hardwood floors in kitchen?

dalm0m

We're about to start on a kitchen rennovation.  "Everybody" is telling me to extend the hardwood floors from the living room into the kitchen. It's a pretty open space (the living room, dining room & kitchen) so I understand that it will help the flow of the house.  I don't understand why I would want hardwood in a kitchen.  Won't it get ruined with any kitchen messes?  I also hate hardwood (I know I'm in the minority) & would rather have tile in the kitchen . 

Any insight would be appreciated. 

If I do go with the hardwood I am going to have them strip everything & make it all darker.  It's a warm light brown oak now. 

gymbugmj2k

we considered hardwood when we re-did our kitchen. the rest of the house was carpet, but we were replacing it and could have easily done hardwood throughout. i hated the idea just because it would be too much wood everywhere with the cabinets and everything else (our house has wood railings and beams in the other rooms -- and like you -- we have an open layout).

we went with dark grey porcelain tile - and i LOVE it.  with the open layout, it does separate the kitchen a little....but we also have a small walk-through dining room that we wanted to accent, so its nice to not have the dining room get sucked into the kitchen

hardwood is fine as far as durability. as with anything, it won't stay perfect forever, but it will clean just fine.

 

I posted my kitchen renovation blog in this forum section -- you're welcome to go read it (or click through from my homepage).  lots of photos

kipnus

My parents haven't had any issues with the hardwood in their kitchen.

PinkSparty

I think hardwood floors in the kitchen is a warmer look, but they are a pain in the ass. I would say go with a really NICE tile if you're going to forego hardwood.

buttercup1958

I say go with tile, I like tile in the entryway, bathrooms,and kitchen. Then carpet in the bedrooms and then wooden floors in the dinning, and living room.

TX-Bride

We did that in our previous house, it was a small house and it helped to make house look bigger and more open, the new house that we are buying we need to redo the floors and can't decide to rip out a good tile to make it more cohesive or keep the tile in the kitchen and breakfast.  My mom did tile in the kitchen in her new home and the rest is wood and she wishes she had the same flooring all trhoughout. It's really a personal choice. As far durability, our wood lasted ok in the kitchen. You can't go wrong either way. It's your house, do what you like.

finally:)

We have a pretty open floor plan - LR, DR and Kitchen and have hardwoods (a dark redwood) throughout.  Without seeing your floorplan it's hard to tell but I know if we put tile in our kitchen, it would really make that area seem separate from the rest of the area.

We haven't had any problems with dropping things on the floor and having it stain. The only thing I don't like is seeing all the crumbs but I keep a battery charged sweeper in the closet for quick clean-ups.

MrsG0074

I was looking at flooring last week and there are new tile styles that look just like dark hard wood. They are long and rectangular shaped and I wish our boring tan kitchen tiles were similar to these. If you search at Lowes, you can see some. They start around $2/sq. ft. Maybe that would be a compromise?

nikip6454

Tile (installed properly) will always hold up better than wood floors. I vote for tile in kitchens mainly because it is impervious to water.  Although no one expects it, dishwashers over flow and water lines on fridges leak and spills sit-not always but it is a possiblity and wood does not handle it well!

Tile is harder to stand on for long periods of time.

MandyMilller

We have hardwood in our kitchen and I've had no issues. Our sink and dishwasher are right next to each other, so I just keep a runner under them, since that's where most of the water is. If the kids are helping me at the island I usually drag the runner over to it. I haven't found it to be that inconvenient.