Hardwood vs. tile floors in the kitchen??

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  • jillyk89
    jillyk89 Posts: 240 Member
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    I have hardwood in my kitchen and I don't really like it. First of all whenever doing the dishes you get water on the floor, even from putting the dishes from the sink to the dishwasher. And if water leaks from the dishwasher you're screwed. Also carrying things to the garbage can stuff can fall an it goes on my hardwood. I am constantly cleaning the floors in the kitchen cause you have to take care of hardwood!
    And another tip if you decide. Go for a lighter colour wood. I she dark hardwood floors shows EVERYTHING. Every little piece of diet and dust.
  • jillyk89
    jillyk89 Posts: 240 Member
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    ALSO I dropped a jar of pickles and it dented the floor :-(
  • ContraryMaryMary
    ContraryMaryMary Posts: 1,660 Member
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    I have had both wood and tile and prefer wood - yes it does dent over time but if you drop your china/crockery onto it it's more like to bounce - everything smashes when dropped onto tile. Oh, and when I dropped a bottle of vodka onto tile, not only did it break, but the tile did too.
  • faceoff4
    faceoff4 Posts: 1,599 Member
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    I have had both. Hardwood in two of my homes and tile in the other. I tend to prefer the hardwood. If you do hardwood go with the distressed kind so you are not freaking out every time someone's heal scratches or animals scratching, etc. tile looks great and is hearty. But unless you go with the heated options they get really really cold in the winter and make your house cold. In the end you are getting a new floor so no matter what you choose you win! Good luck!
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,535 Member
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    I have hardwood and prefer it over tile. IMO, it's actually easier to clean.

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  • Grasshopper3n3
    Grasshopper3n3 Posts: 9
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    We put in a cherry stained laminate over 9 years ago when our kids were young in our entry, kitchen, pantry, dining room, living room and on the four steps going up to the living room. We had a med-large black lab dog when we installed them. He passed away 4yrs ago, but 3 fully-clawed cats have since come to live with us. I can hear their nails on the floors, but they have never damaged them; we have but accident. The good. We put in high-end laminate, because the salesman warned us that our dog would destroy real wood over time. I've seen what my brother's dog has done to his once beautiful floors and have never regretted going with our single-planking laminate that people swear is hardwood, but isn't. It cleans easily and yes, tumble weeds of hair with three cats is the norm by day three (Swiffer is my friend). Now the bad. Wood and laminate are slippery. Our dog took awhile getting used to wood. That it can chip/dent or scratch? Well, so can tile. And none of them are fun to fix. I'd go with another high-end laminate again in heartbeat, but whatever you decide, how well you like it will depend on quality (for durability) and how well the color and texture hides the day to day living that goes on in that busy, busy room, cuz lets face it - no one loves to clean (or am I alone on this one?)
  • JusticeGirl25
    JusticeGirl25 Posts: 703 Member
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    My parents put down oak flooring in the living room, dining room, and kitchen and boy did it need it BADLY. It looks really nice.
  • myohana4
    myohana4 Posts: 205 Member
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    Thank you everyone for your comments! I am still confused but you have given me a lot to think about!
  • ammyjorden
    ammyjorden Posts: 1
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    If it were me, I would leave the hardwood in the kitchen. Wood kitchen floors are something that many people are looking for. Tile is very clean and functional, but since the space is adjacent to hardwood already, I think you might lose a little bit of flow in tiling the kitchen even if the wood is a bit different.

    http://www.thertastore.com
  • ilovedeadlifts
    ilovedeadlifts Posts: 2,923 Member
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    We have 18x18 stone tiles in the kitchen and I like them.


    My kitchen floors get dirty a lot and I like being able to steam mop them. I've always felt iffy about heavily mopping hardwood, and my kitchen needs a heavy scrubbing from time to time.

    Cleaning the grout in between tiles is a pain in the butt though.
  • SquidandWhale
    SquidandWhale Posts: 259
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    I put down cork in my kitchen because it's eco friendly, durable, well priced, soft (I've dropped glass jars on the floor and they haven't broken), insulating, and extremely diverse in appearance.
  • wolverine66
    wolverine66 Posts: 3,780 Member
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    this topic wasn't what i expected.... i guess i am used to the thinly veiled euphemisms.
  • ilariamarchi501
    ilariamarchi501 Posts: 1
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    I put wood effect tiles in my kitchen, they perfectly imitate real wood and require less maintenance. I have these italian ones: http://www.fioranese.it/en/prodotti/old_wood-en

    I hope I've helped you ;)
  • grrrlface
    grrrlface Posts: 1,204 Member
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    We have tiles.

    Can't imagine having a wood/wood combination of floor and cupboards. It's kinda like double denim, it just looks weird.
  • CollieFit
    CollieFit Posts: 1,683 Member
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    We have a dog. Our kitchen & utility room is tiled (terracotta). It just works better for us.

    Hall, living room, dining room is hardwood.

    Stairs and upstairs is carpeted. The bathroom tiled.
  • mackgold
    mackgold Posts: 1
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    I used the hardwood floors for my kitchen for its durability and easy to maintain features.
  • Pipsg1rl
    Pipsg1rl Posts: 1,414 Member
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    We moved from a home that had a pretty closed of dining and kitchen area to a home that is an open floor plan.

    A home with the same (new) floor plan was built before we built ours. The builder puts tile in water areas (laundry, baths, kitchen, entry ways) and they have laminate in their dining room (separate), living area, and downstairs master bedroom.

    I don't notice a special difference when I visit, but that would be my recommendation.

    In the old house our laundry hookups were almost to the end of where the wood was. When the laundry leaked, it came thru the gaps and soaked up into the wood :( the wood is discoulored and warped there now. Had it been tile there wouldn't have been as much of a problem.

    We had carbonized bamboo and it is very difficult to hide scratches. I'd go with a worm wood look so if you do scratch it you can color in the scratch with a red or black marker and no one is the wiser.

    Good luck!
  • jenns1964
    jenns1964 Posts: 384 Member
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    I have tile floors in the kitchen and I have really noticed how hard it is to stand for extended lengths of time while doing dishes and cooking. I do have a gel pro mat that helps some.
  • elusive_design
    elusive_design Posts: 1,095 Member
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    Benefit of Tile in a kitchen

    You can have one tile replaced when you drop something and it cracks a tile. They are easy to clean if they are properly grouted and sealed.

    Cons of Tile in a kitchen:

    You are going to have to regrout the tile once and a while, if installed improperly it will forever look like crap and you will always have problems with tile popping. You will have to replace a tile eventually unless you go granite, which is expensive.

    Benefit of Hardwood
    Go ahead.. drop a cast iron pan on hardwood, worst that happens is you have a dent. Relatively easy to clean with a dry mop, spills aren't a big deal if you clean them up when they happen.They are near impossible to screw up installation on. It will last forever if you maintain it.

    Cons of Hardwood
    If you do sucessfully damage a piece to the point where it will bother you sometimes the only solution is sanding and re laquering, which is either time consuming.. or expensive depending on if you do it yourself. You will be doing this at least once every 10 years. If ever you have a leak that you don't catch underneath your sink you can destroy the hardwood in one area. High humidity areas combined with a leak can cause cheap hardwood to buckle.

    Either which way do yourself a future favor. Buy extra. If tile.. buy roughly 20 more than you need just in case. For hardwood, buy 100sq ft more than you need so that should anything tragic happen you don't have to run around praying that your pattern is still in stock somewhere.

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