Decision Time Tile vs. Hardwood

[chris1gill]

Hey Guys,

I've had months to debate this with myself, but have come to NO conclusion. We're building a new house & it is time to decide, do we put tile in the kitchen (granite specifically) or Hardwood? Who has what in their kitchen & are you happy with the choice??? I need to make a decision today....

TIA!

 

[dianeschlicht]

We kicked this around a long time for our new log home too. We decided on slate tile for the way it will look with the granit counters and the logs. I first thought I would go with pine for comfort, but I'll just use rugs.

 

[Pin Wizard]

When I bought this house 8 years ago, I had ALL the carpeting ripped out and ceramic tile put in before the furniture was moved in. I LOVE MY TILE! Wouldn't have anything else! It's so easy to clean up and feels wonderfully cool on the feet...a plus when you live in Florida! Good luck deciding.

 

[Bichon Barb]

Hardwood. Easy to clean. I use Murphy's Oil Soap.

My mom has tile and hates it. It's cold on your tootsies in the winter, and if you drop a glass (which my mother frequently does), you can be sure that it will shatter into a million pieces.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

I know this may sound strange, but I would actually consider wood laminate flooring. Growing up with hardwood floors, they were a pain to keep up with, even with the Murphy's soap they sometimes require other maintenance. The wood laminate looks just as good and requires almost no upkeep. Plus it is a bit cheaper. Just another option to look into. Just what you need right?

 

[chris1gill]

Miss Jasmine are you trying to make it more difficult on me? LOL... Actually, we are using bamboo flooring in the rest of the house, so if we decided to put the wood in the kitchen, it would be bamboo.

Dianne, do you have a picture by chance of your slate? The downside with the slate's I've looked at, is that they have not been smooth, is yours smooth? Is the design uniform?

TIA!

 

[Feralpeg]

Why not have the best of both. They now make tile that looks like hardwood floor. That is what I am having put in my new home.

 

[Mishetta]

I have ceramic tile which looks like marble. Yes, if you drop a glass, it's history but also, since we got the "commercial grade" tile, if you drop something heavy (like a hammer ~ which it has been done), it doesn't break the tile so easily.

The only thing I would NOT recommend is getting white (mine is white with a faint taupe swirl ~ which makes it look like marble) in the kitchen since it has to be washed everyday if you're a fanatic like me! One drop of water & your floor needs to be mopped up!

The up side is that I just swiffer during the week & on the weekend, the floor is washed with just plain old vinegar & water. No streaks, & the floor looks just beautiful!

Have fun deciding!

 

[Serena]

I would get the laminate flooring that looks like either one. I like the looks of ceramic, but everyone is always dropping something here.

 

[Bichon Barb]

I don't get it. What other upkeep is there with hardwoods? We've been in this house for three years. Never had to do anything but mop. We lived in our old home (a 1920 colonial) for ten years. That had hardwoods in every room except the bathroom. We never had to do anything with those floors either. Also, small scratches usually do heal themselves. If you look at my sig, that is one of our dogs in the kitchen.

 

[Toby'sFriend]

I'm not sure Barb.

We just had our hardwood sanded and refinished. But it is 30 years old and it was stained a very dark color. I thought the floor looked very 1970ish and I wanted a lighter color to brighten the house -- that's why we had it done, not because there was anything wrong with the floor. I mop once a week and sweep nightly. I love our hardwood floor.

We had a wood laminate in our old house. It was installed over a concrete slab with only a moisture protection sheet underneath. If I were going to install again, I would insist on a subfloor. I really liked the flooring, but it was very loud to walk on. My husband in his dress work shoes in the morning sounded like 100 hammers in my head.

 

[nativetxn]

My sil had laminate flooring put into her diningroom/kitchen and I like it. It has the look of hardwood without the "loudness". I'm thinking of having it put into one of our Texas houses.

 

[damo]

If you put in laminate make sure it has a waterproof guarantee. We have beautiful laminate in our basement but it has grooves between each board to make it look like tongue and groove flooring. The floor is ruined in a few places where water from a spill has seeped between the grooves and swelled.

This is the laminate planks from quick step.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

My dad was always doing something with the wood floors. I had believed that perhaps he was having a love affair with them since he had installed them himself and was always messing with them. I even remember he bought some machine to help with the cleaning, or waxing, or stripping, who knows, I was pretty young then and never really asked. After he passed away we moved so I never really found out the answer. I guess I should ask my mom, huh? Anyway, it seemed like a whole lot of work. Maybe he was just wasting time??!!??!! We had beautiful floors though, everyone loved them.

I meant to mention the waterproof thing on the laminate flooring, but since you are already doing the other wood throughout, nevermind.

We have tile in our kitchen. And I agree with the white thing. Our tile is a light, light gray and it shows everything. We are constantly cleaning it. Hmmmm thinking about it, it reminds me of my dad and the wood floors. Anyway, this is why we are now thinking of the wood laminate.

 

[Tigger Fans!]

I just made this decision when we built our new home last year. I love the granite but it has a LOT of pattern to it (that's what makes it so beautiful) and felt like we didn't want to put granite everywhere because it would be a little much. We opted for slab granite counters and a travertine backsplash with granite diamond insets. For the floor I chose hardwood. I LOVE how it looks! The upkeep on the floor is minimal. The owner of the flooring company told me just to use a little vinegar with warm water (he recommended not using Murphy's oil soap because he said it dulls your finish).

If you choose to go with hardwood the 2 most important things to consider would be:
1) Type of hardwood
(stick to one of the harder woods like oak, maple, hickory)
2) Finish applied to the flooring
(insist that the finish be an oil-based product. They smell awful when applied but last MUCH longer. They used "Glitza" (sp?) on my floor and I've been very happy with it!)

A little long....but hope this helps!
TTFN!

 

[chris1gill]

Alright, I've read everybody's comments... I've decided to go with granite for ONE reason... The granite we are using is a white background, but it has black & brown highlights throughout... if anything, no WHEN something spills on it, we will never notice it! This will be fantastic, I cannot even tell you HOW MANY times I wind up using the swiffer mop throughout the day to get the stains off my kitchen floor! The other reason, is that now I'm worried that if water should get through the bamboo (which is tongue & groove) it will damage the bamboo...

You guys gave me plenty to think about, okay, off to order the granite!

 

[Bichon Barb]

I'm going to try the warm water and vinegar and see how that works! How cheap and easy can you get?! Thanks Tigger Fans.

 

[Tigger Fans!]

Originally posted by Bichon Barb
I'm going to try the warm water and vinegar and see how that works! How cheap and easy can you get?! Thanks Tigger Fans.

I thought maybe it sounded too good to be true but it works great on my floor! (I like the low cost factor as well....gives me more $$$ to spend at WDW!)
TTFN!