Linoleum floor in kitchen?

[Anonymous]

Would love to hear your experiences with linoleum.

We are about to embark on a 4-decades-in-the-making kitchen renovation, trying desperately not to break the bank. The kitchen is our main entrance to the house. We have kids and dogs. No mudroom — just a section of the kitchen reserved for pegboard coat hangers and shoe racks.

House is a small 1930s cape. 8ft plank ceilings. Decent lighting and light. Kitchen is open to dining room/tv nook, both of which have white oak floors. Cabinets will be white shaker with bit of open walnut shelving (1.5” thick — we are repurposing a slab we already have). Backsplash will be a white tile — like glossy, large subway tile with a bit of texture (surprisingly affordable). Haven’t decided on the countertops (the guy doing the work recommends quartz for affordability/simplicity, plus we might use the walnut slab for smaller countertops, too).

Our goals: clean lines, a feeling of openness (as much as possible with 8’ ceilings, ha!), a bit of warmth/cheer/organic look, and something that could be consistent with the 1930s cape architecture but without tipping to quaint, kitsch, or “noisy.” And not going into debt.

We had been considering slate-look porcelain floors, but I have also been looking at linoleum in various colors — a simple gray/charcoal, the marbled cream look, or even a bright color like yellow/lime for cheer. But it’s really hard to picture. And I worry about its durability — would linoleum get scratched up by the dogs? Would all the dirt tracked in from outside ruin linoleum time? Does it require more significantly more maintenance than tile?

I find this all so hard. Any experiences or opinions welcome. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Are you looking at marmoleum-type flooring or standard sheet vinyl? My understanding with marmoleum is you'll need to do some maintenance on the dog scratches. We have sheet vinyl in our main-entrance kitchen. I know it's cheap (and kinda cheap looking) but it's so easy to maintain, not as hard as stone/tile type floors, and I never worry about it.

[Anonymous]

Op. I was thinking real linoleum — like marmoleum or forbo — for the environmental impact mostly. That’s really good to know about maintenance, though. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

We had marmoleum tiles (checkerboard black/gray) in our old kitchen and I loved them. Very comfortable to stand on.

Only downside was that the spot where we kept our dog's water dish (with lots of splashing) got discolored.

[Anonymous]

I've had a marmoleum floor for 13 years. It is definitely scratched up from dogs.
I also have the discoloring from where our trashcan has been all that time.

It's getting hard to get real clean, but I also am not a person who "reseals" or polishes it with the right finish annually.

Also, from a design perspectve, don't do grey floors. It looks very 2015 and is already dated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've had a marmoleum floor for 13 years. It is definitely scratched up from dogs.
I also have the discoloring from where our trashcan has been all that time.

It's getting hard to get real clean, but I also am not a person who "reseals" or polishes it with the right finish annually.

Also, from a design perspectve, don't do grey floors. It looks very 2015 and is already dated.

OP, I know myself well enough to know that I wouldn’t reseal or polish annually either. And I do want a floor that can feel clean — I grew up in a house where the floors were so filthy they turned our socks black — all these years later, the sticky, never-really-clean feeling is a bit triggering for me.

And thanks for the design tip re: gray floors. Is there a better affordable kitchen floor that will feel timeless and appropriate to a 1930s cape with a cottage vibe? And that can withstand being the main entry point for kids and dogs? Hmm.

Thanks to everyone for their feedback and experiences.

[Anonymous]

In terms of durability and maintenance, it’s going to be hard to beat tile.

Gray is fine if it’s stone. That’s the color of the stone.

[Anonymous]

Green up with a linoleum kitchen floor. Seemed to last forever. But it did get waxed now and then and that was work. Not sure how to care for modern linoleums. Interested to see what others say.

[Anonymous]

Never. Get tile or hardwood.

[Anonymous]

Get the highest of high quality sheet vinyl. Your kitchen it probably small enough for no seams. Do not ever use a sheet product if there will be even one seam.

Installation experience matters.

[Anonymous]

Not that you asked but I’d consider a solid surface (Corian) countertop in white or off-white rather than quartz. Read some Houzz discussions for details. It’s hard to get a quartz that doesn’t have the fake-marble look, and the shininess is a giveaway. It’s ok but consolidate surface is both cheaper and probably environmentally better (quartz seems to cause cancer in the fabricators who cut/grind it).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get the highest of high quality sheet vinyl. Your kitchen it probably small enough for no seams. Do not ever use a sheet product if there will be even one seam.

Installation experience matters.

This is definitely the cheapest, and easiest approach. There are rolled vinyl linoleum that looks very nice, just like tile all textured and even grout lines that feel indented and realish.

[Anonymous]

I have sheet vinyl that looks like bricks and it doesn’t show anything and we have three dogs. It comfortable and easy to clean.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for everyone’s feedback.

Much back and forth here. Turns out DH won’t do vinyl. We have white oak floors in the kitchen but with no mudroom they are a mess, which is what prompted this whole question.

Our decision, pending costs:

- refinish the existing wood floors in most of the kitchen. Less environment impact, probably best for resale. Matte poly coat/s, as protective as we can.

- lay down tile at the entrance/where we hang coats/remove shoes, etc. So we are carving out a psychological “mudroom” even if we don’t have a literal mudroom.

- get some floor cloths (or vinyl mats, I won’t tell DH) for the wettest/highest traffic areas — by sink, dog bowls, etc.

- teach our kids to remove their damn shoes already

Marmoleum will remain our cheerful, nostalgic, brightly-hued “what if,” saved for another room, or another home, or another life.

Thanks to all!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for everyone’s feedback.

Much back and forth here. Turns out DH won’t do vinyl. We have white oak floors in the kitchen but with no mudroom they are a mess, which is what prompted this whole question.

Our decision, pending costs:

- refinish the existing wood floors in most of the kitchen. Less environment impact, probably best for resale. Matte poly coat/s, as protective as we can.

- lay down tile at the entrance/where we hang coats/remove shoes, etc. So we are carving out a psychological “mudroom” even if we don’t have a literal mudroom.

- get some floor cloths (or vinyl mats, I won’t tell DH) for the wettest/highest traffic areas — by sink, dog bowls, etc.

- teach our kids to remove their damn shoes already

Thanks to all!

Be sure to use oil based. Do at least 3 coats.