apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

We have the ugliest tile floor in our kitchen. My legs hurt so bad after cooking. Hardwoods are out for us because we have them through the rest of our house and we don't think we would be able to match them. Right now we are leaning toward rubber when we remodel, but need to do some research.

I've got laminate.

Vinyl. I would love ceramic tiles, and hardwood would be my second choice.

I currently have linoleum. I hate it. It's white and has pock marks. Between the dog and me being a messy cook, it never stays clean. I'm intrigued by the rubber floors, would love wood (but I might ruin it), and definitely don't want tile.

I'm trying to decide whether my budget should go towards new counter tops or flooring for the whole house...

ceramic tiles, they are fine and easy to clean. I chose them and love them. I come from a country where kitchen floor is *always* tiles but I never heard of leg hurting because of the hard floor... but stone tiles aren't used that often either, so, probably, there is a difference.

Laminate floating floor, with a simulated slate tile pattern (which actually looks okay). We'll redo the floors at some point and I'm flirting with cork, though I really want to do radiant heating underneath and don't know if that's compatible....research to do later.

Ceramic tiles. I have thick 2'x3' rugs in front of the stove and sink (the two places I stand at the most), which help quite a bit with the hardness of the floors.

I have laminate floors. They were so 70's and ugly when I moved in that I painted them with a porch paint and did a rag treatment to make them look like concrete. I covered them with 3 coats of polyurethane. They are surprisingly durable, show little dirt and are pretty cushy to stand on. I also painted the counter tops to match. An awesome $50 kitchen update.

I have sheet vinyl, which is both ugly and very hard. I wish I had cork, or even real linoleum...

For you rubber floor wanters, you might take note that fats degrade rubber. You might not ever cook enough to notice, but if you're big into fired chicken or something, it could be an issue...

Hideous hideous carpet. Yes, carpet. In a kitchen. It boggles the mind. The bathroom also had carpet (whaaaa? ya) but we tore it out down to the original wood subfloor and painted it red. It looks good. We wanted to do that in the kitchen (the landlord didn't think the bathroom would turn out well but now he likes it so he'd let us do the kitchen, too if we want to) but it was so much work just to do the tiny bathroom that we just can't seem to get around to it.

I am consoled by the fact that the house I own in L.A. has hardwood floors in the kitchen.

Hardwood. My main floor of my tiny house is a small open concept multifunction lr/dr/kitchen/foyer. I went with hardwood throughout for a unified look.

At first I was semi terrified about moisture spills in the kitchen, but it's been a complete non-issue. I once spilled an an ENTIRE pitcher of water. I soaked up what I could asap, but some seeped through the seams. I plugged in a fan, cranked the AC, crossed my fingers, and went to bed. The next morning I had some cupping at the seams, but it flattened back out to normal within a week.

Moral of the story - don't be afraid of using hardwood in the kitchen.

Stone tile. It is so uncomfortable (I'm a renter, this wasn't my choice). Standing for long in the kitchen (which I do) was really doing a number on my legs. So I committed the grave sin of carpet in the kitchen (FLOR). Yes, it gets very dirty. It keeps a Roomba very busy.

laminate- not terribly happy with it, but, alas, I did the whole apt in pergo and it seemed to flow since it's a small apt

I have cork. It dents easily (especially when the handle to your pasta maker comes loose and falls on it) but is so warm to walk on and incredibly comfortable. With my old tile floor my feet would hurt just from making dinner, even with slippers on. I can stand on the cork barefoot for hours and not be in pain. It does need frequent sweeping and mopping though, but that might just be because I chose a really dark color.

Vinyl should REALLY be on this list, especially given that it is what most people actually have who think they have Linoleum.

Oh, and my new place has peel and stick vinyl tiles, which actually doesn't look half bad in a retro black and white. My last kitchen was fir, and the one before that was REAL Linoleum..NOT the vinyl tile and sheets that everyone THINKS are Linoleum, ARGH!

We have Marmoleum, which I love - it's eco-friendly, easy to clean and comes in much better colors than the old 70's linoleum patterns.

I grew up in a home with floors covered entiredly in terra cotta tiles (except for wood in the bedrooms).

Americans tend to wear shoes everywhere, all the time. That is an unnatural state for your feet to be in. This is why the hard floors hurt your feet.

http://nymag.com/health/features/46213/

Among the modern subjects, the Zulu population, which often goes barefoot, had the healthiest feet while the Europeans—i.e., the habitual shoe-wearers—had the unhealthiest.

Wooden, circa 1935. I have lived in a house with "hard" floors---stone, ceramic, concrete---and I will never do it again. (In fact, I think any kitchen designer who suggests rock-hard flooring like that needs to have his/her professional license revoked :) Meanwhile, I continue to lust for cork flooring.

Real linoleum here and I'm happy with it. I was going to tile for a color change and going "upscale", but then I got to like the easy to clean (no seams or grout lines) aspect and learned to like the colors (not that bad really, brown/tan/orange). And the fact that it was eco friendly when installed pre-1955 and is eco friendly by still being in good condition is a bonus.

I've had hardwood floors in the kitchen before without problems but I worried more about slow and not visible leaks from a fridge or under sink rather than spills.

Also had laminate fake wood and hated it. It scratched so easily that even sweeping up sand left very visible marks. Cheap peel and stick tiles tied for worst flooring; the seams caught all kinds of dirt and spills.

We too have Marmoleum, and so far (2 years in) it's great. I went for a black/white pattern (mostly black) which keeps me from worrying about staining. Have pretty much exclusively had hideous and poor quality vinyl in rentals- tell me why they thought adding a physical texture to that stuff was smart? Nooks and crannies are NOT helpful when cleaning!

Cheyenne

I have linoleum. Does anyone use a linoleum-safe floor cleaner that they love? The pattern is really cute, but it's mostly white...it always looks dirty and I am constantly wet-swiffering. HELP!

Composite/laminate.

Cork -- installed last year to help with my bad back, which has kept me out of the kitchen (in any meaningful, enjoyable sense) for years. It's the best!!

Laminate. It's great - easy to maintain and easy on the feet (though the recent discussion about rubber floors appeals to me...).

Ceramic tiles.

Rubber.

It's made from recycled tires (very eco-friendly) and hard-wearing. The only issue I have with it is that the white specks of rubber in the mix (it is black-2 shades of grey and white mixed "chunks") have yellowed.

Have never experienced a problem with fats breaking down the rubber -- and I cook lots (and have a Wolf range), have dropped and spilled lots on the floor, but it still looks great!

(would love to know where you got that info, lemonadefish)

p.s., if I could re-do it, I would still go with Rubber, but maybe with the pretty colours from Dalsouple.

I have bamboo in my current kitchen, but believe it or not, we covered it with FLOR "house pet" carpet tiles. Any time the slightest drop of water would get on the floor, it would look filthy. And I cook A LOT, so the floor always looked filthy. Now that the carpet tiles are down, I can vacuum quickly after meal prep, and if I spill anything it comes right up off the carpet.

My house was built in the early '40s and every room except the kitchen has the original, beautiful hardwood floors. Unfortunately the kitchen has ugly dark red vinyl. But I am happy to say that my new cork flooring will be installed early next week! I'm so excited!! I can't wait to spend a day in the kitchen cooking without waking up to an aching lower back the next morning!

After working in commercial architecture for 10 years I decided to install rubber tile in my kitchen when we renovated it last year. This was one of the biggest mistakes that I have ever made! if you are thinking about it, reconsider. The product, as I found out, is made for commercial use. And it is a great product when used in the right application. However living in an apartment in nyc I cannot afford to have my floors commercially cleaned, waxed and or buffed daily and this is what this product needs to stay clean. I love the color, and I love the way that it looks in my space, which is why it pains me not to recommend it. The manufacturer concurred that this product was not intended to be used for residential use as well. At the moment we are sticking with it, but I must emphasize how much I hate to mop and this product needs to be cared for daily. next floor will be forbo linoleum for sure!

Vinyl tiles that look like slate.

never mind what we currently have... it's hideous 70's sheet vinyl... we actually redid the floors throughout the house, with the exception of the bathrooms and kitchen. Other than the terra cotta tile hallway, we have gorgeous dark wood floors downstairs... but I don't think it would stand up to kitchen abuse. So it's still awful sheet vinyl. I want nice rectangular black slate tiles (with high gloss white cabinets and ice blue walls)... this is the dream....

While renting, we had ceramic tile. It WAS hard. (and it's not a shoe issue for me, as Khürt Williams suggested... I'm usually in socks or barefoot while cooking.) I didn't feel it on a daily basis, but if I was cooking for >3 hours straight, it was bothersome.

I know slate will be the same way, but I'll adjust... maybe I'll get a puffy small rug to go near the stove for those rare cooking marathons.

It's amusing to see how many people like me have kitchen floors they loathe... At least I'm in good company :-)

sugar rae-

What rubber flooring did you use??

We have a product that is for both home and commercial use, and it couldn't be easier to care for. Ours is sheet flooring, although I think you can also get it in the larger tiles:

http://www.expanko.com/REZTEC/products-REZ.html

The manufacturer recommends Johnson Wax Carefree Floor Finish and Sealer -- easy to apply, and on our floor, lasts a good month.

Dalsouple is also used regularly in home floor applications, so am wondering what you could have used...

mschatelaine-
I have johnsonite roundel solid rubber tile floor tiles with a raised round pattern on it. Since it is a solid color it shows off every spec and for some reason these random white specs of something get imbedded in it on a daily basis. when you I do try and pick them out, you can see the scratch marks very easily. But I will try johnson wax carefree. how do you care for your floor on a daily/weekly basis? I have a baby who will be mobile within the next few months and I can only imagine how this headache of a floor will begin to drive me even more crazy knowing that her little hands will be all over it.

Marmoleum rules!

We have it in the sheet form, not the tile form. It comes in fabulous colors (orange speckle). It cleans easily, it hides dirt, it always looks good.

Don't know anyone who has it who isn't happy with it. The sheet is hard to install (our contractor had to read a huge manual and rent a heavy roller) but worth every penny. And ecological to boot.

Sugar Rae -- we sweep or vacuum daily to get the crumbs, and try to wipe spills as they happen. Twice a week I damp momp with a Swedish microfibre mop -- after I've gone over it with the microfibre duster mop.

https://www.euronetusa.com/

And once a month (or, well, once a every couple of months...) we apply the Johnson product -- which is a professional product, btw.

It can be a little hard to find, so we just order it off the internet:

http://www.1877floorguy.com/caflfisebyjo.html

Sounds to me like your floor might not be properly sealed, so maybe the Johnson product will help.

Dalsouple has the roundel product for homes, and I've never heard of anyone having your problem...

Good luck -- I'll keep my fingers crossed that the Johnson wax product works!

We have expanko rubber and cork tiles. I love them, but I also sweep daily and mop about every other day. We have dropped heavy things on them and not noticed any denting. The only thing I was a bit disappointed with is we didn't install a new subfloor, just filled and thoroughly sanded the old subfloor and you can see every little imperfection through the tiles.