Q: I hope you can help me…..I’m thinking of knocking down the wall between my dining room and kitchen and making it all one large room – there’s currently a vinyl one piece flooring in my kitchen and carpet in my DR so obviously I want to replace the entire floor covering…..what do you suggest I use since it’s now one large room?
I’ve had so many ‘opinions’ that I don’t know who to believe…..laminate – hard wood – cork – marble….what’s the best choice? Pergo is bad because spills seeping between the slats, hardwood is bad because it needs to be stripped & treated every couple of years, cork is bad because it’s porous, marble is cold and would look bad in the DR part of this new room…….making it .half Pergo and half ‘kitchen friendly’ would look stupid….what’s a person to do?????
We also have two 80# Labrador Retrievers if that matters……so ANY guidance would be greatly appreciated!
Maria
A: Flooring any area in a more kitchen friendly sense, but still flowing into additional areas can be tricky, so let’s examine a few bits of information. First and foremost, the “best” choice is the one you like the most. Every type of flooring has its own benefits and downfalls, but in the end the best floor is the one that makes you happy and proud of your decision.
We’ll start with laminate, since Pergo is just a name brand of laminate. The big benefit here is laminate’s durability, the downfall as you mentioned is the potential for water to seep into seems. As long as water is not left standing on the laminate you should you not run into issues with this, but the same can be said for nearly any hard surface flooring.
Hardwood tends to be the big no no when it comes to any area where water is more likely to meet wood. We’ll want to go the old motto of “Wood and water do NOT mix.” I have seen plenty of kitchens done in both engineered and solid hardwoods that looked amazing, but if your worried about spills you may want to avoid wood.
Cork is becoming very popular in appearance and is the most comfortable hard surface flooring under foot. Although cork is porous due to its cellular nature, it is also naturally water resistant, hence why we use it for wine bottle stoppers. The secret to making cork one of the best choices when it comes to a kitchen is a good install and then a site finish. The site finish will add a bit of protection along with sealing your seams so you won’t have to worry as much about water (although you should always clean up standing water ASAP).
Marble (and other stones for that matter) are great when it comes to durability and moisture resistant, but they are, as you mentioned, cold and hard. However, stone can allow for some interesting design work.
For your two dogs, my first bit of advice is simply to ensure proper grooming is done. Keeping nails trimmed and ensuring longer hair does not cover the pads on their paws will significantly reduce the chance of them marking up your floor. Dogs tend to only use their nails for traction heavily when they aren’t getting enough from the pads of their paws.
With that buffer, let’s look into some options. To floor both your kitchen and dining room I would first suggest looking into cork. After a good install and taking the time to site finish the floor beyond what finish it may have, these floors are amazing. The other key thing to keep in mind is cork’s memory feature. When your dogs get a bit riled up, any dents that may occur will be removed over time by the cork.
Another option would be to do marble in the kitchen and a nice hardwood in the dining room, but add a few insets of the same marble in the kitchen to tie it all together and get a truly unique look that no one else will have.
One more option to look into would be bamboo flooring. Although you are limited on color choices, natural bamboo is tougher than white oak and has made several contemporary kitchens awe inspiring.
In the end here, I would look into options and find 2 – 3 floors that you really like, then decide which one will fit your project the best.
