hardwood floors (engineered, laminate, color, sink)

[findinghope]

we are planning to install hardwood floors in our kitchen and living room-its an open floor plan.
did you install yours? what brand did you use? are you happy with your decision? i am worried about hardwoods in the kitchen--do they work well?
our house is on a slab : do we glue or nail into eachother or put subflooring?
thanks

[sgresident]

we have hardwood in our kitchen and recently had it expanded to the adjacent family room. we love it. It has never been a problem in the kitchen. I don't know about the slab situation. I would hope that you would check that with a professional installer.

[Tesaje]

A slab requires either a glue down or floating application unless you build up the floor with sleepers - essentially build a wood floor on top of the crete.

I got strand woven bamboo for my kitchen and rest of the house. It isn't in yet, but I tested samples by putting it water for 24 hours - no swelling or indication it had been soaked. Also very hard to scratch and I could not dent it.

[twinmma]

We had hardwoods in our last kitchen (and throughout the entire first floor) they were BEAUTIFUL. Bruce Hardwoods in the color gunstock. We picked it out but had someone actually install it for us. Now we are in a different home and have tile...I like the tile better only b/c when we drop a pan or something, it doesn't knick. About 3 days after we moved into the home with the hardwoods we had installed my aunt and my husband BOTH dropped heavy pots on my floor and we got two big knicks. Argh...
I thik hardwoods are lovely and I do like them in the kitchen, just have a hard time seeing something new gets its character, lol!

[findinghope]

ok thanks everyone. we did speak to a professional and he told us we would need to put in subfloors since we are on a slab. also the hardwood is kind of outof our range, and the hardwoodseemed like a lot of work to install.
we had hardwoods in our bedrooms and living room in our last home, but they were original to the house (50ys old). but we had tile in the kicthen, so this will be our first experience.
we went with an engineered wood that has a 30yr warrenty--that should be enough for us--lol
and we will also be removing the carpeting from the stair and putting oak treads.
the upstairs (bedrooms) will remain carpeted, since i guess that is what everyone likes? i am thinking resale...

[christeen]

As a buyer, I love open floor plans, especially when they've got hardwood floors throughout. I often see homes where they use hardwood, except tile or carpet in certain rooms that are still part of the "flow." That kinda chops it up to me and makes it feel less open.

I prefer the look/feel of carpet upstairs (except the bathroom, which I also see too often). But hardwood upstairs wouldn't be a deal-killer for me, and it usually looks beautiful, especially to my allergy-aggravated eyes. I'd pick what you think you'd enjoy.

[poconoproud]

I love an open floor plan, too - and hardwood floors.
Hardwood is not hard to install, You can do it! You could probably do better
price-wise buying the hardwood on-line at sites such as iFLOOR.com - Flooring, Hardwood Floors, Laminate Flooring, Bamboo Floor, Cork Floors

I like hardwood better in the kitchen because some things survive when they fall - as opposed to tile which breaks the dish and often chips the tile. Just make sure you use a mat in front of the sink, and under your pet's water dish.

[findinghope]

beautiful home. but we are on a slab, and my dh doesnt want to go through all the hssle hardwoods would be: installing subfloor, having to cut and redo all the molding because of the new height the floor would be on etc...