Wood floor or tile in kitchen?

amother

Jetblack

Thu, May 12 2016, 5:53 pm

Im the same op who posted about white cabinets. Since you all were so helpful and responded so quickly, I have another question.
Should I do a wooden floor or tile floor in the kitchen? If I did tile, it would probably be something light colored.
Is a wooden floor impractical (easily scratched etc)?

amother

Olive

Thu, May 12 2016, 6:09 pm

Tile. Wood and water aren't friends, and there's too much water going on in the kitchen. You also want something you can wash easily, and wood is a little too high maintenance for a kitchen IMO.

Rubber Ducky

Thu, May 12 2016, 8:07 pm

Tile is not only hard on dishes, it's hard on your back and knees, and on children if they fall.

Wood is a softer surface but is susceptible to water damage.

Consider vinyl tiles, wood lookalike vinyl tiles, or good quality sheet vinyl.

sourstix

Thu, May 12 2016, 8:40 pm

why not ceramic they are the best in terms of not getting ruined like vinyl tiles. they last almost forever. they clean like a breeze. the marble look is in now. its stunning. I would get one that doesnt show dirt too much. but then again its a breeze to clean and maintain. if I had the money I would do ceramic today!

Orchid

Thu, May 12 2016, 10:42 pm

sourstix wrote:

Isn't that hard on one's back?

amother

Navy

Thu, May 12 2016, 11:15 pm

We have ceramic tiles. In previous homes (rentals) we had cheap linoleum type floors. Those were ugly because they were hard to keep clean, every little water drip showed gray and collected dust, but these are indeed hard on the feet. Especially when I was pregnant, I found standing in the kitchen extremely uncomfortable. Even now not pregnant it's more of a strain.

Also, dishes break really easily. Our baby who can't even stand managed to pull something off the bottom shelf of the fridge and it broke. And a kid fall is scarier.

I would totally go for something softer. In my dream kitchen I would have wood floors. There may be drips and splashes but you're not planning on swimming in there, right? Maybe I'm wrong... But I love the look of wood floors in the kitchen and it's so much warmer.

Oh yeah, these ceramic tiles are also cold on bare feet, if that matters to you.

(I responded in the white cabinet thread too... I said we have white cabinets and I'm happy with them. In my dream kitchen: white cabinets and wood floors Smile

Deep

Thu, May 12 2016, 11:18 pm

All the new modern condos I've seen have open-concept kitchen and living areas with wood floors throughout. I love the look of white cabinets, wood counters and matching floors.

gp2.0

Thu, May 12 2016, 11:53 pm

I thought the reason why tiles are used in kitchens and bathrooms is because of all the pipes carrying water. All it takes is one leaky/burst pipe overnight to completely ruin your wood floor, plus the ceiling beneath your kitchen if you have another story underneath.

That being said, tile really is very hard on the feet. When I spend 30+ mins in the kitchen basically standing in one place, like washing dishes or baking, I use a cushy rug, otherwise I get toe cramps.

Iymnok

Fri, May 13 2016, 5:45 am

In Israel it's all tiles, ceramics or porcelain in a he whole house. I find my kids only gotten hurt from it when going to quickly across while I was washing it.
I love my floors, brown ceramic marbles tiles. 60/60cm. That's about two feet

sprayonlove

Fri, May 13 2016, 7:08 am

I have laminate wood floors throughout my entire house including the kitchen and I love it! It's easy to stand on, almost nothing ever breaks on the floor, my baby crawls all over comfortably and when he's fallen it's not as scary or painful as it would have been with tile. A lot of people prefer tile because it's easier to clean and if you have a leak in the kitchen your wood floor doesnt get ruined. But we had a leak in our sink right after we moved in and the floor around the leak buckled so my husband quickly replaced the floor with extra panels we had leftover and it was fine. Definitely a hassle, but we didn't have to replace the entire floor or even a large enough area that called for us to purchase more boxes of panels. I have white cabinets as well and I love the look of wood floors in the kitchen so I'm happy.

amother

Denim

Fri, May 13 2016, 7:56 am

My friend just redid her kitchen and she used this picture for ideas:
http://www.houzz.com/photos/12.....cisco

She put in white cabinets, fantasy brown granite counter tops and tile floors that look like dark wood.
Her back splash is a bronze color, not gray like the picture.

It came out gorgeous!!

rachel6543

Fri, May 13 2016, 8:16 am

I do not recommend wood floors in the kitchen. My parents did that 20+ years ago when they remodeled. It looked beautiful. However, it turns out there was a slow water leak from the water hookup to the refrigerator. It completely damaged the kitchen wood floor and it all had to be replaced in the kitchen! They replaced with tile floor.

A few years later they had another water leak in the kitchen in the middle of the night, this time coming from under the kitchen sink. Some piece broke causing water to gush out and there was water on the floor in my parents kitchen, dining room, living room and family rooms! It was a terrible mess. The wood floors in the rooms all had to be replaced. However the kitchen floor was okay because it was tile and that portion did not have to be replaced.

Chayalle

Fri, May 13 2016, 9:05 am

I have ceramic tile in my kitchen. It might last forever, but there are some small cracks. Two of them happened when I had the floor professionally cleaned, which you need to do every so often because the grout gets really dirty and it's hard to really clean.

My sister just did laminate tiles - wood look - on her kitchen floor. Seems to be the "in thing". She did cherry cabinets, a grey marble granite look, grey wood laminate floors, and stainless appliances. It looks very nice and practical.

nylon

Fri, May 13 2016, 9:08 am

I love my wood floors. They're much easier on my back, and if I drop a dish, it's less than 50/50 that it will break as opposed to 100%. Easier to clean too.

Vinyl was by far the hardest to clean, and it looked cheap.

My sister has wood-look tile through her entire kitchen/living/dining, and it looks nice, but it's not as pleasant underfoot.