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 oak flooring - it’s lacquered with a matt varnish, not oiled.

We have this because our kitchen is open-plan through to the dining and lounge areas. I would make this choice again.

But if I was renovating a standalone kitchen and wanted the look of a pale oak floor I’d use luxury vinyl tiles.

See this is what we want to do, use the same flooring throughout the kitchen diner and lounge and its all open plan. I am definitely leaning towards engineered oak/wood flooring I think. Thank you,

We have similar (oak strips with no gaps , not aure now of processing but it has gone the distance) and care for it the same way - gets re-treated every 7 yrs or so and nearly 30 years on (installed when dc1 was a baby) it still looks great. Obviously has the odd mark , but as a natural material it is full of its own marks anyway.

Also warm, and less likely to break a dropped glass or plate.

We have had engineered wood flooring running from dining room to kitchen since 2013 with no problems. (Apparently solid wood can warp). I clean it with a Bona Spray mop or Vileda version.

We have an open plan kitchen/living area and have engineered oak throughout. Occasionally we reoil the bit in front of the kitchen island as it's a high traffic area but other than that its been absolutely fine. It's been down eight years now.

I had engineered oak flooring in my kitchen / breakfast room along with babies, toddlers, pets and the inevitable constant mopping. It was coated in Osmo Oil, reapplied every other year. It was gorgeous and bomb proof.

We have karndean Van Gogh. Super happy with it! It’s literally bomb proof.

Prior to installing I had all 3 options out and was stabbing it with kitchen knives and sharpie pens. The mid range van gogh is much more durable than the higher range art select. It is both knife stab proof and sharpie pen proof.

Oh I have just had a look at this and it looks lovely. There is a supplier and fitter for this just down the road from us too so I may pop in and have a look at it properly. Thank you.

We're literally having wood LVT installed in our new kitchen now! (Amtico are another brand with a good rep, our installers rate them over Karndean).

My DH also wanted tiles originally but personally I hate them - cold, hard and very slippery (our kitchen is also the main route to our garden so had visions of the kids running inside and going flying).

We have engineered wood and did in a previous house too - you do have to deal with spills quickly but otherwise it's fine. We have a couple of small dents from dropped things.

Oh I have decided after this thread we are not having tiles!! I definitely didn't think about them being slippery and stuff like that but several people have mentioned them being cold and slippery now so that is done.

I will have a look at Amtico, someone else further up the thread mentioned this also. Thanks

They have ceramic tiles that look like real wood now and modern tiling now doesn’t use large grout lines like they use to. Tile is laid side by side with no more grout. It’s beautiful but more expensive than real wood. I have it in two bathrooms.

We've just had engineered oak laid in our kitchen. I've stocked up on Bona for cleaning as advised by the fitters but am wondering whether oiling would offer some protection from spills/splatter from the sink. Has anyone had wood flooring that's lasted without additional treatment? I've had actual wood before with no issues but that was pretty battered and resilient whereas my new oak is clearly higher maintenance.

I have the original sold wood floor boards which were sanded and varnished 20 years ago when we moved in. I love them, they look beautiful, are warm underfoot, don’t tire your legs like tiles, absorb sounds, give a fighting chance to dropped plates and mugs . Easy to look after, just sweep / vacuum and then damp mop.

Of course if you spill something sticky like jam you have to clean it up properly, but that’s the same with any floor. Ours was immaculate for about 10 years, then a bit worn for about years 12-15 until we got it resanded. But the slightly worn look goes with my aesthetic ( you should see my face ) so that’s fine.

@HarrietBondhave a look at Osmo. It’s a protective oil that dries hard. It does need reapplying every couple of years (depending on wear and tear) but it protects your floor beautifully. They will continue looking gorgeous for decades.

Get the tiles that loook like wood. They last a million times longer!

We have engineered wood throughout the whole of the downstairs including the kitchen. My floors are hoovered and mopped daily as we have two dogs. I think it has been laid for around 4 years and had no problems at all with it.

I've had loads of kitchens with wooden floors. Mostly the original floorboards sanded and varnished but in the last house we laid oak parquet flooring through the whole kitchen, living dining space. It's never been a problem. If it gets a bit worn, just sand lightly and re-varnish.

I’ve Osmoed work surfaces before but wasn’t sure if whole floors were suitable. Thanks.

We got our floor as we’re in desperate need of a warmer room so we were replacing tiles. We’ve had the wood effect porcelain before and liked it but we needed something different this time.

We've got wood effect Amtico (barnwood finish, it's slightly textured) throughout the downstairs of our house. Love it. Seems fairly bombproof 3 years in and works brilliantly with our wet UFH.

I'm in Australia, where timber floors for kitchens are quite usual. Mine is Tasmanian oak, a hardwood, and runs throughout the entire ground floor of the house. It was laid in about 1980 and still going strong, though in need of a re-sand and varnish now. It looks lovely and is kind to the feet.

It's easy to clean. A Choice (think Which?) experiment showed that plain warm water cleaned as effectively as anything. When some floors in my house were re-sanded, the men were horrified at anything other than plain water to clean, and never ever a steam mop.

Should you go for wood, use a satin not a gloss finish. It's more subtle and pleasing.

Probably similar I think. Tiles were around £70 per square meter plus the tiling. Tiles are around 12 inches long and we had them laid in a herringbone pattern which takes more time and was more expensive. They are fabulous as high non slip rating which is ideal for bathrooms. We’re just having around 12 sq m of amtico signature laid in our hall which is plank style and that’s coming in around £2.2k with all of the ply required etc. Bathroom floor photo attached

We laid the cheapest laminate going 10 years ago. It was fine for that time, but a number of leaks from dishwasher etc. made it eventually bubble (although it did do well !). Have now replaced with absolutely bullet proof tiles, and whereas they are no bother, and very hardy, deep down I preferred the laminate. No experience with real wood to offer I am sorry xx