Warm, easy to clean kitchen flooring

[openerofdarklymoulderingtombs]

If my job survives The Cuts, I am FINALLY getting my kitchen sorted this year. Hooray!

At present, I have a square dining room that is the warmest room in the house and so doubles as play space for DS. It has awful 70s brown & orange swirly carpet which had the sole advantage of being soft and warm underfoot.

The kitchen is in an offshot at the moment but I'm going to get it knocked through so we have one L-shaped kitchen/dining room.

I was wondering about bamboo, wood or even cork flooring but have no idea about how hard-wearing or crimes-against-style they are. I am not prepared to consider stone, as DS will hurt himself with depressing frequency and I don't like the patterns that vinyl comes in.

Any ideas?

[bitzermaloney]

I am having exactly the same thing, right down to the L-shaped kitchen/diner (have a thread somewhere on the subject). At the moment I am veering towards engineered wood with matt lacquer, over underfloor heating.

Initially was going to go for Amtico, till I saw how much more it was going to cost (once you factor in the fitting, which can double the price!). I did like the look of the Amtico samples and they are supposed to be very hard-wearing, but also felt ultimately that it would never look totally like the real thing (I thought slate effect looked better than the wood effect type) and I resent paying so much more for it! Also you can sand and refinish wood when it needs it.

[openerofdarklymoulderingtombs]

Yeah, wood does look better than fake. I'm not convinced by laminate at all, partly for the reasons you gave above, but also because of the shiny, slippery "whoops! there go my feet from under me" effect. I wonder if anyone else has had bamboo? Is it nice to look at? Does it wear well?

Bitzer, do you still have 60s kitchen wall units as well? Our house was a time capsule of the last four decades when we bought it.

[bitzermaloney]

No, the one we want to replace is early 90s, but we are planning a side and rear extension which means the kitchen has to be moved. We don't even own the house yet - just in the process of buying it!

We have laminate in our current (rented) house and I loathe it. I've slipped on it and broken my arm, and the dog is always sliding around on it with her legs tangled up like Scrappy-doo.

I've been told engineered wood is better than solid wood for areas of changing humidity (like kitchens) as it is more stable and much less likely to bend/lift.

[brimfull]

We have engineered oak flooring that is fab, loads of knots so the dirts doesn't show , hard enough for stilletoes, easy to wash.
Have heard good things about bamboo as well.

[taffetawitchescat]

We have engineered oak with underfloor heating underneath, its great but make sure its properly finished, eg matt lacquered as you suggest, ours is oil and natural waxed and doesn't clean as esily as if we had gone for the matt lacquer option. Ours is from Bausen as they had the widest planks I could find.

I really wanted polished poured concrete over the underfloor heating but it was outside our budget.

[hobnob]

I have bamboo in my kitchen and can highly recommend it. I have the natural strand woven sort and it's extremely hardwearing and looks beautiful. I sent off for lots of samples and tried scratching them all with keys and coins, and the strand woven was the one which didn't scratch at all. If you CAT me I'll email you pics so you can get the idea. (I had my kichen extended this year and I'm still at the showy-offy stage about it.)

I should also add that I got the idea of bamboo from MN!

[doozle]

We have solid oak in our kitchen and it's been great. It has a laquer and cleans very easily.

[bitzermaloney]

hobnob - ooh, sounds good, hadn't considered bamboo. Where did you get yours from?

[GrendelsMum]

Bamboo really is great. I've been going on and on about it for years, now, so it might be me that was responsible for Hobnob's - if so, glad you're pleased by it. If anything, we found the problem was that it was so hardwearing we tended to treat it worse and worse, so I'm sure at some point we would have found something that did actually damage it.

We found the prices charged are very variable for what looks like the same quality.

[hobnob]

I got mine from the Bamboo Flooring Company. As Grendelsmum says, there are lots of places that do it and they'll all send plenty of samples.

[teta]

Hobnob did you have underfloor heating with yours?.The info on the uniclic says that its suitable with underfloor but i don't know whether any of the others are.Will it survive everything?[my 4 dc's,bikes and heavy things falling onto it].Having looked on the site the prices look really reasonable .

[hobnob]

Hello Teta. No I don't have underfloor heating with mine, but I too have heard that you can have it with uniclic (which is also the sort we've got). I do think it'll survive most things. Can't guarantee it would survive absolutely everything, but I don't suppose anything would! Was it grendelsmum or someone on a 'bamboo flooring' thread once who said they'd had a pool of water in their conservatory and it survived that no problem? You do need the strand woven sort, though, if you want it to be ultra strong. The other sorts can get scratched, from what I've heard.

[GrendelsMum]

Yes, it was me that had the pool of water from a huge leaking palm tree and it made no difference to the floor!

It did get scratched at one point, though, when a sharp stone got under the door, DH didn't realise why the door was blocked and shoved it back, grinding the stone along the floor. But I think that would have scratched anything.

[openerofdarklymoulderingtombs]

I am becoming more & more tempted by the bamboo option. I don't know that we can afford under floor heating, but we do need to rip out & replace the entire CH system as well...

Thanks for all the food for thought on here, ladies.

[teta]

Ladies which flooring companies would you recommend for bamboo flooring? [apart from the above].I notice panda flooring recommend a wider plank is best used for underfloor heating. There seems to be conflicting advice with some saying uniclic is ok.Also what colour have you used?.I am looking for flooring for my kitchen extension and kitchen [extension will have a rooflight in it so will be bright and airy hopefully].I want a light and airy feeling but also have a dark walnut armoire and table that have to go in there which will work against this light look!.So what to do?

[hobnob]

Hello Teta et al. I have the 'natural strand woven' sort, which is a light sort of honey colour. Lovely light 'n' airy feeling.

[teta]

Thank-you Hobnob.

[OhYouBadBadGhostie]

can I jump in too? after wandering around the 'net for a bit trying to find an answer google sends me here!

I'm looking at floor options too. We have a small kitchen. I need something warm that is resistant to cats claws, mud and is not too pricey. I love wooden floors apart from the cold bit.

[ToothpasteMakesMeGag]

Karndean! Works well with underfloor heating, and can be laid on top of most surfaces (ours is over nasty tiled floor). It's warm and really easy to clean and doesnt scratch. Well worth every penny. Also suitable for bathrooms.

[OhYouBadBadGhostie]

excellent - will look into that toothpaste :)