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One of the important tasks when planning a renovation is choosing the flooring for the kitchen. This is important not only from an aesthetic point of view, but also from a technical one. After all, it is necessary to properly prepare the base for coating, and they do it long before the finish. So what floors are better to do in the kitchen must be decided in advance.
The most popular options
When it comes to kitchen flooring, the first two materials that come to mind are ceramic tiles and linoleum. They are chosen in most cases. Although these materials are popular, they are not without drawbacks.
Tiles on the kitchen floor
In terms of practicality, ceramic floor tiles for wet areas are the best choice. It does not absorb any substances. Water, oil, any other liquid will remain on the surface until you remove them. Where the liquid can be absorbed – into the seams. And to prevent this from happening, choose a moisture-resistant grout and fill the seams well. In terms of practicality and ease of care, this kitchen flooring is among the first.
The advantages of this type of material can also include a huge range. You can find any size, shape, color, with or without pictures. The choice is really big.
Those were the positives. Now for the cons:
- It feels like the flooring for the kitchen made of tiles is “cold”. To make the legs comfortable, you can lay an electric floor heating under it (and in the house you can also make water floor heating).
- If a broken dish falls, it will break in 100% of cases. Moreover, the fragments scatter in different directions and then they have to be collected for a long time.
- Falling on a tile hurts a lot.
- Some species are very slippery even when dry. Those with a rough, embossed surface are much better in this regard – you can’t slip on them. But dirt is clogged into the “relief” and it has to be washed out with a stiff brush, making considerable efforts.
Kitchen floor tiles can be matte or glossy - After some time – 3-5 years – in places of active movement (stove-table-refrigerator) scuffs begin to appear. At first almost imperceptible, then more and more visible. Moreover, these scuffs also appear on expensive collections, maybe a little later. There are, of course, non-slippery and non-rubbing options, but they do not look inspiring.
- The high cost of laying floor tiles. On average – $ 15 per square.
As you can see, there are plenty of cons too. There is another consideration – on what basis the tile will be laid. If the floor is concrete – everything is simple. If necessary, it is leveled with a rough screed, then tiles can be laid. If the floor is wooden, it is best to disassemble it and make a screed according to all the rules, and therefore lay the tiles on the finished floor. As a result, the total cost of floor repair will be considerable.
Linoleum in the kitchen
The second most popular kitchen flooring is linoleum. As usual, let’s start with the positives. If you take a whole piece of linoleum, then in terms of resistance to water, this type of coating will not yield to ceramic tiles. The installation will take only a few hours, not days. You can lay linoleum on the floor yourself, but even if you have to hire a master, this type of work is estimated at an average of $ 4-5 per square meter.
If we talk about the range, then it is no less than that of ceramic tiles. There are different options – from smoothly painted, to imitation of a wooden floor, laminate or parquet, the same tiles, mosaics, etc. True, in order for linoleum to serve in the kitchen for a long time, it is necessary to take a commercial or semi-commercial class, without a substrate. It is more durable, has a hard top layer. In a house or apartment, it is almost eternal. But such material costs a lot: $25-35 per square meter is quite a normal price. So the price is about the same as laying tiles.
The advantages of linoleum in the kitchen also include a more comfortable atmosphere, as well as the fact that it is not so hard and, if dropped, some things have a chance to “survive”. It is washed no worse than tiles, even easier – stains are usually not visible. In general, a good option.
Let’s move on to the cons:
- For a wear-resistant coating will have to pay a lot of money.
- The material is not environmentally friendly, although there is natural linoleum – marmoleum. At a price it is not lower than commercial, but the service life is much shorter.
Like minuses and a little, but significant. You also need to remember that it is necessary to lay linoleum on a flat base. It doesn’t matter which one. The main thing is smooth, whole, clean. If the floor is concrete, you can use it, but again, it must be even. It is possible on a wooden floor, but if the boards are uneven, it is better to lay suitable sheet material on them – plywood, fiberboard, OSB, GVL. Choose yourself. Linoleum is laid on top of a flat base, often gluing it over the entire surface. Such a floor covering for the kitchen will be warm and durable.
What else can be flooring for the kitchen
This section will focus on less common materials and methods. Partly these are new materials, partly they are not very popular due to the high cost or not the most suitable characteristics.
Laminate
Laminate is a popular flooring material. It perfectly imitates a wooden surface, creates an atmosphere of comfort and tranquility. Color solutions are different – from almost white – to almost black. There are even colored options – painted wood. In general, from the point of view of aesthetics, everything is fine. It also feels good – the feet are comfortable and warm, the laminate floor is washed remarkably, it absorbs shocks well, because the fallen dishes break less often.
But from the point of view of practicality, laying laminate in the kitchen is not the most brilliant idea. Yes, there are waterproof types. But moisture resistance is about the surface, and the side faces remain the same material – pressed paper. If the puddle on the floor is not removed for a long time (everyone is at work) – several hours – then the moisture-resistant laminate swells, and after drying it remains warped.
It is also worth noting the high cost of moisture-resistant laminate (33 classes) – from $ 10 to $ 40 per square meter. The work is estimated at $ 3-6 per square – from the complexity of the installation scheme and the qualifications of the master. Probably because this type of flooring for kitchens is not very popular.
How to lay a laminate with your own hands, read here.
Cork covering
Cork flooring in the kitchen is used even less often than laminate. But this is not the fault of the characteristics of the material, but its price – an expensive pleasure is obtained. The coating itself costs from $15 to $50 per square, installation services – from $7 per square meter. This is provided that the base is perfectly flat and clean.
The cork for the floor is on the substrate and without it. In the kitchen it is better to take without a substrate. The substrate is the same as on the laminate – MDF, and it reacts badly to water (swells). When using a glue plug, it is glued to the floor with a special glue, covered with 2-3 layers of varnish on top, which creates a waterproof film. With this installation, even the flood is not terrible.
Cork flooring for the kitchen looks very stylish, creates a feeling of comfort, and is easy to clean (due to the applied varnish). But if the water remains for a long time, the varnish turns white. You can return transparency to it, but it takes a long time to fiddle. In general, beautiful, expensive, comfortable.
Porcelain tiles
Porcelain stoneware kitchen flooring is durable and beautiful. This material is mass-dyed, very dense and rigid. So scuffs, even if they are formed, are not visible. The material has the same advantages and disadvantages as ceramic tiles, only the material itself is more expensive (from $10 per square meter) and the work on its laying – also from $10-12 per square.
Why is it rarely used? First, it’s not cheap. Secondly, the feet are cold, and the heating is inefficient – the plates are thick, the thermal conductivity is low. And thirdly, it looks beautiful, but on large areas.
Bulk floors or liquid linoleum
This technology appeared relatively recently, so not many people know about this possibility. First of all, self-leveling floors will come in handy when leveling the base. This solution has the property of self-leveling – it is distributed over the surface, and it levels itself, forming a perfectly flat surface. On this base, you can put any other floor covering you have chosen for the kitchen, or you can finish it using the same technology – use a polymer self-leveling floor or acrylic floor with the ability to make it with a 3D effect. This technology is also called “liquid linoleum”, although this is far from the same thing.
Polymer self-leveling floor – plain, matte or glossy, with varying degrees of gloss. The surface may be flat and smooth, or it may be rough. Acrylic is a transparent polymer, under which a film with a pattern is placed on the prepared base. This drawing is filled with liquid acrylic, due to which a three-dimensional image is obtained.
It is difficult to say in general about the cost of a self-leveling floor. It all depends on the amount of preparatory work. You remember that you first need to level the base. Moreover, it is desirable to use a leveling agent, and then the finishing composition of the self-leveling floor so that the deviation is no more than 1 mm per square. Only the application of a polymer composition without preparation costs from $ 5 per square meter. If this is an option with a 3D pattern – from $ 15. All preparatory work is evaluated separately. In general, the idea is not cheap, but the result is excellent both externally and in terms of performance.
Vinyl tiles
This material is new. It is called vinyl or PVC tile, design tile, or LVT (LVT) from the English name luxury vinyl tile. To put it simply, this is vinyl linoleum cut into pieces. The geometry can be different – squares, rectangles, complex shapes. It can be laid according to the same patterns as laminate or parquet, you can come up with unique combinations, since there are more colors, as well as geometric shapes.
From its predecessor – linoleum – vinyl tiles differ in the form of release (cut into pieces) and the way they are laid. There is pure vinyl, there is with the addition of quartz sand. Such material is called quartz-vinyl tile (sometimes it is written together – quartz-vinyl coating). Quartz-vinyl is more dense, wear-resistant. Scope – areas with a high load (commercial premises with high traffic). This material at home will serve for a long time. If you don’t need such durability (you like to change design often), choose from pure PVC (class 32-42 is suitable for the kitchen).
Laying and types of tiles
According to the requirements for the base, vinyl tile makes more stringent requirements. It should be even and rigid. Suitable concrete, cement floor, CSP or self-leveling screed, plywood, OSB, chipboard. Such tiles cannot be laid on a soft porous base (old linoleum). Moreover, this base should have a difference of no more than 2 mm per 2 meters of area with two extreme points (the lowest and highest points).
There are several different types of PVC tiles and several different installation methods:
- A tile that is glued to special glue (it is indicated in the instructions which one it is desirable to use).
- Self-adhesive. The back side is coated with adhesive, protected by paper. Before installation, it is removed, pressed to the base. She tile to another butt joint. the geometry is good, there are no problems on even ground.
- With adhesive closures. In this case, the tile itself is not glued to the base. The coating turns out to be floating, incoherent and almost monolithic, since the locks are wide – a few centimeters, covered with an adhesive composition.
Adhesive lock on vinyl tile. This option is preferable as a floor covering for the kitchen - With mechanical locks. This type of vinyl tile is also not glued to the base, the fragments are connected to each other according to the tenon-groove principle.
What compares favorably with this material from linoleum and laminate is the ease of installation. With any installation method, do-it-yourself installation is no problem, with little time. The most important thing is to choose the pattern you want to create. It is cut with an ordinary clerical knife. A gap must be left around the perimeter of the room to compensate for thermal expansion (which one is indicated on the package, since different materials can be used).
Advantages and disadvantages
If we talk about the price, then it is comparable to commercial linoleum, while it has an even longer service life, it is easier to fit and wash (even models with relief). In appearance, it can be very similar to parquet or laminate, maybe tiles, porcelain stoneware, marble, etc. Underfoot it feels like a laminate – warm, but not so booming (does not “click” when walking).
The surface is hard, not squeezed by heels or furniture (including furniture on wheels). This is all – according to reviews already operating. From all this, we can conclude that this kitchen flooring is an excellent choice and its only drawback is the high price, but it is offset by a long service life.
Combined floor in the kitchen
Although laminate in the kitchen is not the best choice, many people like it for aesthetic reasons, as well as ceramic tiles for ease of maintenance. There is a way – to use these two materials in the same room, but in different zones. our kitchens are mainly divided into two parts – a working one, in which there are cabinets, a stove, etc. and a dining room with a table and chairs.
Tiles or porcelain stoneware are laid in the working area, laminate is placed in the table area (you can lay a cork). The junction of the two materials is made out with a metal or plastic strip to match the coating or bright-contrasting.