Tiles are a popular flooring option due to their elegant look and versatility. In addition, they are durable and don’t require much effort for maintenance. However, this is the part of the house that needs much attention as it easily becomes victim to muddy trainers, wine stains, and food spillages, as well as all kinds of bacteria from pets, etc.

If you are here, it means you have faced difficulties and are wondering how to clean tile floors. No worries, here we discuss several options for tile and grout cleaning and get your tiles to look spick and span again.

The flooring in your home is one of the key features that your guests will notice when they first walk into your home. If you have a clean tile floor, it will likely set off the rest in your home, that’s why it’s so important to keep it beautiful and well-maintained.

Luckily, you will find it takes half the time to get clean tiles compared to doing a deep cleaning of a carpet or a rug. Also, it is worth mentioning that while there are slight differences between ceramic and porcelain tiles the cleaning tips described below can be used for both types.

With that being said, let’s get into it.

Floor Tiles Cleaning

First of all, we need to get rid of loose dirt, sand, or other debris by vacuuming or sweeping the floors. Next, you can start cleaning the tile surface of any dirt, stains, or bacteria. All you need for this is to get yourself a mop and warm water. You can also use a floor-cleaning solution or add some neutral soap to the water. But be careful with the soap as it may leave a slight film on the tile surface.

One scrub with some warm water is enough to lift off most of the stains. If you are still having trouble, then try adding a little vinegar to the water and give that a try. After, rinse it thoroughly with plain hot water.

Leave it to air dry or better dry it yourself with a clean cloth or towel to prevent water spots.

Tiles Cleaning In The Kitchen and Bathroom

Unsurprisingly, the kitchen and bathroom will need a little more work for tile and grout cleaning. If you want a clean tile floor in these areas, then you will need to put in some real effort.

These are areas of the house that will get the most food stains, moisture-causing mold, and soapy suds trodden into the tiles.

First of all, try to clean the tiles with hot water and soap to get off most of the residue. For the tougher stains that remain, you can use a special stain remover for kitchen and bathroom tiles. If you don’t have that at hand, then a steamer can be useful.

Apply the hot steam to the area and then wipe clean with your soap and water solution.

How To Clean Tile Grout?

These are the lines between the tiles that hold the tiles together, and they just so happen to be the hardest parts to clean. They are usually quite porous and will hold onto a lot of moisture and dirt.

Grout is typically made from latex, different types of plastics, and sometimes sand and cement. The more modern your tiles are, the more likely they are to be made from stain-resistant materials, but if not, don’t worry. Here is how to clean grout.

Grab yourself some hot water and your grout brush if you have one. If not, you can use any firm brush that has stiff bristles to lift up the dirt.

Apply the hot water and get stuck into the grout with some elbow grease. Most of the dirt should come away, given enough time and effort.

Use Steam for the Toughest Stains

Don’t use any other types of cleaner for grout or bleach for the tiles. You will usually do more harm than good. This will damage the materials and can fade the designs/color of the tiles. Water is the best bet as it is has a neutral pH.

If you are having a lot of trouble getting the stains up, then revert to the steam tactic and use soapy water.

How Should I Remove the Mold?

No home should have mold present in it at any time. If you notice your grout has mold in its grooves, then you need to get rid of it. The best way to do this is to buy a special mold remover.

You can get rid of the mold using the methods we have listed above, but as mold can be potentially hazardous to health, it is better to treat it seriously.

Use gloves while cleaning the mold. Try to keep the room less humid in the future, as this is most likely the cause of mold.

Keep On Top of It

If you are considering getting tile flooring then go for it. As you see it is easy to maintain. The best way to keep on top of it is to clean the floor more often. If we leave our tiles for too long, it can seem like a huge job to take on, and it can seem overwhelming.

Take a few minutes out once a week to clean the most used areas of your house and keep the tiles clean before they get too dirty. This is especially important for kitchens and bathrooms. Otherwise, you will need home remodeling contractors to fix it all.

Hopefully, by now, you know how to clean tile flooring. Thanks for reading!

If you are looking online to find remodeling tips and the perfect kitchen layout and floor plan ideas, you will find plenty of style suggestions and tips on the latest trends to follow. But it is also worth thinking about the opposite – the styles and kitchen cabinet trends to avoid. Finding the ideal design is equally as important as eliminating trends that are not practical or useful. 

You are presumably planning to use your kitchen for a long time, or at least more than a few years, before giving it a redesign. That means it is essential to find a style that doesn’t just fit the current trends.

To make sure your new kitchen stands the test of time, pay attention to these kitchen cabinet trends to avoid:

Should You Match Every Possible Kitchen Detail?

This one goes for both the décor of the cabinets, walls and floor, as well as your kitchen appliances. Excessive color matching and monochrome kitchens can look great in a showroom or a carefully filtered Instagram post, but they have a few flaws in a natural home.

Firstly, they can highlight every scuff and other signs of wear, which means they can require more maintenance and repair if you don’t want your eyes to be drawn to every imperfection when you walk into the room.

Secondly, single-color kitchens tend to go for a neutral color like white, which can look a bit flat and dull when not under perfect lighting conditions. On the other hand, a more vibrant color can be overwhelming and oppressive when not balanced by other color choices.

Remember that if all you need to restyle your kitchen is a fresh color scheme, you don’t need to go to the expense and inconvenience of replacing all of your fittings. A professional cabinet refinishing can give your current cabinets a completely new look and style.

Matching the color of your appliances to the rest of the kitchen can make them blend into the background a little too much. This misses the opportunity to use them as an accent to your overall design. Instead, try giving your appliances a contrasting color to make them pop.

Whether to give your fridge and freezer panels to match your cabinets can depend on the situation. When arranged in a long line of cabinets, the fridge and freezer can help break up the monotony. However, in smaller spaces, paneled appliances might be better for maintaining a consistent visual theme in that part of the room.

 

Is Ornamenting Every Part of Your Kitchen Cabinets Worth It?

There is nothing wrong with scattering a few knick-knacks around the kitchen if you are going for a cozy or rustic look. Don’t overdo it, though. Not every cabinet needs to be covered in ornaments, and doing this can make the room feel smaller and more cluttered, and messy.

Plants and other ornaments attract attention. Do you want to draw the eye up to the ceiling and corners and away from your new kitchen furniture and layout?

As a general rule, avoid ornamenting spaces with less than two feet of headroom. These can make the area feel claustrophobic and great at gathering dust. On the other hand, a few ornaments can help avoid having an awkward space between the tops of your cabinets and the ceiling in a room with higher ceilings. Big and bulky objects like baskets and jars work better for this purpose than narrow or spindly pieces that don’t extend the height of the cabinet. 

How to Avoid Wrong Countertops with Your Cabinets?

To find the right countertops to go with your cabinets, start with your kitchen’s color scheme. Choosing countertops that contrast or compliment the color of your cabinets will help to define and shape the space more clearly than colors that blend together or match.

The material of your countertops is just as important as the color for giving your kitchen a complete and stylistically consistent feel. For example, marble can be a stylish and classy look for a modern kitchen, but it will look mismatched and out of place in a kitchen that is aiming for more of a rustic or homely feel.

On the other hand, you might have a countertop and perfect kitchen layout that you love already, but it just doesn’t fit with the cabinets underneath. Instead of replacing everything, cabinet refacing can give it a totally new feel by replacing cabinet doors and handles.

One great trick to highlight your kitchen’s centerpiece is to reverse the color scheme of the kitchen island or table and chairs in the center of the room. For example, if the rest of your cabinets are light with a dark countertop, swap to dark cabinets or chairs with a light counter or tabletop. Some kitchens even switch to a totally different style of cabinet and countertop for the island. This works best in larger kitchens, as it can make a smaller space feel cluttered or lacking in unity.

Do DIY Backsplashes Go With Kitchen Your Design?

The backsplash can make or break the consistency of your kitchen’s design. Simply getting the size and placement right so that it doesn’t look mismatched with the scale of the rest of the room can be challenging. This being the case, it is something best left to experts.

If you are set on doing it yourself, follow the same rules for picking a countertop material and color. Don’t go with a backsplash that is not consistent with the theme and era of the rest of the fittings unless you aim for a deliberate fusion of the two styles.

While it can look great initially to have a backsplash that matches the color of your walls, this is not always the best option. If you have gone for a pale color on the walls like white, light yellow, or light blue, the slightest discoloration from the range will stand out.

 

 

Should You Combine Laundry Room and Kitchen?

When deciding whether to combine your laundry room and kitchen, the first thing to consider is space. We believe that the answer to whether you should combine your kitchen with a laundry room depends on your space availability. Both choices offer great advantages to your home. Depending on the layout of your home, there might not be many places for your laundry appliances to go except the kitchen.

But if you do have the option of choosing either, which one should you go with? There are a few other factors to consider.

In a larger kitchen, laundry machines can go under countertops or cabinets without taking up extra space. In a smaller room, though, you might need all the cabinet storage space you can get, and a washer and dryer could take up a significant chunk of the room.

Putting laundry appliances in a separate room will also require installing the necessary plumbing and ventilation for those machines, adding to the scale and cost of a project. Another advantage of putting the laundry machines in the kitchen is that it puts all of your noisy appliances in one room. A separate laundry room means a second source of noise and vibration and is not masked by the everyday noise in your kitchen.

Conclusion

Whatever your kitchen remodeling plans, always consider the practical side of using the kitchen and style, and remember these kitchen cabinet trends to avoid. For expert help designing your dream kitchen, don’t hesitate to get in touch with Majestic Cabinets.

How to layout a kitchen floor plan is a central part of kitchen remodeling. The shape of your new kitchen remodels floor plan will define how you get around the kitchen during everyday use, as well as how guests will be accommodated while entertaining. 

There are a few common types of kitchen layout:

U-Shaped Kitchen 

U-shaped kitchens are arranged around 3 of a room’s four walls, leaving an open side to the kitchen to connect to a dining area or living space. These provide a functional and efficient work area with plenty of counter space and easy access to essential appliances like the oven and refrigerator. 

U-shaped kitchens are great for preparing large meals with plenty of room for you to cook while also feeling part of the rest of the room, thanks to the open area between cooking and dining space.

L-Shaped Kitchen

L-shaped kitchens are flexible types of kitchen layouts fitted into the corner of a room. They are great for making the most of a smaller room or for kitchens that form part of the living space. 

L-shaped kitchen layouts leave an open space in the center of the room that you don’t need to access while cooking. This can be a spot to put the family table close to where meals are cooked and ensures the cook stays part of the conversation when entertaining guests. Alternatively, this area can be used as extra storage space or a kitchen island for an additional counter surface.

Whatever your remodel floor plan is, L-shaped kitchen layouts are rarely the wrong choice.

G-Shaped Kitchen 

G-shaped kitchens are very similar to U-shaped kitchens. In addition to the 3 sides of a U-shaped kitchen, G-shaped kitchens also feature a peninsular that extends partway across the open side of the kitchen. These can take up more space than other remodel floor plans but provide more freedom in terms of work surfaces. 

Furthermore, the kitchen peninsula has a multitude of uses as a social space throughout the day. It can function as a breakfast bar, provide a spot for guests to enjoy snacks and drinks while you prepare a meal, or enable other family members to sit and finish up their work while you cook.

Straight & Simple Kitchen

The simplest type of kitchen layout, usually installed in smaller spaces, consists of cabinets and appliances against only one side of the room. These kitchen layouts will often use upper cabinets and other wall-mounted storage such as shelving to maximize space efficiency. 

This simple kitchen floor design keeps your cooking area within a narrow space, leaving the rest of the room open for use as a dining or living room. As a result, while it is commonly used as a space-saving measure, it can also aid in achieving a more open remodel floor plan in your home.

Corridor Type Kitchen 

A corridor kitchen, also known as a galley kitchen, is also relatively simple. Instead of having cabinets against one wall, there are cabinets on both sides with a corridor, or galley, in between. These maximize the use of space for work surfaces and storage, particularly in a smaller room; however, if the central corridor is too narrow, it can be difficult for multiple people to cook or use the kitchen simultaneously.

Tips For Your Kitchen Flooring 

There is a lot to consider when it comes to kitchen flooring in a remodel floor plan. The practical concerns of durability and ease of cleaning are just as important as the aesthetics here. 

Stone, ceramic, and porcelain floors are all highly durable and easy to clean, although some extra maintenance to reseal natural stone flooring may be needed every few years. Wood is excellent for creating a more homely, traditional kitchen look. However, it is a little less resistant to wear and tear than stone and will need to be adequately treated and maintained to prevent warping due to water.

It is a good idea to pick your kitchen flooring while choosing the color scheme for your cabinets and work surfaces. This way, you can select a floor that matches or contrasts against the colors and kitchen countertop materials used elsewhere. For example, you might choose to match hardwood countertops with matching wood floorboards or pair dark cabinets with a white tiled floor for a stark visual contrast.

Maximize Space Usage 

Think about how to layout a kitchen floor plan that will make the best use of the space you have available. 

As a general rule, kitchen islands and peninsulas, as well as corner cabinets, use space less efficiently than straight cabinets against a wall. Islands and peninsulas, in particular, can be an excellent addition to a kitchen when you have space, but when you don’t, they occupy central floor space while giving less opportunity for storage space than wall cabinets which can be paired with an upper cabinet and shelving.

For narrow spaces, a straight or galley kitchen efficiently uses the length of the room to maximize the area you have to cook. In wider rooms, a U-shaped kitchen or G-shaped kitchen plan makes better use of the width, potentially leaving enough room for a table or island in the center. 

L-shaped kitchen layouts are good for kitchens of any size and are particularly useful for reducing the footprint of your kitchen in an open-plan home.

Adjust to the Traffic 

Kitchen Traffic Flow is an important consideration when picking a layout. In particular, the placement of doors in the room could preclude you from using certain types of kitchen layouts. For example, U-shaped kitchens and G-shaped kitchens require at least 2 walls without doors for a significant length and at least one wall with none. 

If your kitchen is an important path through your home leading to an entrance or living space, keeping the work areas in a corner with an L-shaped layout can prevent other family members from getting in your way as they pass through. If this is not possible, arranging appliances and work surfaces to avoid crossing that path as much as possible will improve the traffic flow through your kitchen.

In a narrow kitchen that leads to an exit such as the door to the yard, keeping all work areas to one side with a straight kitchen makes it easier for people to pass behind you while you are cooking, instead of bumping into you as you cross sides.

Use 3D Visualization

Online kitchen tools and software can provide you with a 3D visualization of kitchen layouts and designs. These let you get a good idea of how your kitchen will look and quickly alter the layout and color scheme to test out your ideas. Take the time to get the measurements, light placement, and color scheme as accurate as possible within the visualizer to get the best impression of how your proposed kitchen layout will really look.

Kitchen Floor Mistakes To Avoid 

The kitchen floor is one of the most inconvenient and expensive parts of a kitchen remodeling to replacing, so save you the trouble and get it right the first time by avoiding these mistakes:

Using the Floor Too Soon 

Depending on the type of flooring, it may be a few days before you can even walk on your new floor without risking damage, let alone installing any furniture or appliances. If someone is installing the floor for you, follow their advice on how long to wait, and if you are doing it yourself then research how long to wait for the materials and method you are using.

Cutting Costs On Labor

If you are a DIY pro and certain you know what you are doing then go ahead but otherwise, you’ll want to pay for a top-quality contractor. Ensuring that a kitchen floor remains safe and structurally sound is a complex task, and going with the cheapest contractor is likely to cost more in the long run when you end up paying someone else to do it properly.

Ignoring Workflows

Your kitchen workflow describes how you move around the kitchen between appliances and work areas. Design a kitchen without considering this, and you might find it inconvenient and inefficient to cook in your new layout. 

The easiest way to approach this is to imagine a triangle with each point placed at your stovetop, sink, and refrigerator. Each leg of the triangle should be unobstructed and if possible, not cross any foot traffic through the room. Each leg should be around 3-8 feet. 

Expert Communication

Clear communication with your contractors is vital to ensure the end result is exactly what you were expecting. It is common for kitchen layouts to require small alterations during installation, for example, due to wiring or plumbing positioned in an unexpected way. Even for the smallest changes, make sure you get a full new plan that accommodates the changes and provides it to all contractors involved. A verbal agreement to make a change may not get passed on, resulting in some work not accounting for the alteration.

Conclusion 

There is a lot to think about when designing your perfect kitchen layout. A kitchen floor plan built to suit your family and lifestyle can be a huge improvement to your home. We know how important it is to design a kitchen that is perfect for your family, so get in touch and we’ll be happy to help create the ideal kitchen for your home.