I have wood floors in my kitchen and love them. And no, I don’t worry about the humidity levels in the house so if we want a window open, we open it. I dislike tile in a kitchen due to its hardness. My knees ache if I’m walking on tile in a kitchen and like others say, everything that falls on it breaks.
Our friends have oak trim in their house and the matching oak floors look great. Their oak is more of a honey colored stain that also runs through the kitchen. Most people I know have carpet in their great rooms which I think is cozier than wood floors.
We had the dishwasher problem too due to our tile. I had to return the Bosch and get a KitchenAid. The Kitchen Aid is medium range. It is very quiet with many cycles, and was under $1000. Some brands have height adjustments and others don’t.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE my tile. I have a medium grey with some rust tones in it. It reminds me of slate as far as the colors in it. We have a medium/dark grey grout and this tile and grout NEVER look dirty. I can go too long without washing it! If you think your colors are boring, then get your tile on a diagonal. It costs more but looks really nice and will add visual interest.
I have dark wood floors in my foyer and they show every white piece of dirt and dust. I hate that. I was at a friend’s and noticed her dust on her dark floors. We are about to replace that wood due to it’s needing to be re-coated at a minimum and re-stained at the worst. It is way darker in the areas where rugs have been. It is an area that gets a lot of sun. To avoid the hassle we are just getting new wood put in that is a medium maple color. It shows dust much less (have it in mbr and upper hall). We are going to extend it into a small area adjacent to the foyer.
summary, tile YES if you get the right color. It is awesome and I’m so glad I did not put wood in the kitchen. Carpet in family room is fine. Wood is cold and hard if you ever do anything on the floor like play with kids or dogs, so you need an area rug anyway. I find all hard floors to make a house seem like it echos. If you get a wood floor, go darker than your oak, but not too much. They still make a lot of oak floors, so the grains will match. Keep the same tone (gold, tan, brown etc) but a shade or two darker (or lighter if your oak is dark) If you have kids or pets and you don’t like scratches, then plan to refinish it in the future.
Is this a formal living room situation, or more of a family room…more casual? I’d at least look at the new vinyls. They have vinyl now that looks like wood or looks like tile, with texture and different finishes. Super easy maintenance.
We LOVE our sheet vinyl. It is soft underfoot and comfortable. It is very forgiving of dropped utensils, knives and dishes. We have had it in our kitchen and bathrooms since we bought the house and have replaced with new sheet vinyl. The entire rest of our home is white oak–hardwood. We chose patterns that are fairly smooth, for easy cleanup and NOT grout to deal with. I dislike the coldness of tile and its hardness. We can’t tolerate the dust and mites in carpet, so are happy with the vinyl and wood.
I’m going to chime in, but my opinions tend to be more towards what looks good rather than extremely functional. You need to give laminate floors a chance. There are different ‘grades’ of laminate and the high grade laminates are gorgeous. In my opinion you should contrast your oak trim either lighter or darker. You don’t want the floors to be the same and overwhelm the space.
I have a couple of clients who put in extra soft step thick vinyl sheet in their kitchens. Made by Armstrong I believe. There aren’t too many colors or variations but Ohhh, its a dream to stand on and clean up!!
Yes, we have had Armstron and Congoleum sheet vinyl floors. They are very durable and nicely cushioned underfoo . They come with nice long 10-25 year warranties, where they will replace the floor if it develops problems, including the labor and materials. Clean up is very worry free.
After 30 years as an independent flooring retailer I commiserate with @deb922, who like most of our customers is overwhelmed with choices and bad advice. To find the right floor we need to ask questions first.
Where do you live? Does it get cold? Is there lots of Sand? Mud? Rain ? Snow?
Who lives there? How often do you change your flooring?
Why are you changing what you have now?
How much time and effort do you want to devote to floor care?
Are you highly budget conscious ?
Now for some flooring suggestions:
I like L.V.T. (luxury vinyl tiles) as a hard surface option as do many of my suppliers, who are building and buying loads of capacity to produce them. Brands like Congoleum Dura-Ceramic or Armstrong Alterna are good examples. My personal favorite however is Shaw Resort tile in the Versailles pattern. Mostly because it offers both great quality and value.
LVT is basicly a thick vinyl tile, most often they are solid vinyl, although some like duraceramic use a limestone base, most importantly be sure to get rounded edges or what we call “groutable” tiles. They reduce the chance you might one day peel the wear layer and pattern off any tiles.
LVT is kind to bare feet (doesn’t feel cold like ceramic), dropped dishes stand a chance of survival, is pet and kid friendly, clean easily and look fantastic. Floor prep needed to install these is minimal to moderate. It does not add a ton of height to a floor ( which leads to dishwasher and fridge height issues.)
When grouted some of these look incredibly real .let me know what you think about them.
On to carpet. I am a huge fan of Mohawk’s
“SmartStrand” carpet made with a fiber called Triexa. It is renewably sourced (much is made from corn) virtually unstainable. even by bleach, and very durable. It is not inexpensive however, and if budget is an issue a continuous filament P.E.T. fiber is a good second choice, but not quite as durable ounce per ounce.
I like the subtle multicolors. Many retailers like me have a SmartStrand “color wall” with 72 solid colors and 16 multi’s.there are 9 or so assorted styles and thicknesses available (from $30 to $50 a sq. yd. Installed with fine cushion retail at my store)
I love not worrying about my carpet. No stain issues no matting issues, and it feels silky soft. Check those out and tell me what you think.
Good luck with the project!
I want to say that I am reading with great interest but am having problems posting (hoping this get through)
Thanks!
I understand that you don’t like the look of cork. I will say however, that we have cork for our kitchen floor and it has all the properties you indicate you want. It is softer, dropped items are less likely to break and when they do less likely to shatter. It is quieter. I love it’s thermal properties. It is actually more comfortable to walk on our cork floor than our carpet in the middle of the winter. It is naturally water resistant, anti static and naturally resists bacteria. Natural cork designs do not show damage much per the design, however, cork comes in many different options from varying colors to tiles to inlays etc. We have had it for five years and I am quite happy and frankly think it looks pretty much the same as it did when it was installed. Good luck in your decision.
We have Armstrong vinyl flooring in our upstairs bathrooms…20 years old and looks brand new.
Our downstairs powder room is continuous from our entryway which is ceramic tile.