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I currently have marble tiles in my kitchen and I am not a big fan of them, plus whoever installed them (prior to me owning house) did a terrible job. A lot of them are popping our and/or cracking. I am assuming they did not do a good job leveling the floor.
Anyhow, I am replacing the entire 1st floor with wooden floors and I am debating continuing to the kitchen.
I've only started seeing kitchens with wooden floors recently, and those are far and few inbetween.
Your kitchen tiles sound like ours. I absolutely hate them. If the subflooring is weak or water damaged, tiles tend to break easier. Hardie plank used as subflooring provides good and solid support. My wife probably wants to go with wood flooring in the kitchen, breakfast nook and hallway but I am more inclined to go with a much better grade of tile that won't crack and break easily. Hardie plank will be installed first where the flooring needs better support. The messy job will be tearing up all those darn ceramic tiles.
Last edited by Southside Shrek; 04-30-2012 at 11:51 AM..
Reason: add
You'll get a bunch of opinions on here with most probably leaning towards hardwood, but I prefer tile in the kitchen. In my opinion, any area prone to drips, wet, etc - kitchen, baths, mudrooms should be tiled. Hardwoods look nice, but they just do not stand up to the test of time.
Hardie plank used as subflooring... Hardie plank will be installed first where the flooring needs better support.
"Hardiplank" for a tile floor?
God, I've heard everything now! I think I'll retire on that one.
OP- I would just continue the wood flooring through the kitchen. It adds good aesthetics, keeps continuity, and is easier too keep clean than tile. And that can be done with little to no water; just more frequent sweeping/dust mopping.
"Hardiplank" for a tile floor?
God, I've heard everything now! I think I'll retire on that one.
You took that out of context--it is for the subflooring. LOL However, if I lived in Siberia it may work just fine as flooring material. With some fancy faux finishing on the surface, it may look superb.
A contractor friend of mine just used Hardi Plank to raise a floor 2 inches adjacent to the kitchen area. It works and it's solid. I can jump up and down on that stuff and not feel it give one iota.
I personally think ceramic tile is easy to clean and I would be leary about having hardwood around any area that can be subjected to water damage. Just my two cents.
Last edited by Southside Shrek; 04-30-2012 at 01:29 PM..
Reason: add
Even though I don't want wood floors in my kitchen -- doesn't match the 50s red, white and black theme -- I LOL at wood floors in the kitchen being a "new" idea. I'm pretty sure that Ma Ingalls' kitchen in Little House on the Prairie had wood floors. And they were probably pine.
I have oak hardwood floors on the first floor of my house including the kitchen and love them. They are a stained oak (I mixed different stains for the installer until I got a shade I liked). There are three coats of water based sealer on them. Maintenaince is easy - you just have to get water spills up right away, and cleaning them is a breeze. The people who installed them gave us a special mop and I use Bona cleaner on them. I also use a vacuum that is made for hardwoods - it has some sort of foam protectors on the bottom and was inexpensive. The hardwods are easy on the feet and dinnerware has a better chance of surviving than if dropped on a ceramic tile floor.
I would be leery of them if I had pets though. Dog & cat urine will damage wood floors unless you can catch the accidents right away and even then they might hurt the hardwoods.
You'll get a bunch of opinions on here with most probably leaning towards hardwood, but I prefer tile in the kitchen. In my opinion, any area prone to drips, wet, etc - kitchen, baths, mudrooms should be tiled. Hardwoods look nice, but they just do not stand up to the test of time.
Sorry to disagree but hardwoods have been around for centuries. I've been inside 18th and 19th century homes where they used those beautiful wide planked hardwood floors and they still look fantasic if properly taken care of. Mine are only 20 years old but they still look brand new.
Add me to the list of wood floor lovers. I have one in my kitchen and I do have a mat on the floor in front of the sink to catch the most often spot of water but I too use Bona and a swifter. Never use water. I will sprinkle a bit of water on a swifter pad to LIGHTLY dampen it and dust away. I could not be happier with my floors.
Ask yourself how often stuff lands on the floor. Do you get frequent spills? Does water leak out of the drip pan on the frig? Do you have kids who spill a lot? Or pets who get things wet?
I currently have cheap sticky plastic tile, but we didn't have time, and once we pealed off the ghastly old lineloium with a heat gun, found mostly nice floor. Except you could find the two places where the frig had been by the rotted spot which got fixed and then covered. And the large bad area in front of the sink. I have a shed of harwood floor that came with the house, but its not the same as what's on the floor, so 'fixing' the holes where they didn't show would be debatable.
Ma Ingles probably had patches on her floor too. But if it was pine, it was wood since it was a floor and not because it was a special floor.
Be especially wary of refrigerators and near the sink in making your decision. Maybe put a section of tile in in the area immediate to the sink and wet areas where most spills happen.
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And they were probably pine.
