After almost 20 years of living with a linoleum floor that I hate, my husband has agreed with me on getting something else. I could really use some help figuring out what would be best for us. I thought there had been another flooring thread a while ago but couldn’t find it. I may have been using the wrong keyword search, so feel free to point me towards it if you know where it is.
I like to cook and spend a lot of time in our kitchen. The kitchen is fairly large and has a kitchen table in it where we eat most of our meals. We are not changing our counters or cabinets. The cabinets are oak. Adjoining the kitchen is a formal dining room with a wood floor that my husband just refinished. We have berber carpet in our family room on the other side of the kitchen and a hallway with light colored tile.
We have pretty much ruled out wood because this flooring would also extend to our laundry room and entrance to the back door as well as to the garage. It rains and snow quite often and we spend quite a bit of time in all weather going in and out those doors and onto that floor. We have a big dog that often comes in with wet paws. Neither of us want the upkeep of wood.
We’ve been to a couple of flooring showrooms and brought home porcelain tiles and two samples of the Luxury Vinyl Tile that can be grouted. We thought we had decided on the LVT until I read a few reviews that talked about how easily it chipped and how since the backing is white, it immediately shows damage. We walked over to a sample, dropped a spoon from counter height and sure enough a piece flew off and a noticeable white hole showed up. Wow! Now we don’t know what to do. Everywhere we’ve read and what we’ve heard is that tile is hard on your back and legs after awhile and everything shatters when it hits. Is there another alternative that is attractive and sturdy?
Bamboo flooring is quite durable, from what I hear. I would not want anything but wood in my kitchen - tile and stone are too hard on my feet and back.
I have had the following; vinyl- hated it, next home vinyl wanted to shoot it- replaced it with dark multicolored carpet- kind of like a hospital or daycare. I had little kids and hard to believe but it worked well. I spilled a sample of spaghetti sauce on the samples and the one that was picked was the one I could not find the stain on. Another home- tile- was beautiful but yes things broke and managed to set off the house alarm a few times (glass detector) and it was not soft on my feet- cold- but we lived south at the time and I guess infloor heating would be helpful in cold climates. Current house Australian Cyprus wood floors. Love them. Have a good feel on the feet and small rugs under the range, sink, refrigerator and dishwasher that I buy a few times a year and replace when they need it. If you had tile you could add a few rugs/carpets for comfort also.
I understand the love for wood floors, but really I just don’t think they’re going to work. Our floor in the dining room got terribly scratched up and we hardly used that room. Our kitchen is the busiest room in the house.
We are looking at floors too, but I want the same in the hall and the bathroom.
I was considering slate tile, but my H made a frowny face.
I kind of like old style checkerboard linoleum for the kitchen and it would go with the house,
@emeraldkity4 – we have wood floors almost everywhere other than in the full baths. There is a small powder room off our kitchen and the tumbled marble I ordered twice for it came in flawed each time (can’t recall details) so I gave up and just had the contractor install wood flooring in the powder room also. The hall outside of the powder room leading to the mudroom area is also wood but the mudroom is tiled in a commercial grade tile. (At least, that is what I think it was called. The construction work took place while I was massively pregnant and then home with a newborn, so my recall may be a bit off.) Tile has held up well other than requiring regrouting.
The wood floor is fine in the powder room and we ‘dressed’ up the room by running bead board beneath the chair rail. It is a small space though so the flooring is not of great importance. Flooring has held up well throughout house other than obvious wear spots: top of staircase where foot falls, directly in front of refrigerator, under computer chairs in office.
@walkinghome – I wonder if the scratched floor is a function of the floor material? I ask that b/c our wood kitchen table and chairs sit directly on the floor and that area is fine. I have those felt protector things stuck to the bottom of each chair, but very little scratching. (Now, the chair seats have gouges cut in from the days my boys used to wear pants with zippers on the legs. I guess they sat with a leg underneath while doing homework.) The style of the breakfast room table & chairs could be considered DR furniture, so I would think the wear pattern would be similar. I think we just have your basic two-inch oak strips and it was finished with a couple of coats of poly 18 years ago. No dogs though…
The wood-look porcelain tile has become popular around here for kitchens and baths. Durability of tile but look of wood. Here’s an example and if you click on reviews several customers have posted photos of finished projects:
I had vinyl and while it wasn’t beautiful I had no issues with it ever. Then I had a slippery white tile I loathed. Every speck of dirt showed and if it got a little bit wet you risked breaking your neck and everything that fell broke - except the things that were heavy enough to break the tile. I did a fair amount of research - got cork tile and it’s been a disaster from day one - shrank like made. Too bad because I love the look and the feel - but the 3/8" cracks when it was installed tight? Not so much. I’m thinking old fashioned linoleum is the way to go. At least it’s green and easy upkeep.
We have porcelain tile with in-floor heating and it is very unforgiving when it comes to dropped dishes. Even Corelle-type bowls or plates that might bounce off a wood floor completely shatter on the tile. But porcelain has the advantage that it is the same color throughout so no worry about the color chipping off. We are putting in cork in a basement room but I’m not sure what it would be like in a kitchen. Have you thought about a newer linoleum?
I have porcelain tile that is durable and scrubbable. If you go with tile, having grout lines as narrow as possible will be both current and much easier to clean. Matte and less slip prone finishes are available. Mine are not slip inducing. Cons are hard on feet and a dropped plate or glass will shatter. I have thick cushioned gel pads that look like leather mats in front of the sink and stove. It helps a lot.
OP, I could have written your original question: old vinyl in kitchen which extends to laundry room and out the garage door where all entrances are made, big dog, etc. I have not replaced mine partly because I can’t afford it, but mostly because I can’t decide what I want. I have a living room and formal dining connected by doorways (no doors) which are carpeted, and I thought about replacing all three rooms (living, dining, kitchen) with wood, but floor store guy said he didn’t recommend wood in the kitchen. I don’t like the fake look of laminate. A friend has the wood-look tile in her kitchen, living open-concept area and it looks great, but I have tile in my sunroom where I spend a lot of time and it is really cold, so I don’t want it in the living room. I have considered it for the kitchen, though. I don’t like grout because it gets so dirty, but the wood-look tiles are almost touching and have dark grout . I can’t wrap my head around those vinyl, peel-and-stick planks. In my mind, I already have vinyl and am wanting to get away from that.
We have travertine in our kitchen, two mud rooms, powder room, and through the hallway on both sides of the staircase to the front entry. All other rooms on the main floor have hardwood. I like the travertine and had it done in large tiles with small dark brown ‘diamond’ designs at the centre of each four. It is durable, does not show the dirt easily, which was important as we have four dogs who track in a lot of dirt!
Our duraceramic vinyl tiles, in the kitchen and in the foyer, are going on two years old and still look new. There is a little ding in the kitchen where the tip of of a knife fell, but you’d have to look close to see it. Easy to clean, warmer than ceramic tile; no regrets.
Musicmom, I share your distaste of vinyl, but there is a lot more manufactured stuff out there today than peel and stick. I know I have been fooled more then once with the LVT - you can get it “groutable”, which is the kind my husband liked before we found how easily it chips. I am leaning toward travertine or porcelain tile. I had forgotten about the possibility of heating the floor.
We have sheet vinyl in our kitchen and bathroom. It came with a very long warranty and has been replaced twice in the kitchen at no charge to us. It is padded and soft but resists cuts and scratches. When things are dropped on it, they usually don’t break or damage the flooring.
We prefer vinyl in our kitchen, as we do spill water and it’s so low maintenance. It’s much easier to care for than tile and grout, IMHO. We like that it’s not cold and hard, unlike tile.
The rest of our house is oak hardwood and has held up very well these 24 years. A food finish and floor protectors help.
OP, if you decide to go with tile, I have two words of wisdom: EPOXY GROUT. Worth its weight in gold and even more! It is non-porous, so it does not need any sealants, and it does not stain. Sanded epoxy grout looks just like the regular kind. I have personally regrouted our shower - it is awesome. Cleaning is a breeze!
I may be totally alone here, but the wood-look tile creeps me out. I have an uncanny-valley reaction to it. I love wood floors in the kitchen. Bamboo, mentioned upthread, would be a wonderful solution.
I put manufactured wood thought kitchen, FR, DR, and half bath. There are many different qualities. I had waited years to replace the tile and old carpet. Mine are wide planks, wavy, about 1/4 inch real wood (so can be touched up and sanded if needed). I have cotton rugs by sink and stove. Still very happy with my choice.
If you want to do floor on the cheap and still get a nice looking floor, don’t rule out vinyl stick down tiles or fake wood planking…some of the vinyl stuff looks really nice. You don’t even have to remove present vinyl flooring, just get a small sack of some flooring skim coat compound at Home Depot or Lowes, use it to prep and level surface of present vinyl, then put down new stuff. If present floor is real old, it could have asbestos in it so applying new stuff over old makes sense too to reduce asbestos exposure removing… Tip: use big paper cutter from the office to cut and trim new vinyl pieces installing