"Worst wooden flooring I’ve ever had"

When we wanted to replace the floor in our kitchen and hallway plus dining room of a rental property, we chose Kardean. It was sold to us as incredibly hard wearing, better than laminate and better than hard wood.

I have hard floor AND laminate that was laid 15 years ago that still looks perfect now. But kardean? Within weeks scratches appeared and not shallow regular scratches you’d expect with a dog. My tenants don’t even have pets and they’ve put a rug over the floor as it begin scratching badly.

I’m talking big, deep scratches. Tiny bit of grit on the floor when you vacuum? Boom hello massive scratch. Vacuum against the grain, boom massive scratch. We soon learnt only move one way with this floor!

We’ve ended up treating the floor with kid gloves. Worse bloody decision ever buying this. I’m currently decorating my living room and plan to have a heringbone design. But no way on earth am I choosing kardean. I’m actually choosing laminate. Not because of the cost but because of the durability!

Kardean you seriously need to think about the durability because at this rate no one will buy kardean. You must be able to protect it against scratching so easily.

"Thin low quality products"

I thought that this floor way a nicer high quality floor, I got the glue down and it is absolutely horrible. First off it is ridiculously thin, unlike tile or snap and click or thicker vinyl. This means even a little piece of anything on the subfloor will absolutely show thru this floor! It always separates from each other 6 months later when summer starts to hit so we have all these gaps. The glue they recommended is from lardean also.... horrible low quality. And the company will do anything to get out of a warranty. Bottom line, do NOT buy anything from them. Even if it was $0.25/SF I still wouldn’t use them!

"Worst flooring ever"

Worst flooring ever. Don’t waste your hard earned cash.
I have the ground floor of my new house fitted with “luxury vinyl” karndean art select March 2020. I t looks dull and scratches if you look at it. It has dents and what i think is the glue underneath showing through in places.
I was under the impression that the flooring should have been rolled but supplier has assured me that this isn’t necessary.
I’ve been waiting for over a year to have poor fitting around door frames and radiators repaired.
The supplier told me that he would get in touch with Karndean representative who would then call me,I’m still waiting.

"Karndean...never again !"

Karndean flooring recommended by kitchen fitter..... Who had fitted Karndean several times before and who levelled the floor before laying.
Wanted a pattern, so after much searching decided on the Kaleidoscope 'Woven' range
It looks lovely...the effect I wanted, but I know its not right....so DO NOT BUY
It was the most expensive single item in my kitchen...was an absolute nightmare to lay as all the individual pieces come apart when protective film pulled back to interlock into next piece and therefore difficult to get every piece level and butted up to adjoining pieces....
And am writing this now as just attempted to clean it ...again! Very much a hands and knees job,
Gets dirty very easily in all the joins and I have to clean each little bit/tile (and some are only 1inch sqre approx) individually
Can only forsee major problems in the future.
I did write immediately it was laid and get a response with some info I wish I had known before, telling me to go through my supplier....
Who then wrote to Karndean. Not heard anything since.
Like others on here they obviously are not going to help in any way and seemingly will not accept any feedback.

"everything is ok apart from!!!"

we have been very happy with Karndean being fitted to Conservatory and family room and the hallway was supposed to be our stand out visual focus on entry to the property in a gorgeous herring-bone style but between there and the kitchen/dining room which is just Click-Flooring there is an area which is obviously lifting/bubbling up but dead opposite is fine?? as the sun shines on this area it is very noticeable....everywhere else is fine??
Kev GG Glos

"Karndean country oak flooring. I have to rate my experience after…"

I have to rate my experience after seeing all these bad reviews. Whilst I feel sorry for everyones experience, I have to say I'm perfectly happy with my Karndean country oak flooring. It was laid 18 months ago in my kitchen and utility room on top of old kitchen tiles and It still looks the same as when first laid. I am in the process of having the dining area of the kitchen done with the same flooring. Top class product.

"This has been an absolute horrid…"

This has been an absolute horrid experience within 2 to 3 weeks of my floor being laid I started to see gapping I contacted the people who laid it they said that it was due to arm heat and cold expansion and that it will probably go back together months and months later I am still getting absolutely no help from the installer they said they installed it correctly and so the problem was mine my entire floor has gapping in it and I spent every penny I had on this kitchen and so I have a beautiful kitchen and a floorFull of gaps and this used to be my mothers house who is now passed away and so I took great care in trying to update features and do what I thought would make her happy and now I have this horrible looking mistake all over the floor it looks awful because the color is the darker wood and so and then I have these we know Tanner almost white gaps at the end of every board all I can do is cry

"Karndean vinyl planking visibly faded in sunlight after 2 summers"

Review edited 1 year on

I wish I'd read some of these reviews before choosing Karndean flooring for my new extension. I would have been warned of a possible major shortcoming with some vinyl planks, which was not mentioned in the Karndean literature, nor by the showroom staff or Karndean registered installers. The problem is, some planks can fade badly in sunlight, which is what happened to my Karndean Van Goch glue down vinyl planks.

Unfortunately (from the point of view of the floor fading), our extension has full height bifold doors facing south east, so on sunny days (admittedly there are not all that many) the flooring is exposed to direct sunlight in the morning. Over 2 summers (2019/20) this has been enough to visibly fade the floor along the length of the room next to the glass doors.

I did contact Karndean before writing the original review, with details of the fading problem. Karndean replied quickly, stating that some fading may occur, and that fading was excluded from the warranty (as is everything else a customer is likely to claim on).

After posting my original review on Trustpilot (April 2021), I was contacted again by Karndean's helpful Customer Services Manager, who arranged for a site visit by someone from their Technical department. The representative who viewed the flooring wrote a report concluding that the floor had faded due to sunlight exposure. Following this report, the Customer Services Manager (CSM) offered to replace the flooring free of charge. This was done to my satisfaction in April 2022. So, thanks to Karndean's helpful and sympathetic CSM, their reputation in my eyes has partially been restored.

However, I would add the following cautionary note:- If you're considering Karndean vinyl planking (or many other similar products from other manufacturers) in a room where the floor is exposed to direct sunlight, bear in mind that the product is likely to fade sooner or later, and this is unlikely to be covered in any warranty. In my case, it was covered, mostly because the fading had occured after 2 summers, which Karndean admitted should not happen. If it is important to you that the flooring does not visibly fade, I would recommend considering various UV protection measures (e.g. special tinted glass, or blinds) rather than rely solely on manufacturer's assurances of fade free performance. Or perhaps choose a product that has greater fade resistance, for example porcelain tiles or stone.

I have upgraded my review from one star to three, mainly because Karndean accepted responsibility, and honoured their warranty. However, greater honesty by all manufactures (not just Karndean) regarding the potential for their products to fade in sunlight, would have enabled me to make a more informed choice for the flooring. It will be interesting to see how the replacement flooring performs. Karndean do not think that the fading will occur so quickly this time. I'll have to wait 2 years to find out!

"Worst floor ever, save your money!"

I’ve recently had a new kitchen extension and spent nearly £4,000 on levelling our floor and laying the van gough kardean flooring throughout the kitchen, utility and toilet. I must say after only a month of this floor being down it is the worse floor ever! It is covered in scratches and dents and constantly looks dirty. It’s literally been down a month. We wear no shoes in the house, have protectors on the furniture yet it still looks atrocious and it is really slippy. We previously had laminate flooring which cost a fraction of the price and was 100 times better. This is supposed to be hard wearing luxury flooring but it is just overpriced rubbish. Save your money, don’t make the same mistake we did. Complete waste of money!

"Slips and buckles & expensive !"

I’ve had fitted karndean looselay to a few places and the tiles slip and slide and on heated floors curl and buckle ... no support from the fitter / supplier ... a very expensive mistake it seems !!!