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ardcp

what did you choose for your kitchen flooring?

ardcp
9 years ago

i am having a terrible time figuring out what to do for flooring in the kitchen. when the cabinet installer from our kitchen place measured the space we talked about flooring and he made a point to say that if we were doing tile or hardwood we should do it under the cabs. i have thought a lot and researched tile vs hardwood vs vinyl and can not decide what will work!
we have kids, dogs and a pool but we live in the northeast so lots of cold weather. tile would hold up and maybe have some slip resistance but it's cold, has grout to clean and will shatter the dropped dishware. i have tile in the bathrooms and it is fine there but much colder especially on the first floor. we have hardwood in the dining room and i like it a lot but it has scratches on the finish and a few dents even though it's not a high traffic room so i can't imagine it would hold up in our kitchen. we have wilsonart laminate that we like but it is showing it's 15 years of wear. i feel like it is silly to spend so much on new cabs, counters, sink, appliances & faucet and keep the old floor. i keep thinking sheet vinyl or maybe another laminate but we can't come to a consensus!
so if anyone loves their floors, can you give me the pros and cons and maybe pics?
if it helps we are doing a maple shaker cab with a dark cherry looking stain, a light granite similar to alaska white or Bianco antico called crema antartida and an anthracite silgranite sink with nickel cab hardware and maybe a chrome faucet.

Comments (24)

  • LE
    9 years ago

    Have you looked at Marmoleum? We used the sheet version and it still looks brand new after 8 years or so. It's soft and its warm, but not everyone loves the swirly patterns esp. if you have other swirly patterns. It looks good with our cherry cabs and transitions well to the oak in the adjacent dining room.

  • debrak2008
    9 years ago

    We went with wood but it does have some scratches from the dog. We don't care as the other hardwood floors in the house also are not perfect. We were going to do tile with underfloor heating but were convinced on this forum to do the wood. DH wanted a floor he would never have to replace. He says in 20 years if it needs it we can refinish it.

  • LCaroline12
    9 years ago

    I have the vinyl wood plank tiles that you glue down. They are very durable and have texture so they look like wood. I love them! I have toddlers, a boxer dog and a farmer husband. We have had these floors for three years and there isn't a single scratch. We have even scooted the piano across the floor with no damage at all! The con with this type of floor is that the subfloor has to be perfectly smooth and flat, otherwise, even the smallest nail or staple will show.

  • Errant_gw
    9 years ago

    I have Brazillian Cerry laminate, because it was free (relocated from another room where it was hiding a jacuzzi). I didn't expect it to last in the kitchen. We have dogs, a teenager, grand kids, and plenty of snow/mud/dirt that gets tracked in. It has even survived a fallen ceiling when a pipe broke upstairs :o

    It definitely wasn't my first choice, but we were in a hurry to replace the broken up harvest gold tile and this stuff tied right into the same flooring that was in the attached dining. We have not been nice to it, as we fully expected to replace it by now. It has held up so well, that replacing it has moved to the bottom of my list.

  • nycbluedevil
    9 years ago

    We have Marmoleum tiles with our walnut cabinets and white marble counters. I really love this floor. It is soft, warm, easy to keep clean, no grout. And it looks great. We did a contrasting inlaid Marmoleum border to echo the borders in our wood floors throughout the rest of our home.

  • ktj459
    9 years ago

    We have wood, and I think I will always want wood in the kitchen. I do have to mop up the water the dog drools all over the floor, and there are definitely scratches. Wood is classic to me, though. We could have it forever in our house and refinish it if the dog really scratches it up. Tile can be very beautiful, but I didn't like the hardness underfoot, and I think that it more easily pinpoints when your renovation was done, as certain styles and colors are popular at certain times.

  • feisty68
    9 years ago

    Flooring makes SUCH a difference in a room. I always notice when there was no attention paid to the floor in a kitchen reno. I would rather compromise on cabinet quality or even appliance quality than flooring quality to be honest - flooring is so visible and it sets the tone for the room like the room shape, windows, architectural details.

    My kitchen flooring re-do was a huge hassle, it cost 25% of the kitchen reno budget, and it required our whole family to move out for a full week (because the only entry to the home was part of the area being done). But I have no regrets!

    Ceramic tile - mine did look dated after a decade, and dishes always smashed. It was super easy to maintain though - good grout that was dark grey worked really well.

    Wood - I replaced the tile with wood because I wanted the space to flow in the open concept living space. Now everything you see is matching wood floor - no transitions - and I love that.

    If I had a separate kitchen I would probably do wood look tile if I was doing painted cabinets. I'd do marmoleum or polished concrete or encaustic concrete tiles (decorative) if I was doing wood cabinets.

    edited to add - I've seen vinyl and laminate installs that look really good too, but they wouldn't be among my first choices.

    Super important decision...so be sure.

    This post was edited by feisty68 on Wed, Apr 2, 14 at 2:23

  • cherryrosh
    9 years ago

    Wooden floor is the best...Very easy to clean and maintain. So you can use wood flooring...

  • dcward89
    9 years ago

    I may be in the minority but I love, love, love high quality sheet vinyl. Every kitchen I have ever had has had sheet vinyl. I love the ease of cleaning, no grout to clean, much softer under foot, dishes/glasses at least have a chance if dropped. My flooring guy is coming this morning to measure for new sheet vinyl. We are doing a complete "to-the-studs" remodel and could have chosen any flooring out there. My DH is completely against wood flooring in the kitchen or bathrooms and I absolutely hate tile. As we talked and talked about it, we realize how much we love the sheet vinyl that has been down for 13 years. Honestly it still looks new once cleaned up and that is after not protecting it at all during the demo. It may not work for everyone but there is definitely a place for sheet vinyl in my kitchen!!

  • Terri_PacNW
    9 years ago

    I put in high end sheet vinyl too in our last remodel. At the time my 3 boys were still young, and dropping dishes and spills were common. I picked one that looks like flagstone.
    I love it.

    In our new house there is brand new vinyl too. It too is a stone tile look.

  • feisty68
    9 years ago

    Dcward, I agree with you that there are many benefits to *good* vinyl. In my experience, vinyl in the kitchen works best in homes built in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. Maybe because linoleum was the traditional choice there and vinyl is very similar in look and feel? I'm not saying it doesn't work in other homes (I don't have much experience with homes of certain decades), I'm just thinking about homes I've seen and lived in.

    In homes like my characterless recently built condo, even high quality vinyl risks looking cheap - JMO.

    I wouldn't do vinyl in an open concept kitchen, because it's too kitchen-y.

    With yearly waxing and buffing, linoleum is a lovely choice. We have it in our complex common facilties and it's been very practical for 12 years. The modern brand name is marmoleum.

  • sjhockeyfan325
    9 years ago

    I wouldn't do vinyl in an open concept kitchen, because it's too kitchen-y.

    I agree. We didn't change the flooring (actually added some and refinished all of it) in our condo, so the hardwood (medium color oak) is everwhere except the stairs, two upstairs rooms and bathrooms (those are carpeted and tiled, respectively). We had bamboo in our last home - kitchen and family room - and loved it; it was very pleasant/warm to walk on in bare feet and looked great.

    My friends had an older home and put in sheet vinyl (Or Marmoleum or something "sheet") in a design of their own and it looked fantastic. They liked it so much that when it needed to be replaced, they replaced it with exactly the same thing (material, color, design)

  • bbstx
    9 years ago

    In my last few houses, I've had sheet vinyl, porcelain tile (twice), and wood (twice).

    I bought a high quality sheet vinyl that looked like 18" stone squares. It had texture both in the "tile" area and the "grout" area. I had the installer lay it on the 45. An architect friend came to visit and had to get down and feel it to believe it was vinyl. He said laying it on the 45 helped foster the illusion that it was actually tile.

    The porcelain tile looked great, cleaned up easily, but was terrible to stand on for extended periods. My back, knees, and hips hurt when I made a complicated dinner or did a lot of baking.

    Wood is much easier on you physically. I keep a dish towel on the floor while I cook and use my foot to dry up any drips (sort of the kitchen hokey-pokey), as does my sister, my mother, and my aunt in their homes.

    There is a downside to wood. We had friends whose ice maker sprung a leak while they were out of town. The kitchen, dining room, and family room floors had to be replaced.

    A neighbor and I both have handscrapped wood floors in a medium tone. It covers a multitude of sins. I am careful with my wood floors but not obsessively so. My neighbor is extremely casual with hers. Hers are a year old and still look fine.

    Unless it would be overbuilt for the neighborhood, I would go with wood. My second choice would be sheet vinyl.

  • ardcp
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    so i went to the armstrong website, found some vinyl that i liked and did the estimate thing. i was shocked that it was over $2000 for an 18x12 kitchen space (i didn't know how to include the hallway) that is pretty close to the cost of hardwood! does that seem right? is sheet vinyl really that much?
    we are not going to live here forever so i didn't want to spend a lot to put in hardwood as the neighborhood does not warrant that but if vinyl is going to be close, i guess wood might be an option again.
    i have to say that figuring out the flooring is much harder than the cabs ir countertop!

  • Evan
    9 years ago

    That seems crazy expensive to me. That's about $10 a square foot. Does that include installation?

    You can get very nice wood floors for $5 or $6 a square foot. Sometimes even less.

  • dcward89
    9 years ago

    That sounds about right...our kitchen is 11x15 and we are going to also do by the front door...about a 3x5 area...just had it measured today and the cost is $1,750 installed. There are definitely vinyls that cost much less but you can expect a shorter life from them. Hardwoods were not an option for us due to DH having a previous experience with hardwoods in a kitchen and bathroom both of which were completely ruined by previous owners and water.

  • ardcp
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    edb2n-i was surprised too and yes according to armstrongs website that is installed but still! my thought is that if i can get hardwood for a little more, that might be the way to go. i just worry about durability in kitchen with dogs, kids and pool water! plus i will have to go with pre-finished wood since we can't move out to have it stained/polyed and i have read that the prefinished isn't as good as site finished.
    dcward89-so going by your cost i would guess that the armstrong websites price is typical. i know that i wouldn't want to go with the cheapest vinyl since that is what our builder put in and it yellowed badly.

  • feisty68
    9 years ago

    I would consider a rustic finished wood floor - the ones that have built-in dings, handscraped, etc. Then the kids/dogs/pool issues will just blend in. I consider that a beautiful and practical option.

  • jjsmama89
    9 years ago

    I admit I have a personal bias against vinyl (lived in two houses where the flooring got scratched from chairs sliding back & forth). My personal choice would be a high quality laminate. Approx 14 yrs ago we purchased the best laminate that was made. Through 3 dogs, 2 cats, grandchildren, living on a lake, doing nothing to be "careful", this stuff looks like it was put in last month. By now I would have had to refinish hardwood or replace vinyl while this natural maple laminate still looks beautiful.

  • ardcp
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    jjsmama89- i agree about laminate as we have wilsonart that is 15 years old and is just now showing some wear. i have concluded that we will just do laminate again!

  • carolmka
    9 years ago

    I think when you pick your flooring that you need to think about where you live, what your floor connects to in the rest of the house and what kind of cook are you. We have wood flooring and it works for us because it connects to the rest of our first floor. Also we like to cook but we are not the 6 burner gourmet chefs and we live in a cold climate.

  • quadesl
    9 years ago

    We had sheet vinyl in our kitchen/mud room and wall to wall carpet in our family room, dining room and living room. We replaced it all with 1'X2' cork tiles. It required a sub floor to be added to where the carpeting was but the cork was placed right over the sheet vinyl after a coat of thin set was added over vinyl. The floor is all level within the different rooms and the existing baseboards all retained their normal height.

    It's been several years now and the floor is holding up great and I can't think of an easier floor to care for. It also feels great under your feet all year round. We use roller chairs in the kitchen and there are no signs of wear around them. My wife and I are surprised that cork isn't a more popular choice.

  • Skyangel23
    9 years ago

    We are planning to do high end luxury vinyl plank, for the look of wood without having to worry about water, leaks, scratching from kids and pets, ect. Also, the high end sheet vinyls look awesome these days, but they aren't the cheapest either.

  • Skyangel23
    9 years ago

    We are planning to do high end luxury vinyl plank, for the look of wood without having to worry about water, leaks, scratching from kids and pets, ect. Also, the high end sheet vinyls look awesome these days, but they aren't the cheapest either.

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