Kitchen floors - hardwood or tile?

[Anonymous]

OP again. Thanks for all the helpful perspectives. If we do tile, it will be terrazzo or some type of encaustic to play up the mid-century design. If we do hardwood, it will be real white oak (narrow plank to match the LR/DR) and the finish will be applied at the same time the LR, DR, hallway, and bedroom floors are refinished. I will follow up with the hardwood guy to ask a few questions about his process to ensure there are no gaps. Thanks again everyone--it's been useful to get feedback on this.

[Anonymous]

I think that terrazo would be cooler looking personally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

PP. This is true, our hardwood was prefinished. However, I don't think the gaps between the boards are unique to prefinished boards. It's driven by the shape of the planks.

I can see where some rectangular plank shapes might fit more tightly together. But in general the gaps are related to the workmanship and subfloor design as well.

Regarding stains...in Year 1, I dropped/spilled a cup of hot miso soup and for whatever reason, it permeated the polyurethane and made a stain. This was like a grease stain on light maple plank. I wiped it up immediately.

My experience is that liquids do puddle on the surface but I can see some going down into the small gap if there is a big puddle.

+1 to no pre finished floors. Our past floors did not have gaps and never stained (white oak, walnut, hickory) despite some horrifying spills including red wine, coffee, elderly dog with giardia.

[Anonymous]

Oh yeah, I’m the one who says the wood is looking great after six years and it is finished on site. Idk if it makes a difference. My instinct maybe would be the opposite.

I also agree with others that continuous wood flooring throughout the main level has become standard for resale in some local markets. Depends on the architecture of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will follow up with the hardwood guy to ask a few questions about his process to ensure there are no gaps. Thanks again everyone--it's been useful to get feedback on this.

Maybe not gaps but there should be a little space. Wood expands and contracts, it needs a little wiggle room.

Not to confuse things but what about wood look tile? Some of this tile looks very convincing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

PP. This is true, our hardwood was prefinished. However, I don't think the gaps between the boards are unique to prefinished boards. It's driven by the shape of the planks.

I can see where some rectangular plank shapes might fit more tightly together. But in general the gaps are related to the workmanship and subfloor design as well.

Regarding stains...in Year 1, I dropped/spilled a cup of hot miso soup and for whatever reason, it permeated the polyurethane and made a stain. This was like a grease stain on light maple plank. I wiped it up immediately.

My experience is that liquids do puddle on the surface but I can see some going down into the small gap if there is a big puddle.

+1 to no pre finished floors. Our past floors did not have gaps and never stained (white oak, walnut, hickory) despite some horrifying spills including red wine, coffee, elderly dog with giardia.

PP. I've had the floors for 20 years now. They were Armstrong brand with a 25 year warranty. That was the only stain we've experienced in 20 years. The water was superboiling. That's why I dropped the cup of miso. Just to report a little more on my issue.

We don't wear shoes in the house. Our floor still looks good generally.

[Anonymous]

Upper Income Bracket = Tile (nice tile, typically European, larger formats are popular now)

Wood floor = suburban, middle class

Don’t shoot the messenger

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Upper Income Bracket = Tile (nice tile, typically European, larger formats are popular now)

Wood floor = suburban, middle class

Don’t shoot the messenger

Not in places like Georgetown or Kalorama. Seeing tiles in the kitchen is very rare in the multimillion dollar houses there. My impression is that people look down on tile in general in this area. I actually mostly only see it in cheaper houses. Are you from the DMV?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Upper Income Bracket = Tile (nice tile, typically European, larger formats are popular now)

Wood floor = suburban, middle class

Don’t shoot the messenger

I think it really depends on the house. It depends on how big the house is and how separated the kitchen and the “family” spaces are from the other spaces. But I also think it varies a lot regionally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Upper Income Bracket = Tile (nice tile, typically European, larger formats are popular now)

Wood floor = suburban, middle class

Don’t shoot the messenger

Not in places like Georgetown or Kalorama. Seeing tiles in the kitchen is very rare in the multimillion dollar houses there. My impression is that people look down on tile in general in this area. I actually mostly only see it in cheaper houses. Are you from the DMV?

You mean in tiny Georgetown rowhomes? That’s to make it look bigger and or is historic indeed from when it was in fact low income housing, not true of Kalorama at all.

[Anonymous]

Trashy if you’re poor and classy if you’re rich, it’s a meme for a reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Upper Income Bracket = Tile (nice tile, typically European, larger formats are popular now)

Wood floor = suburban, middle class

Don’t shoot the messenger

I think it really depends on the house. It depends on how big the house is and how separated the kitchen and the “family” spaces are from the other spaces. But I also think it varies a lot regionally.

Next thing you know you’ll be justifying LVP too!

[Anonymous]

Neither, hardwood is not waterproof and tile is really hard on your legs. If you don't plan to cook much at all, either will do. This is when vinyl is great.

[Anonymous]

I have tile. I hate it. It’s cold and hard underfoot. But agree it’s better for spills/splatters and hard kitchen use

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Neither, hardwood is not waterproof and tile is really hard on your legs. If you don't plan to cook much at all, either will do. This is when vinyl is great.

Vinyl is terrible for your health and certainly isn’t “classy”.

But what are you all doing in your kitchens?! How many hours do you cook for for it to be “hard on your legs”? WTF people?