I have a tiled concrete floor in my kitchen and it is soooo cold. I am going to re-do the kitchen soon and want to put down the warmest floor I can. I cant afford underfloor heating. So, what to do? Rip up the tiles/lay laminate with insulation/vinyl flooring/another option? The current tiles are well laid and flat but are small with grout in grooves inbetween and they end just under the cabinets. Laminate with insulation looks as if it would come up quite thick if I just put it on top of the tiles. Vinyl flooring may slip on the tiles and could be just as cold. I have a rug down at the moment and it got dirty in no time so not a fan of carpet in the kitchen. Any solutions/thoughts please (especially if you are flooring contractor!)
The tried-and-true method is a small space heater under your desk. However, this tends to conflict with fire and building codes, but it seems to be a common practice, especially among women for some reason. If you're already wearing insulated boots, I don't think the concrete is the real problem. I'd check with your doctor and make sure it isn't something medical. The feet and legs seem to be the first to go if there's a circulatory problem.
If you are redoing your entire kitchen, I would question why you cannot afford electric heating mats for tile flooring. Heating mats generally cost about $10 per square foot and an electrician can probably wire it in for under $500. If you intend to recover the floor, the existing tile needs to be removed. Vinyl adhesives will not properly adhere to the tile surface and laminate (as you have already mentioned) will raise the floor considerably. I do not recommend laminate products in kitchens since they are prone to moisture damage. A heavy vinyl will have some insulating characteristics, but the floor will probably still feel cold.
If you put anything beside a floating laminate floor, you will need to remove the old tile (and I agree that not removing the tile then, will make a thick floor). If you remove the tile, then laying the electric mat will not add much height, and will give you a nicely warm floor. If you won't/can't put the under-floor warming... - can you change curtains or such to gain a little solar heating on floor? - you could maybe install some sort of radiant heat system high in the room - the flooring would pick up some heat from this. Cheapest of all - wear slippers.
If you have a boiler you can have tubing put in the floor to radiate heat .If not there are electric grids that can be installed with a thermostat to heat the floor.
