Thread: Flooring opinions wanted

So we are in the process of redoing our kitchen in our house. the way it is set up we have our kitchen which has a tiny "hallway area" before going into the dining/living room area. this little area has opposing doors for the basement and outside.

the dining/living room has real hardwood floors. we had picked up some floating wood laminate floors for the kitchen. as the hardwood is almost 50 years old, the new floor is not going to close, let alone not actual wood.

My original idea was to just do the kitchen in the laminate and then do the small hallway area in tile to create some separation.

the other option is to just do the hallway and kitchen in the laminate but turn the grain perpindicular to the living room so it looks like we know the two won't match.

the colors are not very similar. the real wood is an orangy red and the laminate is more of a white oak so different tones.

so what do you guys think?

this isn't a forever house

I think separation is nicer looking. Tile is easy and running wood into laminate never works...

I'd switch to a different material instead of pre wood. Think about cork, a worthy product.

Tile doesn't cost much more than laminate in many cases - you'd be surprised. I'd do tile in the kitchen and the laminate elsewhere. Cork is also a good suggestion.

Either tile the hall or tile both the hall and kitchen. Laminate won't fair well if you have any leaks in the kitchen.

Don't butt them together. I've never seen this done where it doesn't make both floors look worse. The wood ends up looking old and worn, and the laminate looks cheap.

Do the hall & kitchen with ceramic tile.

Originally Posted by rsknight1

Do the hall & kitchen with ceramic tile.

second this. I just did a kitchen and entry hall in tile. I had to replace rotten subflooring in the kitchen and did not want to re-tile the entry. I was going to use a laminate in the kitchen, but I could not envision the laminate tying into the existing tile in a good way. Plus laminates are not as recommended as tile in possibly wet areas lie kitchens and entries. I went with all new tile on top of Hardey board. It was a lot of work but the best solution for my case

I would stick with tile. Cork is nice, but too porous, I think, for a kitchen. At least when I was looking at it a few years back, the sales guy basically said if you drop a glass of red wine, you're screwed. Laminates can look ok at first if they are done well, but don't seem to hold up like real wood.

Originally Posted by Phildo_Baggins

I would stick with tile. Cork is nice, but too porous, I think, for a kitchen. At least when I was looking at it a few years back, the sales guy basically said if you drop a glass of red wine, you're screwed. Laminates can look ok at first if they are done well, but don't seem to hold up like real wood.

I have cork in the kitchen. Doused it with many staining liquids including but not limited to several fine and cheap red wines. No stains.

Maybe if you spill it and don't wipe it up for 3 days... but we just wipe asap with a damp rag and have had no problems with staining.

Kork is also softer to stand on, droped santuko knives don't leave gouges, and neither do the claws of my 100# shep/husky cross.

We put a floating real wood floor in the kitchen. We're pretty compulsive about water getting on it. Obviously if there's a major leak we're screwed but after just 3 years so far so good. In your situation some kind of transition strip to separate the two floors--maybe walnut--wood help the appearance.

Originally Posted by iscariot

I have cork in the kitchen. Doused it with many staining liquids including but not limited to several fine and cheap red wines. No stains.

Maybe if you spill it and don't wipe it up for 3 days... but we just wipe asap with a damp rag and have had no problems with staining.

Kork is also softer to stand on, droped santuko knives don't leave gouges, and neither do the claws of my 100# shep/husky cross.

That's good to know. I've never had one, so I was only going on what I'd heard from the flooring guy. Guess he was FOS.

This thread got me stoked about my kitchen renovation project. So this afternoon I pried up the shitty peel and stick tile and then started trying to peel up the crappy subfloor to see if we had the nice oak hardwood that we have everywhere else underneath.

Nope. Now I just have a nice gouge in my previously pseudo-level subfloor. Thanks a bunch. Asshole.

I love houses where people hid perfectly great wood under shitty old carpet if they didn't go crazy with tack strips.

Offset the hardwood with tile. Should look champ. Gives it realness appeal.

Don't put tile in a kitchen. Yeah it may be nice but they crack when things get dropped on them. I can't tell you how many we're busted at my rents house cause pits and pans got dropped on them. Your grout lines will get dirty too from food and liquids. Laminate floors will peel up over time. Bamboo or wood is the way to go. Easy clean up and easy to maintain

In reality get whatever you like and buy the gelpro kitchen mats. They are nice to stand on barefoot and do a great job for protection.

I got rough slate tiles in the kitchen & bathroom with grey grout which don't show dirt or stains or break

Good, strong tile won't even come close to cracking from a dropped pot or pan. I just re-did my kitchen floor with porcelain tile and that stuff is indestructible - wreaked havoc on the saw while making cuts during installation. I do recommend going with larger tiles (like 20x20) so there's less grout overall.

Originally Posted by NmbrdDays

Don't put tile in a kitchen. Yeah it may be nice but they crack when things get dropped on them. I can't tell you how many we're busted at my rents house cause pits and pans got dropped on them. Your grout lines will get dirty too from food and liquids. Laminate floors will peel up over time. Bamboo or wood is the way to go. Easy clean up and easy to maintain

In reality get whatever you like and buy the gelpro kitchen mats. They are nice to stand on barefoot and do a great job for protection.

Do some research on bamboo flooring before putting it in areas with potential moisture. I did and decided to go with tile, even though it was a lot more work. Use a good grout sealer and use a 1/4"X3/8" notched trowel putting down the thinset, and fully back butter your tiles and you will not have any cracking. Use a good backer board or lay down a layer of thinset over mesh as a first layer..

I stepped on one 12x12 tile and it slid out of place and dried there. It was hard as hell to get it broken and pealed up. My new tile might crack if you dropped a cinder block on it.

Ceramic tile is hard, loud and shit breaks when it falls.


cork, wood, bamboo, new VCT (some great patterns out there now) all pretty good floor choices in a kitchen

Is cork durable enough for entry ways? Especially one where it may get walked on with ski boots?

Originally Posted by Shredhead

Is cork durable enough for entry ways? Especially one where it may get walked on with ski boots?

Cork is extremely durable and waterproof as well.

Unless you literally cut it, things like boots, high heel stilettos won't hurt it. I took a set of car keys and had to gouge the surface to damage it, very tough. Just use an installer that is familiar with the product in that they've installed a goodly amount over time.

Anybody here ever seen or used polished concrete for a kitchen floor? Seems like it could make sense, but I've never seen it.

Originally Posted by wcf3

Anybody here ever seen or used polished concrete for a kitchen floor? Seems like it could make sense, but I've never seen it.

I have seen it a few times. it is dyed and polished, and in the examples I saw a large grid pattern was sawn in with a diamond blade. The pattern was at least 2'x2' and it was cut in about 1/8" deep. They had radiant wirsbo pipes in it for heat. It looked really nice, and was really solid feeling, even compared to tile.

plywood ftw. Serious.

http://frugalfarmhousedesign.blogspo...ng-how-to.html

Originally Posted by zeroforhire

plywood ftw. Serious.

http://frugalfarmhousedesign.blogspo...ng-how-to.html

I'm totally digging that thanks for the post.