How to choose the right kitchen floor?

Kitchen floors are generally more prone to wear and damage than floors in the rest of the house. Their integrity is threatened by spilled hot liquids, pet claws, food dropped by children, chair legs that leave scratches, and much more. Therefore, when choosing flooring for the kitchen, it is important to take into account its ability to withstand all these everyday stresses.

Hardwood

Hardwood is a timeless universal favorite, available in a huge variety of materials: from ebony to restored wood. Hardwood floors covered with a protective coating are long-lasting and able to withstand spilled liquids and friction. If you treat the hardwood properly, it can serve almost forever. When hardwood wears out, it is enough just to give it a new life by sanding and refinishing with a protective coating. Liquids that have been spilled and not wiped off immediately are dangerous for hardwood floors. In such cases wood absorbs moisture and becomes stained, or, even worse, swells up and starts to decay.

Ceramic tiles

Ceramic tiles are one of the most durable and wear-resistant options. They are made of clay and may be available in all sorts of textures and sizes. Ceramic tiles are usually glazed, but can be matte as well. Their main advantage is that they are extremely resistant to staining, mechanical damage and chemical cleansers. They are also fireproof and waterproof.
Despite a huge amount of advantages, ceramic tiles have disadvantages, too. It is pretty unpleasant to walk barefoot on such a hard and cold floor, dishes break on it in a twinkle, and spilled liquids make its surface slippery, which is fraught with injuries.

Vinyl

Vinyl is an affordable form of synthetic plastic, which is produced in all colors, that is why it has gained high popularity. Vinyl has no equals in resistance to spilled liquids, fungus and moisture. Vinyl flooring is available with an integrated isolation layer, which provides softness and warmth of the floor when walking on it. The material itself is affordable, and you can mend it yourself without involving professional repairers.
The disadvantage of vinyl is that cavities and bubbles form on it over time, and tile corners roll up. It is absolutely not resistant to scratches, and therefore it wears out pretty quickly, especially if there are animals in the dwelling. If you choose vinyl to cover kitchen floors, then it is reasonable to select its hardened modifications.

Laminate

Laminate can imitate hardwood, tiles, slat and any other coating at a relatively low price. The flooring consists of several (up to five) layers: the underlayer provides softness, the melamine one ensures moisture resistance, and the fibrolite one provides strength and durability. The upper layers fulfill an aesthetic function, imitating the surface of other, more expensive materials in detail. An additional protective layer contributes to the wear resistance of the laminate and makes its maintenance easy.
Despite the fact that laminate is able to imitate parquet externally, it is not its equivalent. The main disadvantage of laminate is its inability to be restored, while parquet allows restoration. Like vinyl, laminate is prone to mechanical wear in case of heavy use.