes all the difference. If you’re torn between options, start with your light and traffic levels. In bright spaces, mid-tone woods or neutral LVPs balance light beautifully without showing every speck of dust.


    If you have pets or kids, go for a matte finish, it hides scuffs better than glossy ones. When blending with existing rooms, look for continuity in undertones rather than color match , warm vs. cool is more important than the exact shade. Also, don’t underestimate the power of transitions: consistent plank direction and flush thresholds help create a seamless look.

  • last month

    Looking at the LVT that you selected I think it would be fine. People have been doing tile in bathrooms and kitchens with wood throughout the rest of the home for a very long time, mainly because wood in wet areas was believed to be too issue prone. We have only seen the wood in kitchens since more and more kitchens are part of the same open space as the living and dining areas and as much as people say wood is not an issue in wet areas, we still see plenty of posts with people having to replace wood in their kitchens after a dishwasher or refrigerator leaks. My other issue is getting grease splatters or sticky messes off the floor or. Earlier this fall I baked peaches with a bourbon brown sugar topping and somehow missed the potholder on one side and the juice hit my thumb. The pan went to the floor as my thumb immediately blistered. It took a lot of water to dissolve and clean all the brown sugar off the floor. Seems like that kind of mess on wood would be much more challenging.



    I would go with an LVT without hesitation. I always purchase 1 extra box of tile or LVT flooring so that I can replace a piece if I need to replace one tile. My LVT is only a few years old, so I have not had to replace any tiles, but I did have several tiles crack when I had tile floors and was able to have them replaced without issue. (Had a crack that ran the whole width of a hallway after an earthquake, and had several individual tiles crack or chip when I dropped something heavy on them during the 20 years I lived with tile floors.)


    The reason I went with LVT in my current home was that 20 years of walking on tile made my legs and feet hurt every night. After moving to a home with carpet I no longer had pain every night. I didn't like the carpet, but wanted something more forgiving than tile. I don't have leg and foot pain at the end of the day with LVT.


  • PRO
    last month
    last modified: last month

    NEVER put fake wood next to real wood. Either do something like a slate look or have the existing floors refinished when new wood is laid in the kitchen. Then it will all match. And if you haven't had a flooring professional suggest that, you are dealing with the wrong flooring people.

  • PRO
    last month

    We have done the Iona stone Coretec floor in a few homes. It is a nice floor and goes well with wood floors since it looks like a tile not fake wood against real wood.

    Good luck!

  • PRO
    last month

    Get unfinished flooring for the kitchen and have it site finished to match the rest this is a simple thing done all the time so get someone who can do the job .

  • 28 days ago

    I love the people that read this and can't deductively assume that Ionastone is not a wood look.

    We have done what you did and like the look. The ease of a LVP product in the kitchen is nice. Don't have to worry about dropping things and my legs don't hurt after standing for extended periods.

  • 25 days ago

    We did think of doing unfinished hardwood in the kitchen and then restaining to match the existing hardwood in the rest of the house, however, since the flooring is 19 years old the sun has lightened it in different areas. For instance the floor in the dining room is lighter than the floor in the hallway because the sun has lightened it through the years. Our kitchen abuts the hardwood on 3 sides ( dining room, family room and hallway) . The 3 areas each get varying degrees of sunlight. Restaining the whole bottom floor is not an option. Ionastone is a tile look very much like sandstone but with richer colors running through it. Thank you everyone for your comments.

  • 24 days ago

    When I got my LVT I purchased one box and laid it out in different rooms, looking at different times of the day to make sure I really liked it in every space. It is so much easier to be sure when you have a sufficient amount of material to really know what it is going to look like.


    I think you are making a good choice, but testing is the best way to be sure.

  • PRO
    22 days ago

    IMO you have lived with those floors that do not match exactly so find that happy medium for the kitchen and IMO just a better choice .