Every fall, I have a really nice man named Ken come in to completely strip, then re-polish, the vinyl floor tile in my kitchen. It is well worth it. Even using heavy duty equipment, it takes him several hours to do the floor. I think it is well worth the expense. Not only am I am getting too old to be down on my hands and knees doing this, he gets a much better shine than I ever did. So far, I know of three other readers who have used my floor — Azrock Cortina Autumn Haze — and I have photos of their kitchens, too.
I am pretty sure I spy with my little eye, Azrock Cortina Autumn Haze in Julie P.’s kitchen — uploaded last week as part of our “Finish What You Started” campaign. She gets supa-mega Gold Stars for her work, which she explains:
Kitchen undo almost finished. Cabinets stripped, wall paper off, new floor and counters. Still need to paint the trim. UGH! Before picture to follow.
– Julie P
Beautiful kitchen, Julie! Send me all your pics and your story, girl!
Janice used it in her retro kitchen renovation.
Meredith used it to replace the worn tile in her vintage kitchen.
I have had my Azrock Cortina floor for since 2006, and it looks as great as it did the day it was put in. I continue to be the #1 fan of this versatile, inexpensive, streaky retro-style, durable vinyl kitchen floor tile. This tile is $1.50 – $2.25/s.f. installed. See Autumn Haze and their other colors here.
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- Want to read more stories about flooring options: See our navigation Kitchens / Flooring here.
Have any other readers put Azrock Cortina in their kitchens?
If so, send me a photo, and I will add it to this story. 🙂
Jordanna says
That Autumn Haze is a beautiful name (…the opposite of Graveyard of the Atlantic? Tee hee…) for my old nemesis, Tasteful Tan!
I gotta say I love the shades of green. If I don’t fall back on my one usual semi-tasteful combo of black and white, I love the shades of green. V-938 Balsam is gorgeous but I think V-614 Granny Smith is where my heart truly lies. But what of Country Olive? Aaaah too many shades of green!
Bookmarked!
The black-and-white is still so cute though. Hrmmm.
V-310 Midnight looks exactly like what was three levels down in my mom’s old floor.
Are they ever going to bring out smaller square sizes? *sob*
Lee in Florida says
I hear ‘ya on the smaller sizes. My galley kitchen is pretty small, so what I will do when I finally re-tile is to take the 12×12 tiles (midnight and spearmint) and cut them into 4 6×6 tiles, so I can actually do a nice pattern.
Peggy says
Absoluetly beautiful kitchen. I have been debating what sort of floor and was thinking of hardwoods, but that would be expensive…as I would need to do the laundry room as well. I currently have a retro broken tile floor in my dining room (dont know what year those came out) and would love to finda color combination or floor to put in my adjacent kitcehn…as someone “updated” with tile that just doesnt work at all.
Lynn-O-Matic says
Oooh, shiny!
We have Marmoleum, not vinyl tile, but I have been wondering about hiring a professional to come and redo them. Gotta put it on my to-do list to find someone.
Carey says
AWESOME! So envious…I just had my Armstrong VCT laid a few months ago and have yet to find someone willing to do the industrial type “wax job” on such a small area. The stuff you find at the local hardware store doesn’t produce a shine that comes close to your gorgeous floor….and I’m not a big fan of the hands & knees either! Open for suggstions!
pam kueber says
I found Ken by noticing the nice shiny floors in my dentist’s office and asking them who did theirs.
Julie P. says
Carey- Not sure if you are still checking this thread. We waxed our floor ourselves. It is the first kitchen posted after Pam’s. My floor is definitely not as shiny as hers but it is pretty shiny. We picked up Armstrong’s VCT sealer and polish from a hardware store. We put two coats of sealer on and then three coats of polish. We did it with a mop (the old fashioned kind with the stringy mop head). I was shocked at how well it worked! You had to wait in between coats until the floor dried completely so do it when you have a day to devote. We put a coat on then worked on other projects for an hour then did another. Also, we changed the mop head after the sealer coats. We have not had to strip it yet.
Cindy T says
Your floor looks beautiful! I love it!
Rebekah says
I replaced my floor with Azrock Cirrus 2 months ago. I looked everywhere for the right tile and then I read about yours. It took 2 weeks to find a distributor in my area but it was totally worth it!
Karen S says
Until I was ten we lived in Detroit. Our basement was finished and the floor I remember looked like the tile in the above pictures-just a different color. I wonder if it was the same stuff? Ours was a beige background and the streaks were in black and red. Love the pictures of all the kitchens. Seeing the floors in those pictures brought back memories.
Kersten says
Oh, Pam! Wow! Love that shiny floor! As I continue to *think about* our kitchen remodel, the floor might stump me the most. (Those St. Charles in the garage are now SCREAMING to come out!) I’ve thought about rolled armstrong. Would that need to be waxed and unwaxed the same way? Can you give out the goods on cost of this annual expense? As a side note, I had a kismet moment last week. I sold a cool mid century sofa to a kind woman that lives almost 2 hours away. In talking, and walking her through our house, I brought up the kitchen remodel, and her eyes got big and she told me that’s what she does for a living! She said she’d help with the design! I’m thrilled — the design has been my biggest stumbling block! 2012 is the year of the kitchen!
Natalie @ Chadwell Chronicles says
We have it and love it!
I haven’t sent pictures yet because I am still waiting to be done. We had a countertop disaster and I have been waiting since JULY to have the guy fix them. *sigh*
I promise you’ll hear from me once everything is done!
Leslie says
So glad you have Ken to strip and polish your beautiful floor, great idea! I still have the original tile in my laundry room (similar look and color) and stopped stripping and waxing it many years ago. After seeing your floor, I am tempted to get out the good ol’ Hoover floor polisher out. Great story, and job well done to all of your kitchen renovators, love all of the pics!