The kitchen can definitely be counted as one of the busiest rooms in a household. From family gatherings to the making of major meals, working in the kitchen means long periods of moving around and standing. As such, the flooring you choose for your kitchen needs to be considered carefully.
Don’t Judge a book by its Cover
Although the flooring you are considering looks good, there are other elements to think about. Will it be warm enough if you stand on it without slippers during wintertime? Will your back and legs suffer as a result of standing too long? Will children or the elderly be walking through the kitchen or using it often? These are just a few of the many items to think about that have nothing to do with how the floor looks. However, this doesn’t mean that the kitchen flooring you choose has to be dull.
Pressure and Wear
When considering flooring for the kitchen, you must identify the pressure and wear your floor will be subjected to. Thin flooring will only wear with lots of kitchen activity, which includes accidents like the dropping of pots and other items on the floor. Your kitchen floor must be comfortable enough to stand on, but durable enough to handle the unexpected.
For spills, an easy-clean surface like the ones offered by Karndean flooring can offer an all-round solution. This particular brand has several colours, finishes and styles that work well for kitchen settings.
When You Choose Kitchen Flooring is Important
Although you won’t always be able to choose your kitchen flooring at the same time as you choose other elements like kitchen cabinetry, it is recommended that you do so. This will allow you to develop a colour and material palette that can bring all of the elements in your home together.
Of course, a more inexpensive option is to re-paint or re-surface your kitchen cabinets to match the colour and texture of your new kitchen flooring. If this is not possible, you can always add elements to your kitchen which will echo the colours and textures of your cabinets and floors.
Kitchen Flooring Materials
One popular trend in kitchen flooring is the porcelain look. Although not actual porcelain, synthetic porcelain called mimica recreates the natural porcelain look. You may also opt for true natural flooring in materials like wood and stone, although this can be a costly endeavour. Many of today’s kitchen flooring options allow for durability along with a natural look and feel, without the cost of actual natural materials.
Actual porcelain tile is very hard-wearing, as well as being completely water and scratch-proof as well as stain resistant and easy to clean. All of these features can be of great advantage in the kitchen. If properly installed, natural stone will last for many years. But its porosity requires sealing to be completed every few years. The warmth of real wood flooring cannot be denied, although it may offer less durability than other flooring types.
Safety
The presence of both children and the elderly in your kitchen are both excellent reasons to consider the safety properties of your new kitchen flooring. If either of these groups will be regular visitors, it then becomes important to think about the other properties of flooring, such as how slippery it becomes when a spill occurs. You may also want to consider flooring that is slip-resistant or can give a little should a fall occur
Regardless of the style you choose, it’s important to commit to a kitchen flooring style that you know you will be happy with for years to come.