what type of flooring do you have in your kitchen, and do you love it?

Trying to figure out what type of flooring to use in my kitchen... was really convinced in my head about cork until I read finer details about install... flooring underneath seems to be very specific, and some brands need to be poly'ed after install. Not so sure now if I want to devote the time for it... What do you have and does it work for you? Another thought was engineered wood for a simpler install, but not sure how that transition would look from the (small) doorway onto real hardwood floor. Ceramic/porcelain tile an option, but it is cold and hard to walk on. I think the real problem is there are too many options

I have a wood laminate....it's just ok.  Appearance at a glance looks fine but there are issues....like if the floor gets too wet when washing....the boards bubble a little.  We thought by getting Pergo a name brand that we were getting a better quality than run of the mill hardwood wannabees but not so. 

I have an open concept house now, so there is engineered hardwood throughout, including the kitchen.

However, in my Maplewood house, I installed a vinyl plank flooring which fooled everybody -- they thought it was a continuation of the hardwood I had in my living room and dining room (it matched color perfectly).

Here's the link for the vinyl flooring from Home Depot:  http://www.homedepot.com/p/TrafficMASTER-Allure-Ultra-7-5-in-x-47-6-in-Rustic-Maple-Resilient-Vinyl-Plank-Flooring-with-SimpleFit-End-Joint-19-8-sq-ft-case-187214S/205706061

Here are pictures of the floor in Maplewood.  Good luck!

I also have laminate, and have never looked back, blends nicely with my hard woods, and I really love it. I have had it since about 2004? and have never had a water issue, even when the fidg leaked all over it. But, you must be prompt in cleaning the water up.

I had cork in my kitchen in my apartment in the city. DH installed himself, rented a 100 lb roller, poly-ed it. It was very pretty and felt good underfoot, but after four years, had many dings and marks.

We have porcelain tile now (here's a shot of hubby installing, but you have to scroll down to Nov 26)

http://crossingthehudson.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2009-12-30T12:13:00-08:00&max-results=7&start=7&by-date=false

Someone said that 'engineered' wood, aka particle board, absorbs water at seams if it isn't cleaned up right away.  This can cause discoloration a/o swollen seam(s).  Ceramic tile is also hard on your joints when standing i.e. cooking every day, for long periods.  Really good/expensive linoleum lasts a very long time.  The pattern is through the the sheet, not laid on top.  Our 70's linoleum can clean up and shine with a lot of work.  Looks like new 70's floor.  This works if you'd like in a retro (2016) look in 2036.

Normally I don't advocate for inexpensive stuff but it may be a viable option here.  Low cost up front followed by replacement, and new paint job, will at least give you an updated look in 10 yrs.

Final thought if you ask a specialist if poly'ing the seams- ala cork floor- would mitigate the water problem with particle board, please post reply here.

Slate floor and, no, I don't like it.  Hard to maintain and keep clean and very hard to walk/stand on for long periods.

Cork.  We love it.  No poly.  

Don't get too hung up on the installation instructions.  I am sure no subfloor is as perfect as a manufacturer would like.

After 20 years there are a couple of dings but we are not perfectionists.  The kids loved to roll around on it.  It is very warm underfoot, and dishes bounce if they hit it!  It also looks great adjacent to the wood floors in the next rooms.

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my last house had cork and I loved it. We installed click-together boards right over the old floor (what are those called?). Would love to do it again when I reno our new place.

orzabelle- I love the herringbone pattern! I was thinking to do something like that just to mix it up from the hardwood, and give more to a delineation. Is that the porcelain tile he is laying in the photo? How do you feel about the porcelain now? I'm going to try to attach a photo of one of my new favorite kitchens here: 

@deborahg - Called a floating cork floor...works well on uneven surfaces.  Cork is a natural insulator sound and thermal.  It is quiet and forgiving on the feet.  It is natural material.  You can get it pre-finished with polyU.  Do not get cork that has a PVC finish- so so totally not green - and has a cloudy finish.

Here is an example of a good one-

http://www.expanko.com/products/vallarex-floating-cork-flooring/about-vallarex/

kmk- love both floors in that photo! Are those individual cork squares? And no poly on top? Do you remember where you got it from?

Deborahg - do you remember where you got those boards as well? 

Btw, the photo I posted above is pure inspiration... Maybe one day

We went with wood. Attempted to match the rest of the floor down there as we could. There were horrible large white tiles in there previously.

Lukeysboat, 

Yes, individual cork squares that we stored in the sunlight for a month and resulted in different shades but we like the effect!  Completely unsealed. We have it waxed/buffed occasionally with the other floors.

We bought them from Hannon Floors in Union and they were supplied by Dodge-Regupol (who are better known for their rubber flooring products.)

you can also get cork in other colors as well - mostly earthy tones gray, off white, black...but some companies will stain the tiles mas well in other colors.

My sister had bamboo flooring put in her kitchen.  It looks like hardwood.  It isn't waterproof, but is slightly more resistant to water than hardwood is, so it works well in the kitchen.

We have Marmoleum which is like linoleum but made with organic materials like corn husks. I love it. It comes in beautiful colors and is warm under your feet and a little bit like cork where if u drop something it doesnt break. It's thin enough that u can glue it right over your existing floor

Natural travertine.  Hate it now, though not for the cold (doesn't bother me) but the inability to keep it clean.  Looking to lift it all out (not thinking about the hell that's going to be) and would like to put in vintage limestone if I can source it for less than a fortune (though ctrzwife may have other ideas).  Was going to go with reclaimed chestnut way back, but there's enough wood in the house that we wanted something else.

Some examples:

http://vintageelements.com/french-limestone-flooring/

http://www.parisceramicsusa.com/type/limestone/

http://www.xsurfaces.com/Default.aspx?page=ProductSelection&group=1&type=142

We have Marmoleum as well. It's a pretty green material (made of linseed oil and wood pulp), is resilient (easy on your legs/feet), and feels very nice underfoot (warm, not cold and slick). Great colors! (I love my buff and brick checkerboard.) However, it is not QUITE as durable as I hoped. Drop or drag something sharp and it will leave a ding!  I guess most materials would have the same issue.  I do not wish I had chosen any of the other materials we considered.Overall, an A-.

Apollo, are you sure you don't mean vinyl composite tile (VCT) and not linoleum? VCT has the pattern through and it's inexpensive. Real linoleum, like marmoleum,  is a bit more $$$. As far as I was taught, it wasn't made for many years and when being green came into favor again (and perhaps due to natural resources being more plentiful, I don't know) they started making real linoleum again. 

Apollo_T said:

Someone said that 'engineered' wood, aka particle board, absorbs water at seams if it isn't cleaned up right away.  This can cause discoloration a/o swollen seam(s).  Ceramic tile is also hard on your joints when standing i.e. cooking every day, for long periods.  Really good/expensive linoleum lasts a very long time.  The pattern is through the the sheet, not laid on top.  Our 70's linoleum can clean up and shine with a lot of work.  Looks like new 70's floor.  This works if you'd like in a retro (2016) look in 2036.

Normally I don't advocate for inexpensive stuff but it may be a viable option here.  Low cost up front followed by replacement, and new paint job, will at least give you an updated look in 10 yrs.

Final thought if you ask a specialist if poly'ing the seams- ala cork floor- would mitigate the water problem with particle board, please post reply here.

Got the cork in a store in Cedar Grove on Pompton...http://www.larryscarpets.com They didn't install though, my carpenters did that.

I had Marmoleum linoleum in a previous house and loved it. You can get it either in sheet form (better installed by a pro) or in tiles that you can theoretically do yourself. Linoleum checkerboards look great in old houses. 

I hate the tile in my current kitchen.  It is not a forgiving surface to stand on and it is difficult to keep clean.  I preferred the hardwood floors in my prior two kitchens.

We have tile in our kitchen - I wanted a French country vibe. I like it and don't find it difficult to stand on. I used to have an area rug over part of the floor, but the new puppy was eating the fringe, so I took the rug away for now. I liked the effect of the colorful rug on the tile more than just the tile alone.

Great look.  Terra cotta, or something else?

Ctrzaska, what's the difference between travertine and limestone in terms of keeping the floor clean?

We're planning to put travertine in a family room with warm floor underneath. Should we not...?

We also have real linoleum.  Like Marmolium, not at all like vinyl.  our kitchen is ten years old now, and there is some wear, but the colors are still vibrant, it is warm and softer than tile, and cleans up easily.  Well worth learning and understanding the difference.

http://www.forbo.com/flooring/en-us/products/residential-products/cgnra1

http://www.armstrong.com/flooring/products/linoleum

In answer to the OP: When we re-did our kitchen a few years ago we planned to use ceramic tile, but when our contractor removed the layers of flooring that had been there since the house was built, there lay beneath an original red oak floor that had never even been sanded. 

So that's what we went with, and it has held up surprisingly well so far (even with a dog). It looks great, isn't cold underfoot, not hard to stand on.

If the space isn't very large, it might be worth it to go with hardwood flooring rather than laminate (which my mother has, and which shows wear pretty fast).

JCSO said:

Ctrzaska, what's the difference between travertine and limestone in terms of keeping the floor clean?

We're planning to put travertine in a family room with warm floor underneath. Should we not...?

Ours was natural travertine, which was unfinished for a more rustic look.  What that meant, however, is that tiny holes were left unfilled below/into the surface of the stone which collected dirt and grime over time that we've never been able to fully get clean... have had professional steam cleaners try and lift it out with only limited success.  There is travertine you can get that's fully finished/sealed and won't have that issue (though it's a different look than what we were aiming for).

Regular limestone isn't too much different.  The limestone I'm interested in is antique/ancient, though, and highly worn down after a few hundred years of folks traipsing on it... the stones I've seen provide the best rustic look (really, you can't get any better) and are effectively smoothed down to a point.  But not all would work... much Jerusalem and Bourgogne stone is naturally rough and pockmarked, for example, with heavier undulations (though second-cut stone may often be honed a bit), but some (like Barre) can be relatively smooth... you literally have to pick the actual floor itself.