At Kite, our mission focuses on range curation. But recently, we’ve been reflecting (as many businesses sometimes do…), as we now offer a lot of choice! At Kite we spend many hours debating whether to bring a floor into our range, but even with this discipline, sometimes people still feel overwhelmed. We always get our clients to think along the lines of Shape, Colour and Texture, for the design style, and of course, budget should also be a consideration. So, here are our Top 10 Most-Loved Floors of the Year –
1. Newington Range – Lewis Rustic Plank Flooring – £78 per m2
Shape – Plank, Colour – Rustic Raw Oak, Texture – Medium Brushed, Budget – ££
Our Lewis floor is the floor that looks good in any design scheme. High quality oils, on a rustic grade plank (so with knots). It’s more modern than a traditional yellow floor, but not too light and Scandi. It’s our best selling floor, because it always looks awesome, and the oil quality make it a family favourite. Raw oak coloured floors are also more forgiving than white or dark floors (they don’t show marks). Budget wise, this floor costs £78 per m2. “But I can get a wood floor for £50 in a sale….and there’s a special one time, school holiday discount going on….just before the back to school discount… which is then before half term holiday discount”.
Not all floors are equal, and the difference with a Kite Floor, is we do the oiling in Belgium, as opposed to China. It means we get a more durable, matt finish on our floors. This project was created in conjunction with Palmer and Stone.
2. Kent Range – Lewis Large Prime Herringbone – £102 per m2
Shape – Herringbone, Colour – Prime Raw Oak, Texture – Medium Brushed, Budget – ££
At Kite, we generally sell clean grade parquet (so the planks with very few knots). Why? Well rustic Herringbone or Chevron, can look too busy, as you have both knots and pattern. Our Lewis Large Herringbone is perfect for wider spaces, say greater than 3/4m, and is finished with the same versatile, and practical oil that is used on the Lewis Rustic Plank. This floor is also available in the medium size, 90mm by 400mm, and in a lacquered option as well. Herringbone can get quite technical from a fitting perspective, so make sure you read our blogs.
3. Newington Range – Lauren Rustic Plank Flooring – £78 per m2
Shape – Plank, Colour – Rustic Red Oak, Texture – Medium Brushed, Budget – ££
Sometimes our clients are looking for a floor a little warme, and more traditional than our Lewis. Our clients will sometimes then end up with a Natural floor, such as our Natural Oak floor, but the Lauren offers something a little different. It’s still mid-toned enough to work in any design scheme, but the finish is unique enough that you still make a statement with your floor.
4. Premium Laminate – Light Oak – £36 per m2
Shape – Plank, Colour – Raw Oak, Texture – Medium Brushed, Budget – £
At Kite we love laminate. But not the cheap stuff. Premium Laminates don’t really get sold in the UK, because most retailers default to the shiny stuff, that chips easily. But wide, long plank laminates, that are textured and don’t have repeating patterns can look very realistic. The good quality ones can also be made in a way that makes them water proof and super hard wearing. They don’t have the feel or the depth of colour as a wood floor. But they are a floor you can fit and forget about. It’s also one of the reasons we don’t understand vinyl. Good quality Laminate does the same job, for half the price.
The Light Oak colour is the most versatile and looks good in any design scheme. We look at why laminates are awesome here – Premium Laminate.
5. Kent Range – Lewis Medium Prime Herringbone (Lacquered) – £84 per m2
Shape – Herringbone, Colour – Raw Oak, Texture – Medium Brushed, Budget – ££
At Kite, our clients love our matt finishes, but also our cleaner grades (especially with Herringbone). The majority of our floors are oiled, but we also recently sourced a super strong, invisible lacquer that is so matt, the finish is almost identical to our oiled version. As a rule, lacquer is harder to mark than an oiled floor, and also requires less maintenance (it’s like a paint on top of the wood). The flip side, is it cannot be refreshed like an oiled floor, with a light coat of maintenance oil. As this is a more straight-forward finish, we have also been able to hit a cheaper price point. Note, this floor is also available in the larger size, 120mm by 600mm –
6. Newington Plus Range – Nude, Clean Grade, Lacquered – £102 per m2
Shape – Plank Colour – Nude, Clean Oak, Texture – Medium Brushed, Budget – £££
This is one of the more beautiful floors we do. The Nude colour sits between a natural oak floor, and our raw oak colour. It’s modern, but still has a warmth to it. This floor is also a clean grade, so has very few knots. It also has a more consistent colour, than our rustic floors. It’s finished with a super strong lacquer, making it exceptionally practical.
Our Newington Plus range is made in Germany, and has the added benefit of having the strongest credentials Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCS) we know the market, with every floor being tested for chemical emissions in a chamber for 30 days (you can learn about the Eco-Institute in Germany here – Eco-Institute). The floors also have independently accredited sustainability accreditations (watch out for self-assessments, that happen all the time in UK flooring market).
This floor is a cleaner grade, so with very few knots, but cheaper floors are available, if your happy with a more rustic grade. If you want to learn more about our low VOC range, you can read here – VOCs and Flooring.
7. Reclaimed Range – Camden Town, Dark Hard Wax Oil, with hand filled knots – £108 per m2
Shape – Plank, Colour -Dark, Texture – Reclaimed, Budget – £££
The Camden floor is a little but special. Dark and textured. A bit like Camden at 2am. This floor is finished with a dark hard wax oil and is hand scraped, and has plenty of colour variation. It’s as close as we can get to a genuine reclaimed floor, without being one. It also has the benefit if being compatible with underfloor heating. This floor is designed in Germany, so is milled and finished to precision.
8. Reclaimed Range – Lewis Warm Reclaimed Hard Wax Oil, with hand filled knots – £108 per m2
Shape – Plank Colour – Warm Oak, Texture – Reclaimed, Budget – £££
This floor is a floor that makes us want to buy a warehouse conversion, and cover it in timber. The planks are scraped, textured and the finished with a slightly warmer version of our Lewis floor. The planks are 22cm wide, 2.2m in length, so perfectly proportioned for wider spaces.
9. Epping Range – Natural – from £96 per m2
Shape – Bespoke, plank or parquet, Colour – layered hard wax oils, Texture – Medium brushed, Budget – £££
Our Epping Natural floor is our ultimate family friendly floor. This is a bespoke floor, so we can apply the finish on any shape, from narrow planks up to XXL, from herringbone to chevron. The most common platform we have used with this finish is our clean grade herringbone. This is our ultimate family friendly floor, as it’s mid-toned, so works with any design scheme, has some texture, so is less prone to scrapes an is a statement floor, with it’s layered oils (you can see the white oils that bring out the grain). It’s so cool, we even wrote a blog about it – FAMILY FRIENDLY FLOORS.
10. Iris – Genuine Reclaimed Flooring – From £200 per m2
Shape – Plank, Colour – Hard wax oils, Texture – Reclaimed, Budget – ££££
So, is this the ultimate floor? Certainly if you like reclaimed effect floors, this must come pretty close. This floor is made from reclaimed train wagons, that are spliced up, and then pressed onto a plywood base. This makes them work with underfloor heating. We have yet to meet a client, designer or architect who has not fallen in love with these floors. One high-end fitter we work with said fitting this floor in the Cotswolds was the highlight of his career. This floor comes at a cost, so it doesn’t work with many of our projects. But, if you have the budget, this floor can completely transform a space.
So, there you have it, our top 10 floors. Hopefully something for every style and budget. Of course, we also have plenty of other finishes, which you can either order samples of, or see at our showroom.
We’re a big believer that you can’t choose a floor based on small samples, as our best projects almost always start with a showroom visit. In terms of next steps, you can either learn more about our range, order samples, or book an appointment to come and see us.
