Kitchen remodeling is the most exciting project a homeowner can undertake, especially in San Diego where the weather provides us plenty of opportunity to mingle indoor and outdoor fare. For your indoor kitchen renovation there are a lot of functional and esthetic concerns to consider when choosing the best kitchen flooring. Clean Earth Restorations presents a few of the more popular flooring choices along with their pro’s and con’s.
- ceramic tile: made with porcelain, clay or other ceramic material with a hard glaze, ceramic tiles are probably the most popular floor coverings in the world.
Pros: immune to liquid spills, extremely durable and resistant to scratches, impacts, and stains, comes in a huge variety of colors, sizes, and prices, cool to the foot.
Cons: hard under foot, can be slippery when wet, grouting needs to be sealed periodically and requires special care to keep as clean as possible. - mosaic: mosaic is not so much a material as a technique, though ceramic tiles are often used in this technique. Pieces of flooring are arranged to create decorative patterns. Modern tile manufactures offer squares of pre-set mosaic that are easy to install.
Pros: endless creative possibilities, all of the same advantages as ceramtic tile if ceramic tiles are used.
Cons: likely to be more time-consuming and costly to install, depending on the complexity of the design, all the cons of ceramic tiles if ceramic tiles are used, with additional care needed for all the extra grouting - natural stone: just as it sounds, natural stone is actually slabs of stone. Common choices include slate, granite, travertine, and limestone. It comes in a large variety of sizes and shapes.
Pros: extremely durable, “nature-made” – no two pieces can be exactly alike, subtle differences in color and texture are attractive, easy to maintain, cool under foot.
Cons: usually more expensive than other options, can be subject to chips or scratches if stone is a softer variety, porous stones can require regular protective sealing. - solid wood: wood flooring, like ceramic tiles, is a centuries old technique that has many advantages.
Pros: naturally beautiful, available in a large variety of esssences, colors, and cuts that create various decorative impressions, durable when properly taken care of, easily refinished and revived.
Cons: not always the least expensive solution, can scratch or dent (though some people enjoy the aging and patina that comes with such a maleable and natural material), subject to staining if spills and liquids are not properly and promptly cleaned up. - vinyl: one of the most inexpensive solutions to cover a floor.
Pros: cost-effective, available in an endless variety of colors and patterns that can mimick more expensive flooring choices, comes in tiles or sheets, easy to clean, comfortable under foot, easy to patch or repair.
Cons: can curl or bubble over time, finish tends to dull and can be scratched, may fade in strong direct light, may last on average a few to five years in its best condition.
In our next post we will talk about the pros and cons of some other interesting kitchen floor coverings — Linoleum, cork, concrete, laminate, rubber, and brick.
If you are thinking about remodeling your kitchen, let us give you a free consulation on our San Diego kitchen remodeling services. Click on the button below for an appointment or download our kitchen renovation budget worksheet to help you start organizing.
