# Kitchen Floors - recommendations
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-floors-recommendations/503024
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [July 14, 2009, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-floors-recommendations/503024 "2009-07-14T19:56:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2009, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-floors-recommendations/503024/1 "2009-07-14T19:56:20Z")
[So as not to hijack this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=524415).
I need to replace my kitchen floor. Right now, I’m leaning toward linoleum, but I’ve been having a hell of a time finding a floor, pattern, _and_ installer that I like.
What’s on your floor? Do you like it? Do you wonder what the previous owners could possibly have been thinking?
---
### Author:  [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2009, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-floors-recommendations/503024/2 "2009-07-14T20:33:25Z")
In our kitchen we had smallish (6-inch) diamond shaped ceramic tiles, put in in the Seventies when our house was built. Anything we dropped onto the floor broke, and the tiles themselves were getting chipped. Plus the color (rust-brown) was depressing.
We recently had it replaced with a good-quality vinyl in a lighter color, and are very happy. The room seems a bit quieter, too, since the floor isn’t so reflective.
---
### Author:  [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2009, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-floors-recommendations/503024/3 "2009-07-14T20:49:40Z")
Engineered hardwood. It’s not a photograph of wood (laminate), and it’s not really thick like real hardwood, but it’s a nice in-between. I think the actual wood layer is 3/8" or so.
---
### Author:  [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-floors-recommendations/503024/4 "2009-07-14T20:55:06Z")
I was trying to flip my old house about a year ago, and looked at linoleum. I was repeatedly told that good linoleum installers are a dying breed. I was given options that I liked more that cost the same or less. Linoleum is kind of 70s, isn’t it?
Ceramic tile is nice, but expensive. Hardwood might cost you less than than you would think. There are some really nice laminates by Mohawk for example. Laminates have come a long way from that thin ‘clicky’ feel they used to have.
---
### Author:  [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2009, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-floors-recommendations/503024/5 "2009-07-14T20:56:15Z")
We have hardwood. The layout of our house is such that the kitchen flows seamlessly from the front hallway, and that area is hardwood (all the homes in that price range had to include a _little_ hardwood, I guess, or they wouldn’t sell).
I don’t like it. Too much stuff gets stuck in the grooves between the boards. I’d really MUCH rather have a nice quality linoleum (or similar) floor. Also I worry if water spills, and isn’t wiped up completely, it’ll seep between the boards and do damage. I would _ **never** _ voluntarily put hardwood in a kitchen. Everywhere else, yes.
---
### Author:  [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2009, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-floors-recommendations/503024/6 "2009-07-14T21:03:57Z")
We went with ceramic and we chose a discontinued pattern and saved a ton o’ dough. If you have a large room, it’s probably harder to do it that way. but in our smallish kitchen, there were plenty of tiles in the discontinued patterns so we were able to pull it off with tiles to spare.
That said, I want something that looks like wood but isn’t, next time. Maybe I’m just sick of my tiles…I dunno…but I could torch that floor and never look back.
---
### Author:  [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2009, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-floors-recommendations/503024/7 "2009-07-15T19:58:48Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#):
>
> We have hardwood. The layout of our house is such that the kitchen flows seamlessly from the front hallway, and that area is hardwood (all the homes in that price range had to include a _little_ hardwood, I guess, or they wouldn’t sell).
>
> I don’t like it. Too much stuff gets stuck in the grooves between the boards. I’d really MUCH rather have a nice quality linoleum (or similar) floor. Also I worry if water spills, and isn’t wiped up completely, it’ll seep between the boards and do damage. I would _ **never** _ voluntarily put hardwood in a kitchen. Everywhere else, yes.
That’s pretty much what I was thinking when I didn’t go with hardwood for the kitchen. I was too worried about water.
Anyone else?
---
### Author:  [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2009, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-floors-recommendations/503024/8 "2009-07-15T20:10:27Z")
Has anyone tried Bamboo? I was thinking of it for a bathroom, but maybe for the kitchen as well.
---
### Author:  [@Baracus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baracus)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2009, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-floors-recommendations/503024/9 "2009-07-15T20:17:10Z")
We went with vinyl. The area (including kitchen, eating area, bathroom, and laundry room) is pretty large and vinyl fit our budget the best.
When we moved in, there were peel-n-stick tiles in the kitchen. Perhaps these were just low quality ones, but they were scratched to hell. Plus, whoever put them in did a crappy job, so the seems weren’t tight and caught up dirt abounded. They were predominantly white too, so every dirty scratch and seem screemed out at you.
---
### Author:  [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2009, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-floors-recommendations/503024/10 "2009-07-15T20:45:25Z")
We’ve got tiles, in a random grayish pattern where each tile is slightly different. It hardly shows any dirt. Its very practical, especially with cleaning.
I think I would choose these tiles again. Only I would pay more attention to the flooring under the tiles; these are glued directly on the wood and that makes them crack too easily. A good underfloor is worth the extra money. I would also buy far more extra tiles, to replace broken or chipped tiles. I recently needed to replace tiles and the line was discontined. I had to search all over for something remotely similar and had to settle for a poor replacement.
---
### Author:  [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)
#### Post date: [July 15, 2009, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kitchen-floors-recommendations/503024/11 "2009-07-15T21:40:52Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#):
>
> I don’t like it. Too much stuff gets stuck in the grooves between the boards. I’d really MUCH rather have a nice quality linoleum (or similar) floor. Also I worry if water spills, and isn’t wiped up completely, it’ll seep between the boards and do damage. I would _ **never** _ voluntarily put hardwood in a kitchen. Everywhere else, yes.
😕
I’m surprised… I have hardwood in my kitchen, and it has no grooves between boards. It’s not laminate, though it may be the engineered hardwood. I would think anything installed for a kitchen area would be more tightly-fitted.
I’ve spilled all sorts of things – water, milk, OJ; not much hot stuff, though – and the floor is still as glossy and good-looking as when I moved in. And with no grooves or seams for bits of stuff to get caught in, my Roomba cleans up the whole kitchen just fine.