What is best for a kitchen floor? Keyword: durability (of floor and knees).

[puntloos]

4 hours ago, Iceverge said:

I once visited a house with rubber flooring. Grippy, warm, easy to clean, soft underfoot. Interesting bright colours. 

 

Not cheap though. 

Not interested in bright colours but i'm sure they have colours for boring people like me too. But i worry about the smell. I assume it was a single (poured?) floor and not some type of 'tile'?

[Garald]

Ceramic tiles now come with a slippery rating, no? Is this an EU-only thing?

[Adsibob]

On 19/11/2022 at 15:24, Garald said:

 

No, my girlfriend and her parents are going on about how it is important to have soft floors in the kitchen (where "soft" includes wood) so as to avoid problems later in life. Her brother is actually in orthopedics, so his input would be valuable, but they haven't actually asked him. In the meantime, my family and I are scratching our collective head; we've never even heard of health problems or even just discomfort caused by tile, we've been cooking while standing on tile floors since time immemorial (unless grandma first cooked on a dirt floor; never asked her) and, yes, I am the one who cooks.

This is utter nonsense. The hardness of the floor can only be a health hazard if you fall onto it. I wouldn’t bother asking an orthopaedic doctor about this (who wouldn’t have the expertise anyway), it’s just nonsense.

 

The answer to your question about insulation relates to the feeling of the floor surface when you walk on it barefoot or in socks. It the floor is very well insulated (e.g. at least 150mm of PIR), then in winter, heating the screed above the PIR just a little bit will be enough to take off the chill of the floor. If you aren’t having UFH, or if you don’t have space to insulate properly, then the downside of tile / stone / micro cement (and even laminate and linoleum to some extent) is that it will feel cold to the touch. That is nice in summer, but not in winter. In that case, wood is a better option. But otherwise porcelain is great. Very tough.

[Garald]

6 minutes ago, Adsibob said:

This is utter nonsense. The hardness of the floor can only be a health hazard if you fall onto it. I wouldn’t bother asking an orthopaedic doctor about this (who wouldn’t have the expertise anyway), it’s just nonsense.

 

The answer to your question about insulation relates to the feeling of the floor surface when you walk on it barefoot or in socks. It the floor is very well insulated (e.g. at least 150mm of PIR), then in winter, heating the screed above the PIR just a little bit will be enough to take off the chill of the floor. If you aren’t having UFH, or if you don’t have space to insulate properly, then the downside of tile / stone / micro cement (and even laminate and linoleum to some extent) is that it will feel cold to the touch. That is nice in summer, but not in winter. In that case, wood is a better option. But otherwise porcelain is great. Very tough.

 

Well, in any event, I went for bamboo flooring.

 

No UFH - rather, radiators (which will now be run at 45 C). Good insulation, though (I'd say): the kitchen is about a common corridor, and we went and insulated its ceiling with a good, thick layer of cellulose-based insulation.

[Dave Jones]

karndean or one of the clones is nice. engineered oak doesnt traffic well over time, certainly under stools (breakfast bar) wear patches appear surprisingly fast.

[Garald]

15 hours ago, Dave Jones said:

karndean or one of the clones is nice. engineered oak doesnt traffic well over time, certainly under stools (breakfast bar) wear patches appear surprisingly fast.

How does Karndean compare to Purline (ecuran), say?

[Matt86]

Thanks all this is a helpful thread! We want something softer than stone and non-slip for our kitchen and are looking into LVT. It looks like one type is glued down which likely won't be soft and one type is not glued down and has underlay within the planks which suggests it might be softer. We'll get there. This has some good info about LVT https://www.directflooringonline.co.uk/blog/post/which-lvt-flooring-is-best

[Garald]

Update: new bamboo floors!