Two design trends are converging to make hardwood flooring very popular for kitchens. If you are browsing through social media or design blogs, you’ve likely noticed that many of the kitchens have replaced stone or tile with hardwood. So, why is that? For one, the farmhouse style has grown in popularity over the past few years. It is now trendy to introduce rustic looks into your home. You see this with distressed wood cabinets and repurposed furniture. Also, design is trending towards seamless transitions from one room to another. The open floor plan trend means that the flooring in the living room should seamlessly shift into flooring for the kitchen. Since hardwood flooring has long been popular in other rooms, an open floor plan means that hardwood should be installed in the kitchen. Is it a good idea?
Water on the Floor
Many homeowners are worried about water on their floor if they have a hardwood floor. However, this might be something of an overblown fear. It’s actually not very common to spill large amounts of water on your floor. Spills do happen in the kitchen, but you can generally clean them up pretty easily with a mop or a towel. For the most part, a hardwood floor will be pretty waterproof as long as you clean up the spill pretty quickly. If you allow water to sit on the floor for hours, it will eventually seep into crevices. If oyu are still worrid check out Cordalera SPC Floors.
The most water spills near the sink where it might splatter as you wash dishes or prepare food. Putting down a soft mat near the sink will remedy that.
Wear and Tear
A soft mat by the sink will also alleviate one of the other large concerns about having hardwood in the kitchen. Your kitchen actually gets more foot traffic than maybe any other room in your house. That’s definitely true about the area by your sink. That tends to be where you wash dishes and prepare food. So you’ll be standing there for possibly hundreds of hours each year. That will wear down the finish on the wood and the wood itself. You can solve this with a soft waterproof mat designed to be by the sink. That will also make it much more comfortable when you have to stand for extended periods of time.
Hardwood flooring is a great choice for your kitchen for many reasons. It looks great, the upkeep is fairly simple, and it can actually make working in the kitchen more comfortable. Just make sure to use a commercial grade wood flooring finish. Typical finishes are oil-based or water-based flooring finishes.