Kitchen floors - hardwood or tile?

[Anonymous]

Tile. It is easy clean and sanitary in a kitchen.

You can mop up grease and splatter with light vinegar and water.

How do you get wood clean in a kitchen setting or do you just accept having some level of grease on the floor?

Also how do you handle dishwasher leaks and water drips? Liquid spills etc on wood? Are you all replacing the wood?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So how does hardwood work with possible water spills or leaks? I had never seen hardwood in a kitchen until a few years ago and I thought it was laminate.

You spill something, you clean it up. We've had hardwood in our kitchen 26+ years, I really don't get the fear that spilling something on hardwood floors ruins them. It doesn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So how does hardwood work with possible water spills or leaks? I had never seen hardwood in a kitchen until a few years ago and I thought it was laminate.

I hate how it wears. We did wood because everyone said to but I cook daily and don't like how it looks. If you do wood insist that the fridge be removed before floors are done. We only realized that the supposedly highly reputed floor people worked around the fridge when it broke. The new one has a differnent footprint which you can now see. Lovely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tiles, more practical

In what way? Dropped items are loud, shatter, chip the tile, grout gets disgusting. Wood is easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tile. It is easy clean and sanitary in a kitchen.

You can mop up grease and splatter with light vinegar and water.

How do you get wood clean in a kitchen setting or do you just accept having some level of grease on the floor?

Also how do you handle dishwasher leaks and water drips? Liquid spills etc on wood? Are you all replacing the wood?

Are you imagining raw wood? The finish protects the wood and it just as easy to clean with vinegar and water.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tiles, more practical

We got hardwood, maybe 4" tongue and groove planks. There really is no way to clean up anything that gets between the planks. That includes spilled liquids and crumbs. Vacuuming does not have a tight enough seal to do the job well.

Every couple years, tiny ants invade our house through the brick and subfloor. They love crumbs. I have to leave ant bait out to kill them, and that works really well. But it ticks me off that they have a built-in reason to move in even before they emerge out of the floorboards.

I know a mom, who like me, had hardwood in her powder room. Her toddler had a pee accident on the floor and it ran through the floorboard crack and was visible underneath in the basement (stained the plywood subfloor).

Think carefully. My house is open and the floor looks pretty. But it's not clean if you look closely.

[Anonymous]

I think wet hardwood floor would warp.

[Anonymous]

Hardwood floors have several coats of polyurethane on top - water, pee, soup, or whatever else you spill or drop or whatever, doesn't get inbetween.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tile. It is easy clean and sanitary in a kitchen.

You can mop up grease and splatter with light vinegar and water.

How do you get wood clean in a kitchen setting or do you just accept having some level of grease on the floor?

Also how do you handle dishwasher leaks and water drips? Liquid spills etc on wood? Are you all replacing the wood?

My cooking doesn’t involve grease splatter in the floor.
Not much deep frying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So how does hardwood work with possible water spills or leaks? I had never seen hardwood in a kitchen until a few years ago and I thought it was laminate.

I lived with hardwood in my kitchen for 22 years and I had 2 leaks that were discovered very fast so no problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So how does hardwood work with possible water spills or leaks? I had never seen hardwood in a kitchen until a few years ago and I thought it was laminate.

I mostly see hardwood in kitchens instead of tile. If we spill water, we wipe it up. Does anyone just leave spilled water on their kitchen floor? Have never had a leak and we have leak detectors anyway. This is our 3rd house/apt with hardwood kitchen floors in 20 years. There is no groove between the floorboards for anything to get caught in. I let the roomba vacuum and then clean with water and a drop of dawn with either a mop or cross wave. The areas that get the most traffic have an antifatigue mat.

[Anonymous]

How are there no spaces between the floorboards? They are individual pieces of wood. If water gets in between them, it can warp it. There are a few pieces of my dad’s hardwood floor that are warped over by his sink. I prefer tile. Maybe tile that looks like hardwood is an alternative.

[Anonymous]

If you do hardwood buy raw wood and have it finished onsite. I think people who are talking about stuff getting between their floorboards have the prefinished wood. You can also opt for engineered (also finished on site). It looks the same as hardwood but is more stable in a most environment.

[Anonymous]

I would pick Terrazzo, if your joists can support it. I have lived in a few upscale houses and apartments in Europe that had terrazzo or parquet flooring either throughout or in combination (terazzo in bathrooms/kitchen/mudroom). Terazzo is so easy to clean, however it can be slippery. There are various glazes that can be applied to increase traction, but I have no experience with them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So how does hardwood work with possible water spills or leaks? I had never seen hardwood in a kitchen until a few years ago and I thought it was laminate.

I mostly see hardwood in kitchens instead of tile. If we spill water, we wipe it up. Does anyone just leave spilled water on their kitchen floor? Have never had a leak and we have leak detectors anyway. This is our 3rd house/apt with hardwood kitchen floors in 20 years. There is no groove between the floorboards for anything to get caught in. I let the roomba vacuum and then clean with water and a drop of dawn with either a mop or cross wave. The areas that get the most traffic have an antifatigue mat.

My dogs splash water on the floor when they drink out of their bowls. I have a mat down but they still get done on the floor. I clean it up but that can be 10 hours later when I get home from work. I wouldn’t want hardwood floors. Maybe faux hardwood would work.