Single Guy's Kitchen Renovation: Day 4

Today's one of the more exciting days of my kitchen renovations because my contractor installed my new flooring.

With my flooring, I decided to splurge a bit and went with porcelain tiles that have been designed to resemble wood. It was actually a suggestion from my friend Vera who has the same tiles in her bathroom, and I didn't really see these tiles at most of the major home improvements store, but found them at San Francisco's Floorcraft.

I originally wanted to get hardwood floors, but they need to be nailed into place and I thought that would be too complicated with my concrete-based floor. Then I considered wood-like planks that you see designers snap into place in those design shows on HGTV or TLC. While those are more cost-effective, I kept hearing how after a few years the homeowner needed to rip them out because they would "buckle."

Which is how I came to tile that looks like wood. It's like the best of both worlds. I get a floor that looks like hardwood, but has the durability of tiles so if I drip water on it (pretty likely in a kitchen), I don't have to worry about damaging the wood, because it's all fake! They even come in the form of wood planks, instead of the typical square you imagine tiles to be. So laying them down was like laying down a wood floor, but without the nails.

My contractor Ron said it was the first time he was laying down these types of tiles, but even he said he liked the look of it that he might do it in his place too.

Like I mentioned, they're pricey because of the technique used to make it look like wood, but because my kitchen space is so small, I didn't really need to buy that many tiles. I ended up tiling my tiny kitchen and continued it into the hallway. I know it's hard to really tell in a photo, but they pretty much look like wood, right?