question about flooring

[AngieW in Texas]

Dh and I want to rip out all the carpet downstairs and put in new floors. We both hate tile with a passion. He is dead set against any kind of laminate.

 

What I would like to do is put in engineered hardwood flooring for all of downstairs except our bathroom and put in a different tile in our bathroom (our tile is ugly and awful).  

 

Is it okay to have hardwood in a kitchen?

[Annie G]

I don't know much about engineered hardwood but we have hardwood in our 135 year old kitchen. It's beautiful and super easy to take care of. 

[Happy]

Everyone talked me out of wood in the kitchen. I regret listening to them.

 

Just get spills mopped up promptly.  :)

[Plink]

You can absolutely use engineered hardwood in the kitchen.  It is beautiful and much more gentle on dropped dishes than tile.  I'd look into the commercial grade planks though, since the kitchen is generally a high traffic area.  It has a thicker finish, making it less likely to scratch or stain from spills.   Our customers like Armstrong Performance Plus, but there are similar products from other manufacturers.

 

Look into cork while you are shopping - it is my current kitchen favorite.  Again, I'd go with a commercial grade because of the location.

[EKS]

Is it okay to have hardwood in a kitchen?

 

We have hardwood floors in our kitchen.  The only issue we have had was when our dishwasher decided to leak all over the place in the middle of the night.  This caused the boards that got wet to bow.  It's not overly noticeable though.

 

One good thing about wood floors in a kitchen is that things don't break quite as easily when you drop them as they do on a tile floor.

[The Girls' Mom]

I've had hardwood in two kitchens, including my current one.  I'd do it again in a heartbeat.  Just be able to accept some dings and scratches, as they will happen.  

[TX Native]

We hesitantly put engineered wood floors in our kitchen. Because we did our LR and master BR ourselves and had all the tools, we figured we would only be out the cost of the wood planks and underlayment. It's only been a few months, but it looks nice since the kitchen is semi-open to the living room. I put a small rug with a rubber backing in front of the sink and under the dog's water bowl. We know it is risky in case of water damage, but since it's a floating floor (click in lock) that is not glued down or nailed together, we figure it won't be too terrible to replace if there is water damage. My neighbors across the street had real hardwoods glued down to a concrete slab. They had a major pipe burst and it was a mess to remove the wood.

[TX Native]

Dp

Edited June 3, 2016 by TX native

[Storygirl]

I had hardwood in my previous home, and I have engineered hardwood now. I liked the look of the traditional hardwood better. Both have been great in the kitchen. I prefer it over tile, both for its appearance and the feel of it under my feet.

 

In our old house, the floors were a medium cherry color, and in this one they are dark. The dark floors definitely show the dirt and dust more than the others did.

[Spryte]

We have hardwood in the kitchen. I love it.

 

But - here's the risk. We had a small leak on the water line at the back of our fridge, and it never showed until the boards started warping in front of the fridge. Long story short: they had to rip out our flooring. Our hardwood couldn't be matched, so now all the continuous hardwood on our main level is being replaced. Ouch. Yes, insurance covers it, but who wants to file a huge claim? Or deal with this. Ugh!

 

That said, I love wood. We are replacing it with wood. But I'll be obsessively checking the back of the fridge now...

[TX Native]

We have hardwood in the kitchen. I love it.

 

But - here's the risk. We had a small leak on the water line at the back of our fridge, and it never showed until the boards started warping in front of the fridge. Long story short: they had to rip out our flooring. Our hardwood couldn't be matched, so now all the continuous hardwood on our main level is being replaced. Ouch. Yes, insurance covers it, but who wants to file a huge claim? Or deal with this. Ugh!

 

That said, I love wood. We are replacing it with wood. But I'll be obsessively checking the back of the fridge now...

I have a couple extra boxes of planks stored away as a small insurance policy against having to replace all flooring if this happens. However, if we have a bigger leak beyond 50 sq ft and can't match the planks, we are screwed.

[lewber]

We have hardwood in kitchen too.

I don't think you can tell the difference between an engineered and a solid hardwood by appearance after it's installed. An engineered hardwood is just a veneered type hardwood. It's all real wood, it's just thinner layers that are placed in layers to make a solid piece. You can see it when you look at samples. This makes a product that can expand and contract more easily and therefore can be used in places where there is high humidity and a solid hardwood can't be used, such as basements.

In a kitchen, you'll have to clean up water spills quickly whether you're using solid or engineered hardwoods.

[Spryte]

I have a couple extra boxes of planks stored away as a small insurance policy against having to replace all flooring if this happens. However, if we have a bigger leak beyond 50 sq ft and can't match the planks, we are screwed.

May you never need them!

 

We did have two boxes, which wasn't quite enough. Wow, though, the finish looked different. Obviously there's some fading, but it wasn't noticeable on the floor till we put a new board next to it. Yikes. But I'd have happily used our boxes, had we enough.

[TX Native]

Dh and I want to rip out all the carpet downstairs and put in new floors. We both hate tile with a passion. He is dead set against any kind of laminate.

 

What I would like to do is put in engineered hardwood flooring for all of downstairs except our bathroom and put in a different tile in our bathroom (our tile is ugly and awful).

 

Is it okay to have hardwood in a kitchen?

Just curious, are you going to keep carpet upstairs? I would like to continue the engineered wood upstairs and Dh wants to keep carpet upstairs. He thinks it will be too loud having the wood vs carpet upstairs.

[Spryte]

Just curious, are you going to keep carpet upstairs? I would like to continue the engineered wood upstairs and Dh wants to keep carpet upstairs. He thinks it will be too loud having the wood vs carpet upstairs.

We have cork upstairs, and it's very quiet.

 

Just throwing out another option.

[plansrme]

I have regular, site-finished oak hardwood in my kitchen and have had no problems.  It has been down for nearly 10 years.  The same flooring continues throughout the entire ground floor except for the bedroom and bathroom.  It gets a lot of traffic (5 people, 2 dogs) and could stand to be refinished everywhere, but the kitchen is no worse than the rest of it.  My understanding is that this is about the normal life span of the top coat of the finish on a site-finished floor, so we'll have it done over the next year or so. 

 

As for pre-finished versus site-finished in the kitchen, my thinking was that site-finished gives you a solid finish over the seams between the boards, while pre-finished does not.   It seemed to me that small spills would be better tolerated with a site-finished floor.  Plus, I just like the look of site-finished best. Regardless, I would definitely have no qualms about putting hardwoods in a kitchen.  Tile, on the other hand--grout, stains, ugh.  I hate grout and am thankful my tiled bathrooms are all so small.

[Ellie]

I have regular, site-finished oak hardwood in my kitchen and have had no problems.  It has been down for nearly 10 years.  The same flooring continues throughout the entire ground floor except for the bedroom and bathroom.  It gets a lot of traffic (5 people, 2 dogs) and could stand to be refinished everywhere, but the kitchen is no worse than the rest of it.  My understanding is that this is about the normal life span of the top coat of the finish on a site-finished floor, so we'll have it done over the next year or so. 

 

As for pre-finished versus site-finished in the kitchen, my thinking was that site-finished gives you a solid finish over the seams between the boards, while pre-finished does not.   It seemed to me that small spills would be better tolerated with a site-finished floor.  Plus, I just like the look of site-finished best. Regardless, I would definitely have no qualms about putting hardwoods in a kitchen.  Tile, on the other hand--grout, stains, ugh.  I hate grout and am thankful my tiled bathrooms are all so small.

 

:iagree:

 

My 20yo hardwood-floors-in-the-kitchen still look great. I think I will *always* have hardwood floors in the kitchen. :-)

 

You want to have a canister or stick vacuum, and a microfiber mop to clean the floors; Bona or Bruce hardwood floor cleaners are best.

[Seasider]

We have hardwood floors in our kitchen. The only issue we have had was when our dishwasher decided to leak all over the place in the middle of the night. This caused the boards that got wet to bow. It's not overly noticeable though.

 

One good thing about wood floors in a kitchen is that things don't break quite as easily when you drop them as they do on a tile floor.

This is true, tile is unforgiving! I've had both tile and hardwood in kitchens and I much prefer the wood. Just don't let water stand.