Bathrooms and Kitchens

• If you want to use only a partial tile floor in a bathroom or kitchen, use another water-resistant flooring type in the rest of the room. Linoleum and laminate both offer water-resistant properties in two entirely different flooring styles. Since linoleum creates a flat flooring surface when installed, you can butt the linoleum up against the edge of the tile job, and either slightly overlay the linoleum with the edge of the tile job to create a seamless transition or use a line of caulk where the two floors meet. A tile to laminate transition, on the other hand, requires trim.
  
  

Dining Rooms

• Laminate flooring also provides a good option for dining rooms since the flooring resembles hardwood but offers a protective coating that hardwood doesn’t provide, which can be beneficial in case of spills. If you would like to use traditional hardwood flooring in a dining room, though, the transition between tile and laminate and tile and hardwood is basically the same. Either transition requires the additional piece of trim flooring.
  
  

Living Rooms and Bedrooms

• In the more “lived-in” spaces in your home, where people may spend more time on the floor, you may prefer a softer flooring type, such as carpeting. Since the soft carpet generally sits lower on the floor than tile but does not create a flat surface over which tile can be installed for a smooth transition, you must use a trim that works with both types of flooring to pull the two floors together.
  
  

Transitioning

• The best trim to transition between tile and another flooring type depends upon the flooring types to which you want to transition. If the two types of flooring sit at roughly even heights, a T-molding creates a straight transition between the two floors. Transition moldings or threshold moldings, on the other hand, sit higher at one end than at the other and provide a smooth-sloping transition between the two floor types.