Since sharing that photo over a month ago, a few of you have asked for more detail about installing the transition pieces for the cork kitchen floor (and the surround around our fireplace). Below I’ll walk through what we did and why—nothing fancy, just practical steps that worked for us.
We’re planning to eventually refinish the rooms with the orange wood flooring so everything will better match the darker cork tone. Here’s a quick mock-up of how that might look once the rest of the floors are refinished (excuse the crude Photoshop):
Finding suitable transition pieces took a little digging because our Lisbon Cork didn’t come with matching trims. A Lumber Liquidators employee warned against cork transitions, saying they aren’t as durable as hardwood in high-traffic spots. They had oak pieces you could stain (a 72″ piece was around $45), but I found an engineered option at Home Depot for about $27 that was already a very close match. Home Depot only stocked 48″ pieces, so I had to special-order the 72″ lengths and wait a few weeks for store pickup. That’s why only the shorter doorways received transitions when we finished the floor back in March, and why it took a while to complete the rest.
There aren’t many tutorials specifically about installing transitions on cork floors, so I’ll share our process—not because it’s the only way, but so there’s at least one practical example online. I didn’t photograph installing the kitchen transition the first time, so I documented the steps while fitting this doorway recently.
We floated the cork over an existing floor because there was an asbestos liner under the vinyl tile, so our finished floor sits slightly higher—roughly 1/4″ to 1/2″—than the adjacent hardwood. When two floors are at different heights, you need a reducer transition. A reducer slopes gradually: one side ramps down while the other steps up, creating a smooth change in elevation so there isn’t a pronounced trip hazard. The best-looking reducers are gradual; avoid pieces that create a dramatic, curved “C” profile.
After removing the factory plastic (the scuffed look in one photo is just the protective film), I marked the cut line with a pen to get the correct length and profile, then made the cut on the miter saw.
Some guides recommend adhesive for transitions, but we’ve always nailed ours in at previous houses, so we used nails again here. We don’t own a nail gun yet, so I partially set the nail by hand first—tapping it in with a scrap of wood underneath to get it started. Pre-drilling a very small pilot hole is another good option if you’re worried about splitting the transition piece.
To position the reducer at this doorway, I rested the small lip of the high side on top of the cork to hold it steady while I secured it. Because this was one of the deeper drops, that helped keep everything aligned while I worked.
Once the nails were driven flush, I used a $3 nail punch to avoid denting the visible surface. The finished result looks tidy and eliminated the toe-stubbing hazard that had been there for months. The color contrast between the cork and the adjoining floor made the transition more noticeable until the adjoining floors are refinished, which may have helped us avoid trips in the meantime.
The hallway transition followed the same routine, so I’ll skip past that and describe how we finished the fireplace surround. The fireplace required mitered corners, so I measured each side and cut 45-degree angles on the miter saw to get clean joints. You may recall the unfinished edge from a previous update.
At the moment the fireplace hearth sits lower than the cork, so we used reducers there as well. This is temporary: once we choose tile we like for the hearth, we’ll retile and raise the surface so everything aligns flush and we can remove these interim transitions.
For now the transition trim does its job and makes the space look more finished. It’s small details like these that make a room feel polished. Three cheers for no more raw edges!
From the hallway you can see the new doorway transition and the fireplace beyond it. Yes, that’s a giant faux clam shell in the hearth—an oversized decorative piece we added because, well, we like it. It’s surprisingly popular with visitors, too.
Here’s a shot of all three newly trimmed areas together. Ta-da: the cork floor finally looks finished. Don’t mind the placeholder rug—that’s a holdover from our first kitchen and something we’ll likely replace later.
If you’ve installed transitions before—or still need to—what worked for you? I was surprised there aren’t more posts about cork-specific transitions, so if you have tips or questions, share them. It might help someone else deciding between adhesive, nails, or a particular transition profile.