Laminate flooring in kitchen...

[MumRaah]

Does anyone have this?what's you're experience?we have 3 dc and a dog,would they trash it?

We are in the process of doing a kitchen and flooring is an important part of the design. I think tiles,slate etc are too cold and hard if you drop anything on it. We are probably going to laminate. No animals but kids that are messy! Also ,if they do wreck it, it's not the end of the world. Or if you fancy updating it won't cost you £££

We used to have laminate in our old kitchen and it lasted quite well. It did eventually warp where it got wet by sink/dishwasher, but this was after about 10 years.

if you have pets waterbowls, this is another place water can get into the joints and make them swell and separate.

But laminate is not expensive, so I suppose if it lasts a few years, it's OK.

Stone and tiles will break all your plates, mugs and glasses when you drop them, and are cold on the feet.

I have three kids, a cat and a dog. We have had laminate in our kitchen for ten years. It's been absolutely fine. Recently water from the dogs bowl has got under it and stained it black. Her bowl is now on a tray and all is well.

Thanks for the replies.we were thinking of tiles but they're so £££...
Still undecided though,have images of the dc's and dog ruining it

We've got it in the kitchen and utility and I really like it. Admittedly it's only been down about 8 months but it looks great. We had vinyl before which looked naff and, over the years, revealed any slight unevenness and bumps in the floor. Laminate irons out all of those. I never fancied tiles - too cold and hard.

We also have 3 galumphing slap-dash teenagers and two dogs. Dogs' bowls stand on a tray. A friend stands her dog's bowl in a big plastic box to catch all the drips. The laminate we have is not a flat colour so has sort of wood knots and variations in colour which I think will disguise future wear and tear well.

I wish we'd had it done years ago and I'm thinking of extending it into the hall.

Quikstep laminate is really good. We've got an embossed, textured-type dark oak and many many people have assumed it is real wood. in our case, it's in our living room (for 14 years), but if I had wanted a wood effect in our new kitchen I would have gone for it.

The only place it is worn is where we have a desk chair with wheels

... casters, I mean

Yarp - that's interesting. In addition to kitchen, utility, bathroom, ensuite, and two or our bedrooms, we also have laminate in home office. The only place where there is any significant wear and tear is in front of the desk - from the chair on casters!!

stonecircle

I have seen a product for putting the shine back on laminate - meaning to look into it. It's made by the company HG, which does lots of cleaning products

Yep, had a look. It's called HG Laminate Gloss Coating. Amazon sells it

OP - might be useful for you too have a look at this - it is protective against scratches

Yarp - I'll have a look at that thank you.

Yarp - thank I'll take a look

**thanks

Laminate in our kitchen was a false economy. Looked great, didn't warp but the stupid neurotic labrador decide she couldn't walk on it after 5 months of skidding and sliding we took it all up and put tiles down.

We have it and it's been great. 2 kids and a dog, no scratches on it after 2 years. We went for a good quality one though (quikstep), and the joints between planks are very tight. After a leaky French window during a storm we came through to a large puddle on the floor and it caused no damage. The dog's bowl is on a tray.

Honey - that's another thing that worried me..Ddog is very hyper,maybe if he had shoes though?

Don't do it :( We had laminate in the kitchen, utility, downstairs loo, hallway and dining room (one continuous flooring). Our washing machine leaked overnight a few years back and although we mopped up quickly as soon as we realised, within a few hours it had all warped (also discovered our house wasn't level and the flood from the utility ran through all 5 rooms).

It would have been a total non-issue had we had tiled floor.

We have tiles now

We have it and it's been fine, but only been down for a year. We have the textured stuff too, and it does look good :) I'm saving for engineered bamboo though.

We had tile effect laminate which was supposed to be a cheap temporary fix but lasted 10 years. We have finally just done our kitchen and even with builders and mess it was still pretty perfect when we took it up.