kitchen flooring - wood or linoleum

[elf]

If you had a choice would you choose wood or a good linoleum flooring in the kitchen?
In the house we bought (not built yet) I chose a darker wood floor because I liked the way it looked in the model home. The linoleum looks so much like real tile I had to touch it to be sure in the model center, but I still liked the wood better, I thought it gave a richer, warmer feeling.
But I'm worried about maintance, since I have 2 kids, 2 cats and will have a dog when we move. There is a $500 difference (wood being more). Now I'm worrying about maintance and practicality. Any advice? Thanks!

 

[disney_fan_fam]

How about wood laminate flooring? It comes in a bunch of different colors/shades. Looks like real wood but with kids it's more durable than hard wood IMO. I have 3 kids & I love it!


Pua

 

[StephMK]

We have lived w/laminate wood, real wood, tile & vinyl. I love the new linoleum tile look! We never had problems w/either kind of wood & I have 3 kids & 2 dogs. We have older tile now & I hate the dirty grout lines & scratches plus it's too hard. I don't know how long you plan to stay in your place but they say wood has a better resale value. Not sure how the tile linoleum stacks up but I'd like it if I saw it. The look w/o the hassle.

What is the flow in your house? I really liked it when we had wood on the entire main floor, made the place look nicer & bigger to have consistent flooring.

 

[Schachteles]

Do NOT put wood laminate floors in your kitchen. We had Pergo floors in our kitchen and dining room (spend like oh $4 grand on them)...well the dish washer leaked and it RUINED the floor...unfortunately that was about 3 years after we had it installed and they changed the way it was made so we were forced to replace the WHOLE floor. We since have moved and want to put in new flooring...there will be NO wood floors in the kitchen. JMHO

 

[tammy1210]

We have solid wood prefinished wood floors in our kitchen and love them - we've never had any problems with them, and a quick sweep is all you need for maintenance - plus, I love the look!

 

[PrincessAlina]

Do NOT put wood laminate floors in your kitchen. We had Pergo floors in our kitchen and dining room (spend like oh $4 grand on them)...well the dish washer leaked and it RUINED the floor...unfortunately that was about 3 years after we had it installed and they changed the way it was made so we were forced to replace the WHOLE floor. We since have moved and want to put in new flooring...there will be NO wood floors in the kitchen. JMHO

I'm leaning towards agreeing with this poster. We bought our house with laminate wood floors in the kitchen. I absolutely LOVE the way it looks and cleaning is a breeze. However, the dishwasher that was in the house when we bought it was broken and leaked. That area is now slightly buckled from coming in contact with the water. As great as the laminate looks, I wouldn't suggest putting it in an area where it is likely to come in contact with water such as a kitchen.

 

[DawnM]

We have hardwood and don't like it. Too many drips and spills.

We are planning to replace it with ceramic tile. Our last house had tile and we LOVED it! It looked beautiful.

dawn

 

[momtoPrincessA]

We have hardwood and love the look. Our builder actually told us we shouldn't put a Pergo type floor in a new house, as the house hasn't settled yet. Maybe it was a scam to get us to pay for hardwood! But I do love how it looks and it's warmer on the feet than tile!

 

[mickeyfan2]

If you had a choice would you choose wood or a good linoleum flooring in the kitchen? good linoleum

Better yet tile.

 

[Skatermom23]

We have hardwood and don't like it. Too many drips and spills.

We are planning to replace it with ceramic tile. Our last house had tile and we LOVED it! It looked beautiful.

dawn

Personally, I would go with the laminate if you have kids. The hardwood looks nice but you have to watch the spills. With ceramic tile you have to not drop anything! One pickle jar drop and your ceramic chips and cracks..

 

[BCV2003]

I have a Armstrong wood laminate in my kitchen and bathroom!! I love it. I have had some issues with water on my bathroom floor and my floor is not warped. I also have a dog who constantly spills water from her bowl in the kitchen and it has not harmed my floor one bit.

As far as the dishwasher leaks go. If you had linoleum, I'm pretty sure your floors would have been damage as well.

If you drop things on tile it does in deed chip as a previous poster said. I has something fall out of my freezer once that chipped my linoleum that I previously had in my kitchen.

 

[Piffle]

Good Linoleum!

Not the vinyl stuff that is in most flooring stores and home improvement centers, but real, actual, eco-friendly linoleum. It's durable, easy to care for, comes in great colors and doesn't give off the noxious gasses the vinyl stuff does. Marmoleum is one brand I would look at. You can make some pretty cool patterns...

My sister had the same kind of catastrophe with a dishwasher and pergo. I find ceramic cold (unless you have radiant heat). The sheet vinyl I have now has a "run" in it. Hardwood can stain, even if properly treated....

 

[bnorm27]

We have Wilson Art Laminate flooring in our kitchen. I would never go back to vinyl flooring again. The laminate looks great, is easily maintained, and does not scratch, or dent. Drop a glass jar on your ceramic tile floor.....then look for the pieces. Drop it on my laminate floor, pick it up and put it back in the cabinet.

 

[WendyisDarling]

I, too, love the look of a wood floor. But, with two kids and pets, I would choose linoleum.
We used a heavy duty Armstong and it has a tile look, with a marbling, too, so the tiny messes aren't so noticeable. Everyone has said how much they like it. It is very, very practical. For the time being, our house is very family friendly which is what is needed at this time in our lives. I don't want to nag the kids about everything and follow them around cleaning after every step. I would advise to get a high quality linoleum. After years of living in different rental properties, I saw how it can dent and tear easily if not of a good quality.

Honestly, I wish we had hardwood all downstairs, but I know the kids and dogs would have ruined it by now. We do have it in the entryway and it needs refinished, so I can only imagine how it would have faired in a kitchen.

I have heard stories about the wood laminate that would give me pause, also. A friend had a refrigerator leak while away and a big section of the floor had to be replaced.

 

[DawnM]

Well, our kitchen borders 3 other rooms that will have hardwood so matching would be an issue. We will be selling our home eventually in the next few years and we want it to look as high end as possible for resale. Laminate doesn't sell well here.

Dawn

Personally, I would go with the laminate if you have kids. The hardwood looks nice but you have to watch the spills. With ceramic tile you have to not drop anything! One pickle jar drop and your ceramic chips and cracks..

 

[daughtersrus]

Do NOT put wood laminate floors in your kitchen. We had Pergo floors in our kitchen and dining room (spend like oh $4 grand on them)...well the dish washer leaked and it RUINED the floor...unfortunately that was about 3 years after we had it installed and they changed the way it was made so we were forced to replace the WHOLE floor. We since have moved and want to put in new flooring...there will be NO wood floors in the kitchen. JMHO

A similar thing happened to my neighbor a few months ago but they had ceramic tile. Their new dishwasher had been leaking and they didn't know it until the tiles were cracking and water was coming up. Not only did they have to replace the entire floor (they now have wood), but they had to replace the plywood, and counter tops (because they had to remove the cabinets to get all of the tile out).

Luckily, it only cost them $500 for the deductible on their Home-Owners Policy.

 

[mrsltg]

You know, there are a ton of possibilites in this world and if you lived your life by "what if" for each and every one of them you'd be living in a bubble! That said, I have hardwood floors thoughout my first level and I love it. I have 2 cats, 2 kids, 1 dog, 1 husband and a partridge in a pear tree! My floor gets dirty with muddy puppy prints and boot brints and hand prints (baby insists on putting her hands on the floor and looking at everything in a "V" position . I purchased the Orange Glo hardwood kit for $10 from Target it polishes and cleans at the same time. I do this once a week in addition to vacuuming two or three times per week (I would do that no matter what floor I had.)

Sure, my dishwasher could leak but if it did it would not matter what floor was there if it weren't caught quickly. My washing machine sits on laminate floor in the mud room next to the hardwood - if it leaks it will ruin both floors and I will have to pay. Oh well. That's the price of homeownership!

 

[crjack]

We have solid wood prefinished wood floors in our kitchen and love them - we've never had any problems with them, and a quick sweep is all you need for maintenance - plus, I love the look!

I have the same thing and I love it! I have beautiful, old oak floors in my downstairs but was afraid of having it in my kitchen when we remodeled. We got pre-finished (and it's industrial finish poly) new wood floors that were easy to install. Two years later, tons of foot traffic and dogs have yet to make these look bad.

We host every holiday and my kitchen gets a work out with crowds, chairs and stools, etc. I had been leaning towards tile but I am so glad we did the wood floors.

I think our brand is Mirage. If you have a Lumber Liquidators near you check them out for wood options.

 

[elf]

Thanks everyone,
I have laminate now in my current house it looks great. But I to had a leak whiched caused some problems and it has chipped in a few areas. Although I think there are going to be situations with all different flooring.

The linoleum is the best quality that the house builders offer, I think the day to day might be easier with it and it doesn't show up every dirt spec.
If I do linoleum I'll have wood in the foyer/entry, rug in the family and living room (all matching) and linoleum in kitchen which I thought would be choppy. So I thought to follow through with wood.

We are moving to NC I'm not sure if I'm going to love it so I was picking things with the idea for keeping a decent resale value.
I think I'm going to stay with the wood. I did have a light blonde wood in my first house in the kitchen almost 20 years ago but the was prekids and chaos, and I loved it.
CRJack I'm glad to hear that about the crowds and foot traffic and the floors keeping up, it makdes me feel better about it. The floors are prefinished the builder will install them.
I have a few more days lets see how many times I could change my mind.
Thanks for sharing advice and opinions it diffenately helps.

 

[shelly3girls]

Well, our kitchen borders 3 other rooms that will have hardwood so matching would be an issue. We will be selling our home eventually in the next few years and we want it to look as high end as possible for resale. Laminate doesn't sell well here.

Dawn

I would vote for the wood. It looks beautiful especially since you have it in other rooms. We got the matte finish which is much easier to maintain than the glossy finish. Dirt and scratches do not show nearly as well. Our house is an older style (1900's salt box) so the finish goes with the style but I like it much better than the glossy we had it our last house. That was much harder to maintain!