Seems like a terrible idea to me.
You make one mistake one time and bingo, you cost yourself a few grand to have it sanded, leveled, varnished, and polished.
Better impact resistance compared to tile, easier to repair than vinyl or linoleum (sand and restain)
It’s easier to clean than carpet
Edit: I can only assume that one down vote is from the Big Carpet Cleaning lobby
Are you saying there’s an issue with my kitchen shag carpet? It matches the bathroom and ceilings so well!
And includes all the nutrients a growing body needs!
You just need to snuggle your face into it and breathe deeply!
My last apartment had a low-pile carpet in the kitchen. That house was “planned” about as strictly as the English language.
Our kitchen is integrated into the living room (open kitchen space) and the whole room has hardwood flooring. Due to the room layout it would be hard to establish a “border” where the flooring could change (e.g. tile floor in the kitchen area). It it easier to have one type of flooring across all the room.
We rent, and unfortunately we were the first ones after the hardwood flooring was put in, which means that every spill and every scratch is on us. We decided not to bother, as every spill leaves a mark (regardless how fast your clean-up effort is), and thus adds character to the floor. It’s a living room after all.
We know that a chunk of the security deposit will likely be gone if we move out. It would probably be as much money as to have the floor sanded down by ourselves.
Despite hardwood flooring has some disadvantages regarding spills and scratches, it makes the room much more cozy than any other type of flooring. The most durable type of flooring would be sealed screed flooring you expect in a warehouse. But that wouldn’t look cozy.
Spills and dropped items are kind of expected in a kitchen, no? Wouldn’t most of this damage be categorized as normal wear and tear? As a tenant it’s not expected that you hand back the property exactly as it was when you took possession - it’s up to the landlord to budget for normal maintenance.
We are on good terms with our landlord, and repairs (mostly heating) are taken care of quickly. So far there are no problems at all. But we like to anticipate the worst. I too believe that spills on a wooden floor in a kitchen are normal wear and tear. I think it all depends on what else in the appartement is worn out (some things even due to real negligence), if we move out any time in the future eventually.
Every spill leaves a mark?
Hardwoods need finish coats. Sounds like a real half assed job you’re living with.
Same people install white or cream carpets just before they decide to have kids or a party.
When I bought my house it had 2 layers of carpet in the kitchen. I replaced it with hardwood because I didn’t want to stain the carpet.
Carpet in the kitchen is almost as nasty as fur on your fridge.
What the fuck are you doing to your floors?? Hardwood is easy to clean and doesn’t crack like tile.
Wasn’t my floor, friend dropped a steak knife which landed tip down, took a big ass chip out of it. Guess they didn’t varnish/seal it, they just stained it?
If it chipped, then it is likely some kind of vinyl or composite made to look like wood. Nowadays the fake wood looks realistic enough to fool people! But real wood doesn’t chip like that.
Yah. Mine just has full on knife wounds from that.
You might look for more competent flooring people.
When I was working with a 3rd generation hardwood master, we would glue in a replacement chip or swap the board if the chip was huge. And stain to match (if appropriate). And refinish.
Always, ALWAYS make the finished product an even, flat floor.
Stained potholes? Wtf ever. Fire that team.
It looks nice. And if it’s finished well spills will clean if you’re quick.
Tacking on, tile is cold and vinyl looks silly.
Also, nothing survives a drop to tile, ever. And you’re left trying to clean shards and sauce out of the grout. Fuck my tile.
You should try installing some good ole linoleum. We solved kitchen flooring in the 1860s but people need to install expensive floors that are worse in every way because… why exactly? I don’t know. I have hardwood floors that are 17 years old and they need to be replaced. Linoleum floors last as long as 40 years. I’m thinking of going old school.
Since I can’t afford to replace the tile our apartment came with, I got a set of vinyl floor mats and put rug gripper anti-skid pads underneath, the result being like anti-fatigue mats but not as tall, heavy, or ugly. They cover most of the areas I might possibly drop a dish and have already saved one casserole lid. They wipe clean and are easy to move to mop the tile. They won’t last forever but one day I’ll be able to do linoleum.
Wow it’s actually 1860. I didn’t know they had plastic that far back. I would have guessed 1950.
Linoleum isn’t plastic, you may be thinking of vinyl flooring which looks similar. Vinyl is cheaper and newer while appearing very similar to linoleum.
Is it solid wood or engineered? Some very soft variety of wood? 17 years is extremely short…
Our old dishwasher and previous cats sped up the process with the one thing that kills hardwood floors.
Wood flexes more, too. Unless it’s on a slab, I guess?
Wood on slab feels weird because of the lack of flex
If it’s finished well you can leave spills for days, they’ll still clean up nicely.
You’ve obviously never slid over to the kitchen sink with socks on. Bonus points for doing a spin.
I replaced all my socks with wool or wool blend to make this even more fun.
ZzzzzzzZZZAPPP
Naw, they glide better.
Wear and tear adds to the charm of a well lived kitchen imo
Couldn’t agree more.
Our kitchen table was pretty expensive when we got it and is destroyed from a heap of kids use and family meals over about 22 years. It is firmly agreed (by them too) that when my wife and I die it will be the only thing the kids fight over possession of.
To me its the same as the thought about survivorship bias … you want the best flooring material for the place that will most likely get the most damage.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivorship_bias
You seldom use the bedroom floor because all you really do there is sleep … basically wake in the morning and walk on at night before bed. And you seldom bring anything serious into the bedroom like liquids, hot / cold food, drinks or cups or containers.
The living room has moderate traffic and again you don’t really use it during the day.
A high traffic area is the bathrooms because everyone goes there on a regular basis.
The most high traffic area in any house will always be the kitchen because everyone is constantly working and walking there … and it is always exposed to liquids, solids, spills, hot stuff, cold stuff, broken stuff, glass, ceramic, metal, pots, pans. And you sometimes have crowds of people there … all working and basically scrubbing the floor with all those feet.
It’s the reason why you should have the best, hardest and most expensive flooring in any house.
If you are going to invest in expensive flooring … put it in your kitchen because that is where it will be most useful and last for years in your house. If you install cheap floor in your kitchen, you’ll be replacing it in less than 10 years or even less if the flooring is really cheap. After you replace flooring two or three times, it would have been the same cost as buying one good layer of expensive flooring anyway.
So your kitchen has terrazzo? Sick.
Na, diamond finish
Manufactured or mined.
Asking them important questions.
And you seldom bring anything serious into the bedroom…
Hah, look at this guy! Amateur, right??
…
…right?
Hardwood floor sealer exists. It’s called vitrification
You’d be nuts to install a hardwood floor and not protect it!
I put whatever I want in my kitchen because I’m a superstar and fuck your disapproval.
I like the cut of your jib.
Trampoline floor
What kind of cutlery are you dropping that requires refinishing your floor?
tungsten spike maces. why do you ask?
☭
My wife and I had ceramic tile installed in our kitchen when we remodeled our house. Didn’t like it so four years later we had it torn out and had oak flooring installed. Couldn’t be happier. High quality hardwood floors are really durable.
If your one mistake is attacking your floor with sledgehammer or jackhammer, you may have a point.
Hardwoods & bamboo will weather damn near anything.
Even dog claws will take a few years before the floor begs for a refinishing.
