So CAN you have wood flooring in a kitchen? Another wood v Karndean thread...

[IHeartKingThistle]

We've been looking at Karndean flooring for the kitchen and hallway (I've posted about it before, I'm very boring) and just presumed flooring guy was right when he said real wood wasn't recommended for kitchens.

But I read a LOT of interiors magazines (told you I was boring) and this month everyone's bloody kitchen has a wooden floor! Not one with Karndean or anything like it (or no-one admitting to it anyway).

Do any of you have a wooden floor in the kitchen? Would a messy family ruin it quickly? If you have Karndean, are you glad you went for it over wood?

It's SUCH a lot of money either way, I just want to get it right!

Sorry for another boring thread

We have the 'natural strand woven' sort and it's very scratchproof. I did lots of scratch tests on samples and found the strand woven the hardest to make any impact on. It's a lovely colour, too. All the companies who do it will send samples.

I'm in exactly the same situation in on old Edwardian house. I want the same floor through the downstairs kitchen dining hall toilet and sitting rooms. I have a woodburner just put in, a black Labrador. Want something that's easy to clean, that I'm not constantly worrying about in a medium / oak look.
Have looked at hundreds of floors. Last night I had a flood I. The utility room which has really made me think Kardean. Utility -tiled 😀

watching with interest as i want a wood floor in our kitchen/dining/living as part of our renovation.

I have strand-woven bamboo, too, and I love it. I've only had it for a year, though, so can't really confirm how it lasts.

I'm having bamboo laid in my kitchen.. supposed to be hard wearing and easy to clean

I have a wood floor in my kitchen/ living area.
It cost stupid money.
It's only down a littlle over a year and I've to get boards replaced. The leg of a chair destroyed the floor as I had no felt on it's base.
Other areas too need replacing.
No flood yet.
It looks lovely ( where it doesn't have pieces chipped out of it).
Would I do it again- I'm not sure.
What's the difference between Karndeen and Amtico ?

We had wooden parquet til the washing machine flooded now we have karndean

I suspect bamboo is just another laminate with a natural sounding name

It's not laminate, but it is quite heavily processed. The bamboo is mushed up, glued back together and squished, so it's more like a sort of attractive and hard-wearing chipboard than a laminate.

Cork's good in kitchen's, too.

I live in a rented house with parquet in the kitchen, dining room and sitting room. It's a bloody nightmare!! It is oiled and this might be the issue as varnish would be more protective (and the LL doesn't want it varnished).
Advantages:

1. Looks lovely when newly oiled/waxed
2. Looks pretty good generally

Dosavantages:

1. You can't wash it frequently, you have to basically wipe it with a mop with a hint of dampness.
2. Over time the finish wears down in areas near the fridge, sink and cooker and then they stain more easily.
3. Stains from water
4. Stains from hot fat
5. Can sometimes avoid stains if you IMMEDIATELY wipe up the spill.
6. A stress with kids eating
7. A bigger stress with kids painting or doing craft things - can't just let them get on with it.
8. Areas covered by rugs are pristine underneath so when you go to move them you're left with a rug-sized discolouration.
9. Need to wash floor with Percival product (when you wash it).

In fairness some of the stains disappear in time (and by stain I mean discolouration, so wood lightens).

So while I love the look and feel of real wood there's not a chance I'd ever pay for it in my kitchen, unless I factored in professional annual/two year maintenance to keep it looking nice.

The key, however, may not be the material quite as much as the finishing. Ours is waxed with an industrial grade wax (used on restaurant floors apparently) but that's still not good for a kitchen, because if you drop something on the floor you have to wipe it up, you can't just wash the floor.

We have Karndean throughout our whole ground floor except for the kitchen which is currently tiled but will be getting Karndean in the next few weeks and I love it! The fitting process is a bit of a faff as the floor has to be screeded first in order to level it off so you need to find somewhere for all the furniture for a few days. The guy did the screeding on a Sunday morning, left it to try in the afternoon and overnight (we did avoid walking on it as much as possible as it does need to completely dry) then the flooring was fitted on Monday and Tuesday. I was amazed at how quickly it went down. It does come with a very good guarantee as long as you follow their advice, so it needs to be fitted by an accredited fitter and it shouldn't be washed with bleach or cleaned with a steam mop. I had read some bad reviews online and asked the fitter who said a lot of the time it's because people have tried to fit it themselves, I thought he was just saying that but when I saw the process it really does need to be done by a pro. The difference between Amtico & Karndean is the price but they are basically the same thing! We went for the Knight Tile range in Limed Oak and a lot of people think it's real wood as it's got a grain that you can feel underfoot. Very hard wearing, we have an energetic puppy who charges about and this hasn't damaged it at all. I do have felt pads under the sofas and footstall but I'd do that if I had laminate/wood anyway. Here's a couple of pictures, happy to try and answer any other questions.

My Karndean floor has been down for 18 years, and apart from the patch where DH sits and moves his chair around, it is nearly perfect still. There are some white patches of wear now (around DH's chair feet) where the photo has worn off. We have dogs and I use a steam cleaner on it too, but no bleach. Not bomb proof, but it is very forgiving stuff. I'd give it a big tick.

We laid lacquered engineered wood 2 years ago in our hall and kitchen done. Have 2 kids and a dog. Bit lazy when it comes to cleaning. Only noticeable blemishes are a few scratches from day 2 when the guys brought the fridge in and slid it in without pads on the feet.

I have an oak engineered wood floor in my kitchen, the same as in my living room and entrance hall. The kitchen floor is fine but the floor by the front door up to the where we take our shoes off is well worn and weathered. The kitchen looks brand new in comparison.

The floor has been down for 12 years and was sanded 2 years ago when we refurbished the kitchen. The oak floor has outlived our first kitchen and will probably outlive this one too.

The secret is to make sure it has three coats of satin (non-slip) water reistant varnish on it to protect from water spillages and wipe up any water by the sink and dishwasher straight away. I would definitely recommend as it is warm underfoot, looks beautiful as a contrast to white units & a black granite worktop and cups/plates more often than not survive if dropped.

We've got a wooden floor in our kitchen - it's over a decade and is fine. We have tiles in front of the cooler and tiles in the utility room, so it doesn't get repeated exposure to water.

Cooker, not cooler!