Amtico and Karndean are the two UK luxury vinyl tile (LVT) brands homeowners cross-shop most before fitting a new kitchen, hallway or living room floor. Neither brand is straightforwardly better. Amtico’s cheaper ranges carry shorter warranties than Karndean’s equivalent products, but Amtico is the only one of the two still manufactured in the UK. The right choice comes down to the specific product range you’re quoted, not the badge on the box, so that’s what this comparison works through range by range.
We have not fitted either brand ourselves. This comparison is built from each manufacturer’s own specification and warranty documents, UK cost guides and trade pricing data, all linked below, so you can check every figure against its source.
Amtico vs Karndean at a glance
| Amtico | Karndean | |
|---|---|---|
| Construction | Solid vinyl, resin and stabilisers pressed under heat, matte finish | Layered PVC with a printed decorative layer and protective top coat, glossier finish |
| Manufactured | Coventry, UK | Not publicly confirmed (headquartered in Evesham, Worcestershire) |
| Warranty range | 15 years to lifetime, depends on collection | Lifetime (35 years) on almost the whole residential range |
| Waterproof claim | Only the Click Smart collection is fully waterproof | Korlok’s K-Core base is waterproof |
| Entry price (materials) | From around £40/m² | From £29.99/m² (Knight Tile) |
| Fitting cost | £20/m² on a level subfloor, plus £30/m² if levelling is needed | Roughly £35 to £75/m² supply and fit, depending on format |
How the two are actually made
Amtico’s tiles are solid vinyl compressed under heat and pressure with resin, plasticiser and stabiliser layers, which is what gives the surface its denser, more matte finish, closer to worn stone than polished plastic. Amtico makes its own tiles at its Coventry factory, which Design Insider’s profile of the site describes as the only UK-based LVT manufacturing operation left in the market. The company was founded in 1964.
The common mistake here is assuming “made in Britain” means every Amtico range sits at the premium end. It doesn’t. First and Click Smart are Amtico’s entry ranges, priced to compete with Karndean’s mid-tier products, not with Amtico’s own Signature collection.
Karndean uses a multi-layer construction: a protective top coat, a PVC wear layer, a printed decorative layer and backing layers bonded together, which tends to read as glossier and more uniform than Amtico’s finish. Karndean was founded in Evesham, Worcestershire in 1973 and is still headquartered there. Where the flooring itself is physically manufactured is not stated on Karndean’s own site, and we could not confirm it from any independent source either. Several rival comparison articles claim Karndean is made in Asia. None of them link to anything that supports it, so treat that claim, wherever you see it, as unconfirmed rather than fact.
Price per m² compared
Amtico does not publish a retail price list. Every quote is project-based, so the figures below are averages from third-party UK cost guides, not manufacturer RRPs.
| Materials (per m²) | Fitting (per m²) | |
|---|---|---|
| Amtico | From about £40/m² for a basic decor up to £65/m² and beyond for a mid-tier finish, according to Checkatrade’s Amtico cost guide, priced 2024 | £20/m² on a subfloor that’s already level, plus a further £30/m² if levelling compound is needed first, or a flat day rate of roughly £270 |
| Karndean | Knight Tile from £29.99/m², Van Gogh from £39.42/m², Art Select from £59.49/m² and up, according to Homebuilding & Renovating’s Karndean guide | Roughly £35 to £50/m² for glue-down formats, rising to £55 to £75/m² for rigid core or LooseLay, according to MyJobQuote’s Karndean cost guide, updated 31 July 2026 |
Neither brand publishes one national price list, so treat every figure here, and every figure a retailer quotes you, as an estimate until you have a written quote for the exact product code. Ask for that quote in writing before comparing prices between the two brands, not after you’ve picked one on the strength of a showroom sample.
Warranty length by product range
This is the one area where the marketing language on both brands’ websites is doing the reader a disservice, and it’s worth working through slowly.
Amtico (source: Amtico’s official warranty page):
| Collection | Residential warranty |
|---|---|
| First | 15 years |
| Click Smart | 20 years |
| Spacia | 25 years |
| Form | 30 years |
| Signature and Décor | Lifetime, transferable, capped at 35 years |
Karndean (source: Karndean’s UK Conditions of Purchase and Guarantee, version 8, dated 28 January 2026):
| Collection | Residential warranty |
|---|---|
| Art Select, Heritage, Opus, Opus Enhance, Van Gogh, Knight Tile, Korlok, Kaleidoscope, LooseLay, Solid Colours | Lifetime (35 years), conditional on the floor being used as specified for the room type |
| Versilay Classic and Versilay Instashield | Manufacturing defects only, a narrower cover |
“Both come with a lifetime warranty” is the line most comparison articles settle for, and it’s simply not accurate for Amtico. Only Signature and Décor carry it. Amtico’s First collection is covered for 15 years, a third of the length Karndean gives a similarly priced Knight Tile floor. If a retailer quotes you Amtico First against Karndean Knight Tile as a like-for-like comparison, the warranty terms alone aren’t like for like.
One thing we couldn’t verify: Karndean’s Da Vinci and Palio ranges don’t appear in the current warranty document at all. That could mean they’ve been discontinued, folded into another range name, or simply omitted from this particular version. We’re flagging it rather than guessing, so if you’re being quoted either range, ask your retailer to confirm the warranty terms in writing before you order.
Waterproofing, durability and slip resistance
Neither brand’s standard collections are as uniformly waterproof as their marketing pages can imply at a glance. According to Amtico’s own flooring FAQ, Signature, Form and Spacia are water-resistant but the adhesive can soften if the floor is left underwater for a long period. Full waterproofing is specific to Click Smart, Amtico’s loose-lay collection. Karndean’s Korlok, by contrast, uses a PVC core the manufacturer’s Korlok brochure describes as waterproof and resistant to swelling, so the honest comparison for a wet room isn’t “Amtico vs Karndean” so much as “which specific range within each brand.”
Neither brand sells its standard residential tiles with a published wet slip-resistance test score. The R10 and R12 ratings you’ll see quoted in flooring marketing, including the version of this article you may have read before, belong to Amtico’s Signature Safety and Spacia Safety collections and Karndean’s commercial ranges, both specialist products built for wet, high-traffic settings like changing rooms, not the standard tiles sold for a home kitchen or bathroom. If slip resistance genuinely matters, because of a wet-prone kitchen, young children or an older resident in the house, ask your retailer for the pendulum test certificate for the exact product code, not the brand’s general safety-flooring collateral. The Health and Safety Executive’s guidance on assessing slip resistance treats a pendulum test value of 36 or higher as low slip potential, 25 to 35 as moderate, and anything under 25 as high, and that’s the number worth asking for.
Wear layer thickness is a reasonable proxy for how a floor holds up under furniture legs and foot traffic over the years, though it isn’t the only factor. On Amtico’s own figures, Spacia carries a 0.55mm wear layer, Form 0.7mm and Signature 1.0mm. Karndean’s Korlok, by comparison, runs a 0.5mm wear layer according to its own brochure. A thicker wear layer generally means the pattern layer takes longer to show through under wear, though installation quality and subfloor prep affect longevity at least as much as the spec sheet does.
Which one should you choose?
If you’re fitting a flat or any room above another living space, Karndean’s Korlok is worth a specific look before you compare brands generally. It’s the one product in this comparison with acoustic backing built in as standard, rated to cut impact noise transmission by up to 21dB according to Karndean’s own Korlok brochure. Amtico offers acoustic-backed products too, but as a separately specified option on top of its main ranges rather than a standard feature of one named collection, so you’d need to ask specifically for the acoustic variant rather than assume any Amtico range includes it.
If budget is the deciding factor and you still want a long warranty, Karndean’s Knight Tile gives you a lifetime warranty from around £30/m² in materials, which is difficult for Amtico to match at the same price point since Amtico’s cheapest range, First, is capped at 15 years’ cover.
If you want the longest possible warranty regardless of price, Amtico Signature and Karndean’s core residential ranges are both covered for life, so the decision genuinely comes down to finish (Amtico’s matte, stone-like surface against Karndean’s glossier one) and the retailer’s fitting quote, not the small print.
If a wet-prone room is the priority, the honest comparison is between Amtico Click Smart and Karndean Korlok specifically, on their documented waterproofing, rather than between the brands as a whole.
Common questions
Is Amtico more expensive than Karndean? Generally yes at the entry level. Karndean’s Knight Tile starts from £29.99/m² in materials, while Amtico doesn’t publish materials-only pricing and third-party cost guides put its cheaper ranges from around £40/m² upwards. At the premium end the gap narrows, since both brands’ top ranges are quoted on a per-project basis.
Do Amtico and Karndean floors scratch easily? Both are more scratch-resistant than standard vinyl sheet flooring, largely down to their wear layers (0.3mm to 1.0mm across Amtico’s ranges, 0.5mm on Karndean’s Korlok), but neither is scratch-proof. Grit trodden in from outside is the most common cause of surface scratching on both brands, which is why both manufacturers recommend a barrier mat at external doors.
Can you fit Amtico or Karndean yourself? Loose-lay and click formats, such as Amtico Click Smart and Karndean’s rigid core ranges, are realistic DIY projects for someone comfortable with fitting vinyl plank flooring generally. Glue-down formats need more precise subfloor preparation and are usually better left to a professional fitter, not least because getting the adhesive coverage wrong can affect your warranty claim later.
Whichever brand you land on, the subfloor underneath matters as much as the tile on top. A floor that isn’t flat or that’s squeaking under the existing chipboard will telegraph through even the best LVT, and if you’re weighing LVT against solid or engineered wood for the same room, it’s worth seeing what wood flooring installation actually costs before you commit either way. If the room in question is a kitchen, budgeting for the wider kitchen installation alongside the flooring will give you a more realistic total than pricing the floor in isolation.
