My Home Design

Kitchen flooring?

we are thinking about replacing our almost white carpet (which is now gray from baby formula stains and footprints) with laminate... but cant decide if we should cut it off at the kitchen or not. right now kitchen is vinyl. lowes guy reccommended not doing laminate in the kitchen and tile instead. what do you think?

Public Comments

1. The Lowe's guy is correct. If you go with an in stock tile It will look 10 times better. Look at it this way tile will stand up to almost anything. I did my kitchen with a staggered 12inch and 6 inch. People think tile is hard to clean because of The grout. If you put down Grout sealer you will never have a problem.
2. Tile might be more durable, but is also not something I'd want to stand on while cooking the risotto. A laminate will be a little bit softer on your feet. The only bad thing about a laminate that I can think of for a kitchen application would be exposure to moisture. But I'd still go with the laminate. Plus, you could extend it to other living areas. Go to a flooring company and ask them what they think.
3. Tile is the absolute most enduring flooring in the kitchen--especially with kids--easy to clean, sterilize, maintain & will always look good. Besure and have the grout sealed so it is easy to clean. For pennies you can have a floor warming system installed under the tile--good if you live in a cold climate or kids sit on the floor. You can put in laminate flooring, and there are commercial brands that will hold up well--look at restaurants--they often have that type of flooring. It will need a bit more care however, and may not look so great in a few years. In this case; you would want to get one of the better laminates (than try & save $)--in this case you get what you pay for. You might want to look at a store that specializes in hardwood & laminates to see, feel, touch & talk to someone who is very experienced in laminates & the various manufacturers. Again, tile is the easiest & there are some beautiful ones out there.
4. Laminate is probably not the best in the kitchen due to the potential for water (and other liquid) spills. Since laminate flooring is a laminate of wood products and not solid wood it may spell and warp if exposed to too much moisture. If your budget allows, ceramic tile works well an kitchens but can be costly depending on the type of tile used and if it is professionally installed. Most kitchens we have done recently have used ceramic tile, but some have stayed with vinyl due to budget restrictions. You will need to get some cost estimates and make that decision on your own. I hope that this helps with your question or at least gives you some ideas.
5. i have had laminte in my kitchen forever until 2 weeks ago. we replaced it with ceramic tile and it was our best investment. pros and cons to laminate: last a long time can peel if exposed to morethan normal amount of water. easy clean but if its liquid hurry pros and cons to ceramic: lasts a long time but may crack if something heavy is dropped. easy clean up can tolerate liquid spills.