How To Choose The Right Flooring Materials For Your Kitchen
When designing your kitchen, it can be fun to focus on the big ticket items: a new oven, gleaming bench tops and a fancy fridge. But flooring is an essential element to include in your renovation plans and it serves both a functional and design purpose.
Not only is it good to have a well-functioning floor that can withstand dropped knives, spilled liquids and scalding equipment, all while remaining ergonomically sound – a well designed floor can draw the eye and tie the whole design of your kitchen together.
Strong and sturdy
Durability is the top concern for your floors. Choosing materials like concrete, stone or tiling will ensure your floor can withstand some of the harshest knocks without showing the wear and tear.
The concrete flooring works excellently with the wood elements of this kitchen
Concrete is an ever-popular flooring choice for kitchens for a host of reasons. A great contemporary design option, they are relatively cost- and time-effective to install. Concrete is also non-porous, making it damp-resistant, and will withstand just about any weight.
But concrete can sometimes feel cold – both temperature and design-wise. To solve both of these issues, inject some colour in the form of a rug or floor runner (away from the food prep area to protect from spills).
Stone is a classic, elegant option that ages gracefully and comes in a range of colours and shades. If you opt for natural stone, you’ll get a bit of variation in the colours and textures – but this can be a good thing. Engineered stone, while slightly cheaper, is uniform in its appearance, meaning you don’t get diverse features to draw the eye.
With tiling, you can add beautiful, layered looks and gorgeous colours, which make the area beneath your feet a work of art. If you choose coloured tiles, keep the design of the kitchen above quite minimal and avoid patterns – you don’t want too many clashing designs.
If you’re after a sleek, contemporary kitchen design, large, matte tiles in slate grey tones are best suited. For federation and country-style homes, traditional checkerboard patterned tiles are a safe staple.
Depending on where you source your tiles from (a home shop versus antique shop, for instance), prices can vary. But in general, tiling is a good, inexpensive way to get durable floors.
Smooth & durable tiling
Think of your feet
Kitchens are also high-traffic areas as different members of the household stream in and out throughout the day; and it’s likely one or more of you will be on your feet and cooking a lot. Especially if you have back, hip or knee problems, you should consider the impact your floors will have on your body after a long evening of cooking.
Bamboo, wood and cork are all beautiful materials and also come in a variety of shades.
Bamboo is a relatively sustainable building material, being one of the most rapidly-growing grasses in existence. Bamboo flooring can add an earthy feel to the kitchen. It’s also relatively inexpensive, again because it grows so quickly.
Wood is a classic but is a little more expensive. The pay-off is worth it, though, and you can get stunning woods in the shades you want to complete the look of your kitchen. Floorboards also have the capacity for heating under-foot, for added comfort during chilly winter months.
Softer wooden flooring works great with this kitchen’s neutral colours
When choosing your kitchen floors, work with a designer to select the ones that are right for your design tastes and lifestyle. There are many great options out there to complement your whole aesthetic, so do some exploring to find the shades, textures and weights you want.
At Apollo Kitchens we pride ourselves on award-winning customer service, making communication and delivering customer’s needs a priority. Find out how we can build your dream kitchen with materials, appliances, functionality and style that perfectly suits your needs.
Contact us today to set up an appointment to discuss your kitchen needs or view our showrooms.
