Q: I want to re-do my kitchen floor, which would be best hardwood floor or laminate in a wood grain?
A: When it comes to kitchens, nearly any floor can work very well as long as certain precautions are taken. Any consumer wants to have the best, but to be honest this is hardly situational as far as a “best” is concerned, but most of it ends up being opinion. Let’s examine the pros and cons of each flooring in a kitchen.
Laminate is great anywhere in a home because it is durable and built for traffic and abuse. If you have concerns about dents from dropping something on your floor, laminate might be your best choice as it is more dent and abrasion resistant that traditional wood flooring. The only downside to laminate in a kitchen is that it can not be installed underneath appliances or cabinetry because it is a floating floor. Floating floors are not meant to hold this much weight at edges of the floor and doing so would cause massive problems in the floor, making it fail.
For hardwood I would heavily suggest looking into an engineered floor. If your subfloor is concrete you can NOT install a 3/4″ solid hardwood over concrete. Also, since a kitchen is a moisture rich environment when compared to other portions of the house, I would highly suggest an engineered as it is more resistant to expansion and contraction due to the cross-play lamination techniques used to make them. The biggest problem you will run into with a engineered wood floor is that depending on the species you choose, it will be more prone to denting from dropped objects. Also, much like any wood floor, including laminate, spilled water must be cleaned up ASAP or it can get into the floor and cause problems.
Regardless of what floor you choose, I would suggest you look into adding a small bead of glue in the joints of your floor to add a small amount of extra moisture sealant. In the end here, if you expect items to be dropped from time to time or you have children, I would suggest looking into laminate. If your home is solely adult with little worry of spills and dropped items then hardwood can be an excellent option. Again I stress that “best” is almost entirely opinion as there are so many choices out there to be made and each has its benefit based on situations.
