What's the Best Flooring For a Kitchen?

This is another question we get asked a lot over the phone, in the store and especially at home shows! So what is the best flooring for a kitchen?

These are just my opinions! I'm sure there are varying thoughts out there but I try to take a very practical approach on this one.

When looking at kitchen floor applications I think there are three main considerations. Water on the floor, ease of cleaning and dents - scratches.

I think the two best overall options are luxury vinyl plank and tile or ceramic tile. I'll explain why.

Luxury vinyl plank and tile are very heavy commercial rated, individual planks or tiles of vinyl. These are not your typical sheet good vinyl products nor the peel and stick junk you see at the home improvement stores. This is the same stuff you are standing on in the clothing section at the nation's largest retailer (when you're at W*&mart and in the clothing section, look down at what you're standing on, it will look like wood). If it can handle their traffic it will certainly handle the traffic in your kitchen! The tiles as well mimic ceramic, slate or stone and look as awesome as the wood plank look. These planks and tiles go down individually so it doesn't have the appearance of the cheap stuff. Luxury planks and tiles hold up great with water spills, far better than hardwood or laminate. If you have ever had laminate in your kitchen and had a water leak under the dishwasher you certainly know what I'm talking about! LVTP (luxury vinyl tile and plank) also performs very well against scratches and dents. The kitchen is a place where things tend to get dropped or scraped and can be a problem area if you're not careful. LVTP is super easy to clean as well! With a cleaners on the market by manufacturers such as Bona Kemi and others, a simple damp mop does the trick. My favorite LVTP products are by Karndean (knight Tile-Warm Oak, pictured upper left), Nafco and for the budget minded, Earthwerks Pacific plank is hard to beat.

Ceramic tile holds up better than virtually anything else with water issues. Ceramic tile is apt to crack or break if you drop something very heavy on it, but at least tiles can be replaced. Regular foot traffic does nothing to ceramic. It is susceptible to scratches from dragging the fridge etc, but hopefully you won't do that! Ceramic can also add value to your home, whether real or buyer perceived and that can mean something later. Ceramic is pretty easy on day to day maintenance. Just make sure a good sealant is put on the grout when you have it installed.

So why didn't I mention hardwood or laminate? Let me say that I love hardwood! Hardwood and laminate have their place in the home. The potential of water issues can be a problem. One big leak from your icemaker or sink and your beautiful Brazilian Cherry Wood Flooring or laminate floor is toast. Wood can be very susceptible to denting. It's not as bad as it used to be with the newer aluminum oxide finishes but it can dent. Laminate in most cases is hard to scratch if little weight is applied, but water is a killer for laminate.

My thoughts on this are just that, thoughts. If you are dead set on hardwood flooring in the kitchen, than go for it! It's your kitchen and you need to be happy with it (just make sure you give us a shot at your business!!). If you can only afford an inexpensive laminate floor, then by all means, put it in. I just wanted to give you a little up front information to think about so your decision isn't an impulse buy on how nice something looks or the color matches the cabinets perfectly. When choosing a floor for a kitchen there is a lot more at stake than what just meets the eye.

Be sure to check back soon for an update on our carpet squares designing tips!

Give us a call at BecklersCarpet.com, 1-800-232-5537! We can help you with any of these options, vinyl tile or plank, ceramic tile from Daltile, Emser and others, all species of hardwood flooring, and laminate as well. You can view all of our vinyl plank and tile offerings at BecklersCarpet.com. We look forward to hearing from you!

What's the best flooring if you have pets?

We get asked a lot " What is the best flooring if you have pets." I wanted to give our general take on this question and let you know our thoughts to give you some directions to consider. Be advised though, I will not be taking into consideration subfloor structure, what part of the country you live in, above grade or below grade (basement) and other issues separate from pet issues. Be sure to talk with your sales person, hopefully at BecklersCarpet.com 1-800-232-5537, and let them know as much as you can about your application. With that being said, here are my tips for some of the best overall around ideas for flooring if you have pets.

1. Tile-Stone, Ceramic or porcelain. We don't do stone tile at Becklers Carpet so I can't fully and intelligently go in depth about stone, but it would hold up like a tank if you had it (probably though like other tile, very expensive install cost and probably higher material cost than ceramic and porcelain). Ceramic and porcelain tile are both great for pets as the surface is very hard and holds up well to most pet traffic. Tile also does well with pet accidents, water, liquids etc. Tile also can give a very elegant look as a side benefit.


2. Luxury Vinyl plank or tile. Never heard of luxury vinyl before? It's a super heavy duty vinyl product that in most cases is even designed to hold up in commerical applications. The planks or tiles are glued down individually and give a real look that will blow you away. They are extremely hard surfaced and don't scratch very easily. They also do great with water issues. Kardean, Nafco, and Earthwerks are the major players in this market. If you have ever been in the clothing department at W**mart and seen the amazing floor that looks like wood you've seen luxury vinyl. It looks super and if it will hold up in that kind of traffic, your terrier isn't going to hurt it much. You can also do some great designs with this type of floor. As a summary, it doesn't scratch easily, looks great and does well with moisture issues and pet accidents. Install cost is less than tile but more than laminate.


3. Laminate flooring. Laminate flooring does amazing when it comes to surface scratches. It is extremely hard to scratch. It does decent with surface liquid spills (pet urine) but need to be wiped up pretty quick. If a fair amount of liquid gets in between the seams it can cause a problem though with buckling. In review, laminate wears well for pet feet and nails but is so-so for pet urine and water bowl spills. Install cost is very low compared to other floors. Laminate can even be be a moderate do-it-yourself project.

If you will notice, I did not mention Hardwood or Carpet. Carpet can wear decently, but does horrible with pet accidents. Moisture can seep into the pad and the smell and stain is very hard to get rid of, even with newer stain products on the market. If you feel you have to have carpet, please, please consider a top end pad that has a superb moisture barrier, such as spillguard pad or stainmaster pad.

Hardwood floors are beautiful. Not so much though after several years of pet nails and traffic. If you think hardwoods floors are for you and you'll have pets in the house, consider one of the harder species on the Janka scale (scale that measures hardness and density of wood) such as Asian Walnut, Brazilian Cherry or Tigerwood. Oak probably isn't the ideal choice. I'll touch on Bamboo while I'm on hardwood. A high end, stranded Bamboo will probably hold up like the better woods. I would not consider a lower end bamboo or engineered bamboo as they are probably too soft. If the bamboo is much lower priced than the woods I mentioned above then it won't work. As a matter of fact, if they are priced about the same, you might as well go ahead with the hardwood because it will add value to the home. I'm still not a fan though of hardwood and pets together. A last tip, if you have hardwood and pets, use rugs and lots of em. They are much more replaceable than the wood. Just be sure to move the rugs around occasionally as a few species of hardwood floors can slowly change color over their life and the rug on top of it for a long period could affect the coloring below.

I hoped this helped! There are many other things that can be considered and I didn't cover them all. I do think flooring with pets is a tough decision that needs to be addressed at the onset of your project. Please give us a call at BecklersCarpet.com, 1-800-232-5537 and let us help you pick the right floor for you and your budget.

Also, if you are looking for a flooring dealer in Atlanta, GA, think about driving up to see us! We are only about an hour North of Marietta! Of course, we do ship all over the country!