Kitchen Remodeling in Jacksonville, FL

Both work well in a kitchen; the right choice depends on how you use the room and what is in the adjoining rooms. Luxury vinyl plank is waterproof on the surface, warmer and softer underfoot when you stand at the counter, quieter, and faster to install. It is the natural choice when the same floor continues into the living room and hallways. Porcelain tile is the most durable surface for a kitchen, handles heavy appliances and sand well, and suits homes where tile already runs through the entry and living areas. Many homes combine them, with a clean transition at a doorway.

Kitchens are the hardest room in the house to floor well because of everything fixed in it. Floating LVP needs an expansion gap and, per most manufacturers, should not be pinned under heavy fixed cabinets or islands, so it is cut and finished around them with trim. Tile can run around the cabinets or, in a full remodel, under them. Either way, the finished height has to clear the dishwasher, the range and the refrigerator space, and the floor height at doorways has to meet the adjoining rooms without a trip edge. Those details are measured before you buy, not discovered on install day. See vinyl flooring, waterproof flooring and tile installation.

Most of the quality of a kitchen floor is decided before it is installed. Old tile is broken out and the thinset ground back, sheet vinyl and old adhesive are removed, and the slab is checked with a straightedge and corrected where it is out of flat; see floor preparation and flooring removal. Slabs on grade in Northeast Florida can carry moisture, which is considered before LVP or glue-down products go down.

On the walls, old backsplash tile comes off carefully to protect the countertop and the drywall behind it, and damaged board is repaired so the new tile has a flat, sound surface. Appliances are moved and reset, countertops and cabinets are protected, dust is controlled at the source and the kitchen is cleaned at the end of each working day.

The order of work matters in a kitchen. If cabinets or countertops are being changed by another trade, they normally go in before the backsplash, because the backsplash starts at the finished countertop. Whether the floor goes in before or after the cabinets depends on the product: tile can run under new cabinets, while floating LVP is typically installed around them. Appliances are disconnected and moved by the appropriate trade when needed, and we schedule the flooring and backsplash so the kitchen is out of service for as few days as possible.

At the free in-home measurement we look at all of it together: the floor that is there now, the slab, the cabinets you are keeping, the appliances, the walls where the backsplash goes and the rooms the kitchen opens to. You get one written scope that shows what Braga handles, the sequence and the schedule, so you can plan meals and other trades around it.