Adding a rug to the kitchen can provide a serious dose of style and make the space feel extra comfortable and cozy. Whether the kitchen is modern or traditional — a rug never hurt anybody!
A rug can add so much interest to a kitchen because most people forget about the floor and leave it rather bare. The addition of a rug provides a completely different form of texture to the space and serves as the proverbial icing on the cake.
Adding a rug is the perfect opportunity to inject additional colors into the space and make it feel homey and complete. Use it as a way to tie existing colors together too!
What do you think about rugs in the kitchen?
Related: Would You Put an Antique or Oriental Rug in Your Kitchen?
(Images: 1. Design Sponge, 2. Convoy, 3. My Home Ideas, 4. Heirloom Philosophy)
My Staple Summer Cocktail Recipe: Campari & IPA Spritzer
Recipe: Ham, Cheddar & Chive Egg Bakes
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Bacsac Bacsquare 04...
Dirty Little Secrets of Tidy Families
Hillary & Michael's Refined Roost
I recently found (knock off) gel mats ($15!!), and I swapped out our plush kitchen rug for one by the sink and one by the oven. While I love the cushiness under my feet, and how open the kitchen looks now, I am seriously missing the rug. It warmed up the room, literally and figuratively, so I think it's going back in the next few days. Plus, our dog is a very sloppy drinker and I need something to sop up the water trail before one of us slips and falls on the tile. I never realized how much the rug caught all her water.
We have a crazy colorful rug from Urban Outfitters in our all-white, dark brown floor, kitchen, and it looks great.
hannah, tell me where you got the gel mats!
I find rugs in the kitchen absolutely disgusting. We're not particularly messy, but I can see how dirty the floor gets; I need to dust mop (reusable covers for my Swiffer) nearly every day and mop about half as often.
I am so over having a rug in the kitchen. As much as I love them, we just end up getting them so dirty. We are messy cooks and while we sweep our floor nightly in addition to a mopping with our Shark (love that thing) every couple of days, a rug just gets too disgusting.
Niamh, I've seen 20 buck ones at home depot. They're Martha Stewart ones and the exact same gel/material.
I have a good size cream colored oriental looking rug in my kitchen and love it. Soft under my feet, my pets love to sprawl there while I cook and it warms up the place.
Right now, I've got a doormat sized woven cotton rope rug in front of the sink. Its picked up a few stains over the past 8 years, but not bad. I'm seriously considering getting a longer, runner-type, to go full length in front of the sink, stove, and space in between. The key to a kitchen rug is washability. Shake it out whenever you dust mop, and toss it in the washing machine when you wet mop.
Yep, rugs just get too dirty in the kitchen. It's hard enough keeping the other ones in the house clean.
Wow,...luved all of them
I imagined they'd be dirty, but aren't they dangerous too in case they slip? How do (or did) you people to make it say in place?
I agree with julia2711, I'd love a mat in our dinky kitchen but I'm worried one of us will trip over a cat and slip on the rug - potential disaster!
I hate having a rug in the kitchen for the dirt factor, but standing on the bare hard floor makes my heels hurt after awhile.
Rugs in the kitchen can add warmth and style, but be sure it lays flat and does not slip.
Most rugs will need a good pad. For the kitchen the "German non-skid" pad is normally the best choice.
Keeping kitchen rugs clean is another story... though soon there will be a simple solution.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNSR-rgYKMk&feature=results_video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0wc1USKFgw&feature=related