Poll: Best flooring for kitchen

[harrypotter]

Hello, I'm interested in which would be the best flooring for a kitchen. I'm considering wood laminate, ceramic tile, vinyl...

Would you all please share your opinions? Thank you so much. harry

[Melinda Meahan - remove TRASH]

If you are a klutz, forget the ceramic tile, because you will break lots of things.

[Wayne Boatwright]

Melinda Meahan - remove TRASH to reply wrote in news:GPZZb.2885$ [e-mail]:

Cork is warm, soft under foot, and will last for decades if properly installed, sealed, and cared for.

Wayne

[BinaryBillTheSailor]

Cork

BB

[Edwin Pawlowski]

We put glazed tile in the last house. We loved it. Yes, it was hard, no we did not break anything. Yes it will break if you drop a cast iron pan. Extremely easy to clean with a sponge mop.

Vinyl is modest cost, durable, practical. In reality it is probably the "best" that you can have, but tends to be bland compared to other products. That is what we put down about six years ago, but it was a cost consideration back then as the budget was already busted on other renovations. Still look good though.

Wood is nice. Looks warm, inviting, but takes more care than most other flooring. If you have the right style kitchen, it would be very nice.

I'd use what will look good and go with the overall design of the house/kitchen. Ed [e-mail]

[DanG]

I agree with Melinda,

We had ceramic one time. When you drop the old glass jar of dill pickles, you knew one or the other would break. Quarry tile will usually beat the glass jar. Brick usually wins.

I have not had the laminates, though the ones I've been on seem noisy. They are prone to failure if they become saturated by a water leak.

It is hard to beat sheet vinyl.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Keep the whole world singing. . . . DanG

kitchen. I'm

[Sligo]

[edee em]

Ceramic is unbeatable for many day-to-day issues (clean up, etc). But, and a big but, don't use glazed tile. Reason? The glaze is only surface deep, obviously, so if you drop something, drag a chair, etc, and the tile chips, you expose the clay below which is usually a dark red/brown colour. Unless you keep lots of spare tiles and grout (good idea) and are adept at replacing tiles, you will have a ratty looking floor in no time. How do I know? This is exactly the state of my kitchen floor!!!

[John Hines]

Solid sheet material (linoleum), since it has no areas to leak, when water gets spilled.

Personally, for a step up, I'm looking into terrazo or a poured acrylic finish (another current thread in here), but I'm doing the baths right now, not yet to my kitchen.

[BinaryBillTheSailor]

Tile comes in various numbered grades of durability. Sounds like you got something that was intended for very light duty.

BB

[blubluh]

I recently spoke with someone in my town who was putting hardwood flooring in the entrance, dining room, etc and I asked him how he planned to deal with things like people entering the house in the winter with their snow- boots on, etc.

He said that in areas like the entrance he had them use the same finish they use on basketball courts and that it should stand up to the elements pretty well.

I don't think he meant that it would be maintenance-free, though, but still...

I wondered if such a finish would make hardwood flooring a good choice for kitchens, too.

Any thoughts on that?

Thx

[BinaryBillTheSailor]

Basketball court floor finishes are not especially tough or durable. It's just plain old polyurethane. They require special care, and I think you'll find that if anybody cares, they won't even allow street shoes to touch it. If you've ever seen a gymnasium that had a roof leak, you'll know that it's not very waterproof, either. A minor leak can result in major warpage.

BB