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?

We have engineered wood throughout the downstairs because I love the warm look of it. However, it looks a bit of a state in the kitchen - lots of oil stains and dents from dropping things on it! It really isn’t very practical - although getting it sanded and re-oiled at some point is an option.

We've got engineered wood all through our kitchen diner and hallway. It's really practical. It seems pretty scratch proof, and there are no gaps between planks, so water can be mopped away just like with tiles. It's nice and warm, even though we don't have underfloor heating. I find tiles really cold and unhomely.

We have solid wood in the kitchen because I hate everything else, tiles and laminate particularly. Twenty years on and it still looks like new.

Spc … waterproof solid core lvt

Our house in America was about 75 yo. The kitchen had a lovely maple floor that appeared original. It was easy to maintain with damp mopping. I loved it. I would do it again, but solid hardwood is very expensive in the UK.

I never thought ceramic tile could look and nearly feel like wood. But I am now a convert: when we redid the en suite the look of a wood floor was appropriate but we did not want a wood floor in a bathroom. The LVTs (Karndean etc) can look wonderful but I have heard occasional horror stories. Our designer persuaded us to look at wood effect ceramic tile and I was stunned. The grout lines are very thin, mimicking planks; the look is very realistic. The ‘planks’ even feel slightly like wood, rather than like ceramic tile. Under scrutiny these tiles can be distinguished from hardwood but then so can even the best LVT and at least some engineered wood.

The tiles are cool but not cold and suitable for use with underfloor heating.

Thanks to @Crispynoodle for reminding me about this

Solid wood can also be mopped! Think of the deck of a ship. Or the hull of a ship, for that matter. We have solid pine floorboards in our kitchen and bathroom (and everywhere else in the house, it’s Victorian) and we’ve never had any problems.

I think it is just cheap laminate that warps when it gets wet.

I got this fitted in 2017, Solid Brushed Carbonised Strand Woven 135mm Uniclic® BONA Coated Bamboo Flooring 1.5m² FSC1, admittedly not in the kitchen, but through high traffic hall & living room with cats & a medium sized dog, it's bombproof. It can be used in kitchens according to the description, it's worth a look

When I bought my house it had real wood flooring in the kitchen. I was worried at first but almost 20 years later they look great, bar a few dents from cans falling on them. I have tile in the bathroom and honestly as lovely as it looks, the grout looks a little dingy, and I worry about dropping things on it and cracking it or the house settling and causing it to crack.

I wouldn't have wood in a kitchen. Rest of the house, lovely, but not in a kitchen. I'm way too clumsy, it would be ruined in days.

Wood is too easily marked. Too high maintenance for me.

We once had waterproof laminate for kitchens put in and that warped horribly because of a drip leak behind the sink that was slowly seeping underneath it.

Also, if you have a washing machine or dishwasher in the kitchen, just don't!

Agree. We’ve got engineered oak throughout downstairs and it’s fine. Clean it every couple of weeks with the steam mop and wipe up any spills in between. You can have it re-oiled when it needs it but we haven’t done that yet (it’s been down almost 5 years). Caveat - no kids or animals!

I have engineered wood floor boards and they are fantastic. 7 years in they are in great shape.

We put down solid parquet in our kitchen and oiled it. Easy to touch up if scratched. Hardly hat to touch it in years. Worked fine for us, but no kids or pets.
This house, we plan the same, though I may go with osmo oil this time as Tung oil ( what I used last time) tends to darken wood more than I like, and the osmo version seems not to, but will test it first.
We have craps of posh plastic-faced laminate here- Amtico. Supposed to look like planked wood. Which is doesn't. I hate it. it's full of tiny grooves that hold dirt and looks cheap and plasticky. I'll be glad when we replace it with real wood. Wood feels warmer to me too.

We had engineered wood in our last conservatory, because it can take a degree of underfloor heating and solid wood can't. It was nice, and we even did DIY in there. But the top layer isn't very thick even with the best ones, and a really big scratch or groove wouldn't be possible to sand out. Here, we tiled the conservatory so we could have underfloor heating, and will use solid wood parquet elsewhere.

I had a decent quality but not too expensive wood laminate throughout the ground floor and have done for decades, including kitchen, downstairs cloakroom and garden room. It was fine for nearly 30 years with pets and 4dC and would have been fine for longer. However I was remodelling the ground floor and so replaced it with modern wood flooring which has notably better insulation qualities and up to date colour/style.

Its perfectly moppable, I don’t leave puddles on it but its been very hardwearing in all the rooms. I wouldn’t have anything else, especially tiles which when I had them were colder, noisier, unforgiving if you dropped anything and harder to keep clean. As with any flooring, a good fitter makes a lot of difference.

I'm always surprised when people say that wood floors don't wear well in kitchens. Our first flat had the original Victorian floorboards, sanded and sealed, throughout and we had no problems at all with it in the kitchen (or bathroom for that matter). It's now been tenanted for ~15 years (so not particularly well looked after) and they still look fantastic. We've just taken up the horrible grey fake wood laminate from the floor in our current house and sanded and sealed the 100 year old floorboards. They look beautiful and I can't wait for the kitchen to go in. Real wood also feels lovely underfoot, whatever the season. And yes, you absolutely can mop it!

There is a huge difference between old wood and new wooden floors. Most new wooden floors are made from fast grown timber and just aren't anywhere near as durable as they were 100yrs ago. Sad but true.

I used to live in a flat which was part of a converted period property. Wooden parquet flooring in the kitchen and diner. It was gorgeous in every way, I wet mopped it frequently, didn't know you couldn't. Looked fine when I left after 7 years.

@ladygindiva Because you can wet mop it! I'm not sure why people think you can't. As well as our kitchen we also have a wooden floor (painted, modern floorboards) in our ensuite and they're fine too.

We damp mopped our hardwood kitchen floor in America for years. It was beautiful and had stood up to about 80-100 years of wear, I think having been refinished once.

Our rental upon moving to the UK had a wooden floor in the bathroom. It was awful. Splinters kept popping up, it gaped in winter, it was rough underfoot, etc. I love the look of a wood floor in the bathroom of a period house but after that experience I wasn’t willing to risk it when we did our en suite.

We have Amtico signature which looks like wood in our kitchen, utility and conservatory with underfloor heating. Scratches like anything! We have just installed wood effect tiles in our en suite with electric underfloor heating and love it.

I have Amtico in my kitchen and it's fine. Been there 20 years and stilll hardly a mark.

Bamboo! Mine looks the same as it did 10 years ago when fitted. Sustainable, hard wearing, inexpensive. Huge fan.

Thank you for this. How costly were the wood effect tiles? Were they expensive in comparison to the the amtico?

Exactly same issue our end. I wanted tiles but couldn't find the right ones I liked. I like small tiles and it would've cost a fortune to have laid. Never thought I'd go for engineered wood but I went for a dark oak/walnut flooring to blend with our very dark walnut island and cream cabinets. They are yet to be laid but wood was the best option for us and MUCH cheaper.

Not the same PP but I was enthusiastic about our wood effect tiles upthread. About eight years ago it was a bit cheaper than engineered wood