Wood flooring in the kitchen? Have you? Would you?

[ErlingHaalandsManBun]

Just that really. Renovating our new house and having a new kitchen. I like the look of wood flooring but DH thinks it won't be suitable for the kitchen and thinks we should get the floor tiled.

So, wood flooring or tiles?

What have you got and do you like it? Was it a good choice?

I’ve had it before and no I wouldn’t do it. Splashes and spills can ruin it where it meets the units and it’s a b*** to clean up. Within 10 years it was ruined.

Tiles are very unforgiving if you drop things. Lots of breakable items in kitchens and I’ve dropped a couple of plates and knocked over jars/bottles from cupboard and they usually don’t survive a fall on tiles.

I have an engineered wooden floor in my kitchen and it's wearing well 8 years on. If I spill something I clean it up and I use a damp mop on it without issue. Tiles in living spaces just aren't for me, and I don't regret this choice at all.

I’ve got a really good quality laminate and I love it. I was always a real wood snob, but it’s not practical in the kitchen. If you buy the highest quality laminate you can afford. I don’t think you’ll regret it.

We had real wooden flooring in a holiday home and it was a nightmare. Absolutely not in the kitchen. Any spills (oil/water) showed the marks. As PPs mentioned look at wood effects laminate or tiles.

I wouldn't have anything else but wood. We had tiles when we moved in and it was awful, cold to walk on, anything dropped would break instantly. Wooden floors can be mopped, ours look good and it's the original 1935 wood uncovered and sanded. Love it

See, I'm going to disagree with this. We have bamboo - technically a grass rather than wood - but it's stained and sealed and looks fabulous. I mop it with a squeegee type mop rather than putting down loads of water. Also, unlike the tiles I had in my previous kitchen, if you drop a plate it will bounce rather than smash.

I should add, we've had the bamboo floor in the kitchen for about eight years and it still looks amazing.
The only downside is that it scratches if someone brings in grit on their shoes, but this can be polished out with a walnut.

I love tiles but with 3 teens I just had visions on constant smashing of phone screens! (After dropping my own mobile on a friend’s tiled floor 🙈). Karndean is so much more forgiving.

pic is my unmopped floor - showing the lived in look because I a dog and teens plus dh

We've engineered wood and I still love it 10 years on. I do keep a long mat on the floor along where the sink and dishwasher are to take the brunt of the inevitable drips and dribbles.

Thank you so much for your replies. I think I am swaying more towards it now than before. Engineered wood seems to be a good way to go. Definitely been put off tiles. Think I need to show DH this thread and I think I can get him on board 😁

We have wooden floor in our kitchen( inherited from previous owners). We have wine stain and oil stains on the floor. I wouldn’t choose it myself. We had laminate in our previous house and it looked cleaner.

I think engineered wood is still prone to scratches etc. to be honest. We have Quick Step wood effect on the advice of our chippie, a very no-nonsense yorkshireman! It's a decent price and bombproof, we are not careful with it at all and there's not a mark on it.

We had engineered wood in our old house, it was fine with mopping but didn't survive a leaky dishwasher, luckily we had enough left over to repair that section. I wouldn't choose it again.

Currently have wood, previously had tile.

I’d choose tile next time given the option.

my washing machine leaked recently and the wood has definitely started to warp

We have this too. It's good - my cleaner thought it was real wood and was really worried about mopping it.

We have bamboo flooring in our kitchen, had it 5 years and no problems cleaning in, looks great.

Yes. We kept the stone floor in the kitchen. I've even had a le creuset casserole dish break.

We have long ceramic tiles that look like wood!

I have it and have always thought that I wouldn’t again. It hasn’t worn particularly well but I now think that this is down to the installation. It was part of a much bigger project and very rushed. I think that it probably needed some sort of protective coating. It has also bothered me that O felt that I couldn’t give it a really deep clean

We have oak plants on the entire ground floor - glued onto the existing horrid tiles.

It is mopped no problem and has certainly see some action in the kitchen - dropped pans, fat spills etc etc so it has some dings but still looks lovely.

It is varnished so even if you spill wine or something on it it just wipes off.

We had Karndean throughout our ground floor in our previous house. Everyone thought it was wood and it was still going strong when we moved out after 16 years. It was very durable, easy to mop and didn’t mark even when I dropped knives etc on it. We now have tiles in the kitchen of our current house and I’m longing to change them. I’m forever steam mopping to get rid of the marks and they’re freezing in winter!

I massively prefer wood. We had tiles in our old kitchen and have wood in the current house. It's very knackered now (about 25 years old) but I'd replace it with wood. I love the parquet that's fashionable right now.

We used to have tiles in our old house.

Looked beautiful but cleaning the grout will drive you mad - and let's face it, it will be mostly you doing the cleaning - so get the flooring that is easiest to clean. We had dark grout, but even that got marked quickly and it was just a huge faff. Had to steam clean it all the time.

We've got karndean now. Dropped crockery mostly bounces unlike tiles and a quick mop brings it up like new. Had it two years, got it all through the downstairs. Love it.

I’ve had kitchens with tiles, amtico and now engineered wood. The amtico and tiles were probably easier to keep clean but the wood is so much nicer and warmer. But there is only 2 of us using the kitchen.
i have laminate in another room because we were in a rush to get flooring down before Christmas. I would never have it again