Poll-Hardwoods or Tile? (pool, living room, cleaner, carpet)

[aaa0628]

Our entire home has hardwoods (other than baths) and we're redoing the kitchen floor. I need an opinion: should we continue the hardwoods into the kitchen (we have an incredible hardwood floor guy whose price is great!) or go for tile.

Pros of tile are ease to clean and durability and some contrast
Pros of hardwoods are coordinates great with rest of home, very lovely hardwoods, and the color is great with the cabinets and granite.

My only concern is the heavy traffic in the kitchen-I don't want to beat the hardwoods up! Any comments would be great!

[dinalkulp]

I debate these two options as well. My concern with a wood floor in the kitchen is that it wouldn't stand up to my cleaning. I like to wash my kitchen floor on my hands and knees because I just feel it gets cleaner that way. I wonder how well a wood floor would do with frequent hot water and Lysol washings. It seems to me that the wood would eventually show water distress.

[rfb]

I much prefer hardwoods. It feels warmer in the winters, and you don't have to worry about breaking dishes or glasses as much if you drop them, or worry about chipping the tile. You can also refinish them if they get worn - and, on the negative side, you will have to do that every so often. They also look nicer, IMO.

[Booboy]

Tile is alot better and durable.I have wood floors in the kitchen and hate it.Between the dog and family there is alot of cleaning.The gloss will disappear and the floors will look dull.If you go tile try a 1/8 grout spacer.Far as cracking tile use 3/8 porcelain tile,alot stronger than ceramics.I can guarantee you it will not break if installed right.

[momof2dfw]

Real hardwood is softer on your legs and knees. I have hardwood in my kitchen and LOVE IT!!! I would not go w/ anything else. We have a pool, two kids, two dogs and entertain A LOT!!! I've not had one single problem. I also like to mop on my hands and knees for some reason. Never had a problem. You just don't leave huge puddles of water standing just as you would not a tile or any other type floor. Wood is very durable and can last a lifetime, won't go out of style, goes w/ every color scheme one could use on the walls, etc. Wood also feels warmer on your feet on a cold morning. Our wood also matches our cabinetry and looks great w/ the granite counters and plantation shutters and the wood trim & baseboards. I think it just gives a different feel. I would not trade my wood for anything.

[escapetacoma]

Originally Posted by aaa0628

Pros of tile are ease to clean and durability and some contrast
Pros of hardwoods are coordinates great with rest of home, very lovely hardwoods, and the color is great with the cabinets and granite.

My only concern is the heavy traffic in the kitchen-I don't want to beat the hardwoods up! Any comments would be great!

It's hard to imagine the kitchen getting the highest traffic of any place in the house but I suppose it could. OTOH most of the floors in our house have seen 110 years worth of traffic and they're holding up fine - I suspect they've been sanded and refinished a couple of times in that period.

If you're worried about the wood itself holding up go for something more durable. I'm not as big a fan of Oak floors as some since the tannins in Oak can react with various things and stain. Maple is nice and hard, Hickory harder still and I like the character -vs- Maple. Some of the exotics that are available now are very, very hard and pretty waterproof. They tend to be sold as "African" or "South American" Cherry or Walnut and they're typically darker woods.

I'm not personally a fan of very hard floors in the kitchen. Accidents happen and it's amazing what a little cushioning in the floor can do to prevent breakage and other damage. There's also the factor of standing for long periods on an unforgiving surface. My wife and I have also found it to be easier to get something with a uniform texture really clean - we've come to loathe grout lines!

All of that being said in favor of wood, if we were to replace our kitchen floor we'd take a very close look at cork.

[braylee]

I am facing a similar dilema. I think tile is better for a kitchen, but I love the look and feel of hardwoods. I guess it depends how much you use your kitchen and how much durability you will need.
I cook almost every meal every day in my kitchen and we have 2 dogs so it gets a lot of wear.
Hardwood looks great, but there are a LOT of tile options that look great as well.

[gracie07]

This past summer I changed my floors from tile to hardwood, and I can't say enough about my new floor. I was lucky because after removing the tile, I found that I had the original hardwood floors underneath. The hardwood was in good condition, (just needed a lot of sanding, and some filler in some area's). My floors are so much easier to clean. I also have a dog, and two boys and the traffic in my kitchen area is pretty heavy, but I have found that it takes less time to clean and my floors are easier to clean. It's been about 8 months since I did my floors, and I have no wear areas as of yet. I have also found that my floors are warmer on the feet then what the tile was. My kitchen overall has a much warmer feel to it. My only wish is that I would have done it sooner!

[Booboy]

I love tile,i put stone tile in my living room,dining room,powder room.I about to replace all my ceramics baths with travertine every where.I will put travertine in my sunroom also.I am going even further and put stone tile on my stairs.Hard flooring whether its wood or tile can be kid and pet freindly.They can spill juice,waste food,and walk thru the house with their shoes on,dont matter just mop it up compare to carpet been professionally clean.I have put in carbonaited strainded bamboo on the whole second level(1100 s.f.) except the bathrooms.I only carpet i have is the basement.Its a hassle to clean all the wood,hate it actually.My two levels of my house is either tile or wood.

[MrsSteel]

Obviously, this is all a matter of personal preference. Personally, I'd vote for "none of the above"!

I hate tile. It's cold and it's hard, so it's not good on your feet. Most tasks performed in the kitchen are done while standing & standing on tile gets painful pretty quickly (especially if you don't wear shoes around the house like me). So tile is a no-no for me. Tile may be fine in an entry way or in the bathroom, but based on my experience, the only place I will tolerate it in my kitchen is on the backsplash.

As others have said, wood has a little more give to it, so it's easier on your feet. Also I find that glass objects that are dropped on a wood floor are less likely to shatter than if it had been dropped on tile. However, the kitchen can be a rather wet area sometimes & that's what makes me hesitant. The last place I rented had wood floors throughout the main floor, including in the kitchen and the laundry cupboard. I noticed that the boards in front of the washing machine appeared shrunken & warped & they didn't feel very nice to stand on. The owner of the house said that there had been a leak in the water supply line for the washing machine which had damaged the floor. That wouldn't have happened to other florring materials. Also, every cleaning method I've read for wood floors says that you should use water sparingly & wipe it up immediately. As a result, I never felt that the wood kitchen floors were as clean as I'd like.

So there are pros and cons to both.