A homeowner can tile their own kitchen floor with a bit of know-how and patience; some types of tile also require nothing more than a standard box cutter to trim to size and may have a peel-and-stick backing, so you don't need to worry about adhesives or grout. However, as simple as the job might appear, tiling a kitchen floor can be a bit more involved and complicated than you realize. Note a few mistakes to avoid if you're thinking of choosing and installing your home's kitchen floor tile so you're happy with the kitchen tiles you pick and so that tile stays adhered once the work is over.

Starting from the sides

The most open area of your kitchen floor should have solid pieces of tile for the most attractive look, rather than a grout line running up the middle of the kitchen floor. When installing tile, it's good to start in the centre of the kitchen and work your way to the sides of the room, trimming tile once you reach the walls or sides of cabinets and appliances. This will keep trimmed areas and grout lines closer to the walls, with large pieces of uncut tile in the middle of the floor, for the most attractive look.

Heavy tile

If you love stone, ceramic, porcelain or any type of especially heavy tile material, you need to ensure you have proper assistance and tools when installing these in your kitchen. Dropping this type of tile or even sliding it across the floor can easily cause the material to crack up the middle or sides, and cracking isn't always easy to repair. Have a helper, a hand truck, or other such assistance when you're installing anything other than lightweight tile in your home.

Grout

Don't assume that adding grout to the back of peel-and-stick tiles will somehow make them more secure, as their backing may not hold that grout very easily, and it could allow the tile to actually peel away from the subfloor. Adding too much grout to other tiles can also mean a thick layer of adhesive that doesn't hold the tile, and which just becomes hardened and brittle. On the other hand, not adding enough grout can mean areas of tile that are not properly adhered to the subfloor, and they can then slide around, allow water to seep into the space under the tile and even crack under heavy foot traffic.