Wood Floors in the Kitchen (hardwood, sand, stairs, loft)
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The truth be told if you have a major leak, the water will most likely infiltrate the board beneath (no matter what you have) and it will have to be taken up.
This happened to me. The ice maker leaked, and the floor was damaged. Insurance covered it, though, and it was just a fluke. Chances are, it will never happen.
Water can mess up lots of materials. We had a big leak in our washer, and our Pergo floor was ruined. Insurance covered the loss, and we got a different Pergo pattern for the room.
I suppose water would not ruin tile or vinyl. Maybe vinyl, if the leak was bad enough? An awful lot of people do put wood in their kitchens, though.
I have wood in the kitchen and while it looks nice it is a PITA! Scuffs, scratches, have to worry about moisture...There's no way I'd ever install wood flooring in a bathroom.
You can get wood tile with narrow grout lines if you must have that look. Personally I like the look of the newer, modern long plank tiles than wood flooring and in many homes (at least here in TX) tile is king in the kitchen.
We redid all the flooring in our house a couple of years ago. Put high grade commercial luxury vinyl tile in the kitchen and laundry room. This (in Flux - Black):
Love the stuff. It's almost zero maintenance and easy on your feet. Note that our house is very modern with a somewhat industrial "vibe". Our kitchen looks like this:
A floor covering like this might not work in a more traditional house. OTOH - there are patterns that look like wood (have never seen them in person - so I don't know what they look like).
Which I never liked (scratched easily and was hard to maintain).
Note that I agree about not using hard tiles with grout in a kitchen. They're too hard on your feet and the grout stains too easily. They are good for bathrooms though.
I think one issue you have to ask yourself when it comes to floor coverings is what your lifestyle is and what - if anything - you're willing to do in terms of maintenance to keep them looking good. When it comes to our kitchen - we are enthusiastic if somewhat sloppy cooks. And - when it comes to maintenance - the answer is almost nothing. I think if I were the OP - I'd ask my wife if she's willing to do what it takes to maintain a hardwood floor:
P.S. When I was looking at floor coverings - I "test drove" them. Took a shoe and scraped the material to see if it would scuff. Put things that stain (like tomato sauce) on them - let them set - and then tried to clean the stain - etc.
We have wood and we love it. Looks great and will never go out of style. Obviously, water spill are not your friend, so you must quickly wipe those up.
We have wood and we love it. Looks great and will never go out of style. Obviously, water spill are not your friend, so you must quickly wipe those up.
How quickly?
I honestly can't imagine cooking up a storm and having to spend time wiping up this/that/the other thing every time I spill a little something on the floor. I am not sure why people follow "fashions" - as opposed to living in the best easy/low maintenance ways (especially if they have children/pets - which I don't). Robyn
We've owned 4 homes with tile in 3 homes. Loved how durable they where. However, our current home has wood everywhere on the main level including our kitchen. I love it so much better then tile. Our home was build in the 80's and it's beautiful still!
I honestly can't imagine cooking up a storm and having to spend time wiping up this/that/the other thing every time I spill a little something on the floor. I am not sure why people follow "fashions" - as opposed to living in the best easy/low maintenance ways (especially if they have children/pets - which I don't). Robyn
Well, you don't want a puddle of water to sit there for hours. It isn't a big deal for me. For instance, sometimes when I unload the dishwasher, a few drops of water fly off from something I take out. I just grab a towel and wipe it up.
I honestly can't imagine cooking up a storm and having to spend time wiping up this/that/the other thing every time I spill a little something on the floor. I am not sure why people follow "fashions" - as opposed to living in the best easy/low maintenance ways (especially if they have children/pets - which I don't). Robyn
Wood floors have been used in kitchens for centuries, they aren't some trend or fashion that people are following.
As for wiping them off, it's not very different than any other floor. If you spilled a full glass of water or some other larger quantity of liquid, you need to stop what you are doing and wipe it off. If it's messy or sticky spill, you'd wipe that up fairly quickly too, I assume, before it turns into an icky mess. If it's a few drops of water or something, it's fine.
I guess at some point, a splash of water would be big enough that you'd need to wipe it up on a wood floor where you theoretically could let it sit on a tile floor and dry on its own. But if I'm working in a kitchen, I'm going to wipe up a spill that big anyway, so that I don't end up slipping on it, which can happen on most kinds of flooring.
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