Choosing floors for your kitchen might take a little more attention than you’d spend on other rooms. This is because kitchen floors must do a number of things well. They should complement your cabinets and appliances. They need to be tough enough to handle a lot of traffic and the inevitable spills. And they must be easy to clean.
We’ll take a look at your options and give you the pros and cons of each.
While you might want carpet or stone, we’ll stick to three of the most common categories: vinyl, wood, and ceramic tiles. But within each of these categories you have even more choices.
Let’s start with the most popular of the bunch — vinyl. It’s the most affordable, it’s easiest to install, and it can be quite durable.
For the most durable vinyl flooring, you’ll want to look at full-depth or inlaid flooring. This means that the colors and patterns run right through the flooring, as opposed to being applied in a vinyl layer over a liner. If you do go for the layered kind, you’ll want to make sure you get a thicker top-layer. Price can give you an idea.
How the floor feels underfoot is also important. Price is an indicator here, too.
Sheets are better than tiles, because there’s less chance water and other spills will get down into the subfloor and damage it, as can happen with individual tiles.
You can apply the flooring over an existing wood or concrete floor, or even over older vinyl flooring. In some cases, you’ll glue the entire sheet down, or you can “float” the tile, by just gluing the edges or even holding it down with trim, such as quarter round. Check with the manufacturer.
Next time, wood and tile.