It’s pretty easy to find articles about the most popular kitchen flooring options, but what about those of us who want something different, unique, or original? If that’s what you need, enjoy this ride through the alternative kitchen floor solutions.
Finding the most popular kitchen floors is fairly easy – how many times did you come across an article about hardwood, laminate, or vinyl? But if you want you can go with some professional interior designers, if you are in Kolkata, you can go ahead with a kitchen interior layout designer in Kolkata.
However, it’s not nearly as often that we can find an article made by people thinking outside the box, trying to incorporate something new and fresh inside of their kitchen. That’s why I decided to help out all of you who just don’t want to install yet another boring tiles in the kitchen, and would love to try something they have never seen before.
It’s also worth it to mention that the alternative kitchen flooring ideas, which I’m about to show you, are usually way cheaper than all the standard solutions like hardwood or porcelain tiles. Not only will you gain an original, one-of-a-kinds look of your kitchen, but also save some money that can be put into further enhancing the design of your kitchen.
Well then, without further ado, let’s check out what are your options if you want something different for the floor in your kitchen.
Nothing provides a Zen feeling like the bamboo kitchen floor
While bamboo flooring can be somewhat similar to wooden flooring, it grows more and more popular every day, for various reasons.
- First of all, using bamboo for your floor is very eco-friendly, and it’s not only because it’s harmless to the environment when you dispose of it, but also because farming bamboos is very fast and efficient – they grow so fast that harvesting them has no impact on their numbers.
- Second of all, if you’re going a modern and light feeling inside of your kitchen, bamboo flooring easily wins over the wooden flooring. I’ll try to show you that in the pictures attached because it’s kind of hard to describe it, but bamboo has a way different feeling to it, making your kitchen modern and light on its own.
- Finally, there is the case of versatility – with bamboo flooring, you can pick it finished the way that looks good in absolutely any design. There are plenty of colors and shapes, as well as lengths and widths of planks available.
Now, for the maintenance of the kitchen floor made from bamboo, it’s important to mention that bamboo doesn’t take aggressive cleaning agents very well because it sort of soaks them in and then releases the gas which can be unpleasant. Because of that, it requires a lot of attention from you – quickly sweep any odd drop of sauce and you should be good to go.
Bamboo flooring is relatively inexpensive, ranging from $2 to around $8 per square foot, depending on finish and quality. As such, it’s a very appealing alternative to hardwood, for your kitchen flooring material.
Parquet kitchen floor is more interesting than the hardwood
Many people think that parquet flooring is the song of the past, but as it is with anything, the old things are making a comeback sooner or later. Parquet is no different – while it used to be considered as passed, it’s slowly becoming the next best thing.
Undeniably, parquet kitchen flooring has one distinctive asset – it really lasts a long time, and if maintained correctly, it’s a lifetime investment. The appealing, patterned surface can enhance your design in any interior but is a great thing in your kitchen too.
While the straight-laid planks of hardwood or even bamboo can get a bit boring as time passes, that’s not the case when talking about the parquet flooring. Because of the rich design and interesting structure, it never ceases to be intriguing.
Parquet flooring also allows you to turn an otherwise ordinary and boring wood type into something truly fashionable, because installing it gives you an option of choosing precisely which small piece will be installed next to each other, so you can create contrasting patterns on your floor – if you were installing long planks, that’s not an option.
As for the maintenance, it’s the same as in the case of any hardwood flooring, no surprises there. The price is way smaller, though because it’s around $3 per square foot – however, that’s without installation, and that’s the whole point – installing parquet takes time and effort because it’s so many small pieces that have to be installed. However, you could do that on your own, in which case it won’t cost you extra – if you would like the pros to install it for you, that doesn’t come cheap and can vary between installers.
Rubber kitchen floor makes your feet happy
While many people do not appreciate rubber, when thinking about material for flooring their kitchen, it’s not as bad as it used to be back in the days when rubber was mostly used in the utility rooms or chemical factories. These days rubber flooring can look as fancy as anything else, because of the new techniques used when producing such floors.
The rubber used for kitchen flooring certainly has a lot of pros to offer, above all else the fact how easy to clean it is, but not only that. Rubber is very soft and spongy, and if you pick one with a special texture, it becomes the healthiest material for your feet – even after cooking for hours while standing on your legs, when it’s the rubber floor, you will be way less tired than you would otherwise be if standing on a hardwood floor or tiles.
Another great awesome asset of rubber is how easy it is to clean, which I already mentioned, but also the fact that it can come made the way that completely prevents slipping on it, which means you won’t have to be afraid of walking on the floor even after your dishwasher malfunctions. Perhaps this is the reason why many of the modern restaurants pick rubber flooring over anything else – it’s very practical.
While rubber kitchen floor is certainly the most appropriate for introducing an industrial vibe into the said kitchen, or enhancing it if your kitchen is already industrial, that’s not the only style in which such flooring can shine. If you pick sheets of rubber that are flat, you can surely make it work even in the modern interiors, as long as the floor is of proper quality.
The price of rubber, be it sheets or tiles, varies between different qualities. While rubber flooring can start at practically nothing, it’s best of you don’t go for the cheapest of options, or else you’ll be walking on something inappropriate for your house – pay at least $10 per square foot to be sure you’re buying a quality product, that’s safe to be used in the kitchen. Also, ask the producer twice about it being safe to be used around your food.
Cork can make the planet happy
While cork flooring is rapidly gaining popularity, it’s still what you can call an alternative kitchen flooring idea – however, with how fast the eco-awareness is growing throughout societies, soon it might become a standard solution.
Be it as it may, cork is very eco-friendly – both the disposal, producing it, and using it are harmless to the environment. Those of you who like to think about the planet will surely like that fact.
Other than that, cork is very nice as a material for the kitchen floor, because it’s naturally springy, and as such makes for a very nice surface to walk on with your bare feet.
Maintaining a kitchen floor made from cork, however, is not as easy as a concrete floor for example, because all sorts of crumbs like to get into such floor, which means you’ll have to vacuum it at least once a week – and that’s at the minimum.
To improve the situation with maintenance, you can seal cork flooring with wax, but you’ll have to reseal it once a year or two.
One last thing to remember about cork flooring is the fact that sliding kitchen furniture on it can leave marks, so you have to pay attention to that and not use any very heavy kitchen furniture. However, with the cost of a cork floor, which is very low, you can even replace it once the marks get too visible, so I wouldn’t about that too much.
Cork flooring costs between $3 and $6 per square foot, so if it’s the price that’s an important factor for you, the cork kitchen floor will certainly satisfy you.
Paint your wooden floor to enhance your design
Painted floors aren’t very popular these days, but they certainly can enhance the design of your kitchen if used correctly. These days, people think that painting their floors works only in the case of the cottage style, but I dare to disagree.
Anyway, whether you’re going for the cottage style in your kitchen or not, you might want to consider installing a wooden floor and painting it. Think about the potential here – not only do you get to choose the kind of paint, so you can pick one that’s absolutely best for the rest of the design, you also get to save a lot of money.
When installing a wooden kitchen floor, if you want to paint it afterward, you don’t have to buy the expensive species of wood – the wood won’t be very visible anyway.
There is absolutely no limit when it comes to the number of designs and styles you can incorporate in your kitchen when using painted wood, so whether your kitchen is a traditional, modern, or industrial one, you can figure out something cohesive.
One thing to remember about is using only the king of paint which is safe for use around food, so make sure to double-check that before you buy and apply it. As for the price, as I’ve mentioned before, it’s really close to nothing – just install a simple wooden floor and a bucket of quality paint.
The concrete kitchen floor is the best new thing
Not everyone already knows about the new idea in interior design – which is using concrete as a material. But even then, most people who already know concrete can be pretty, only have heard about concrete used to make countertops or kitchen island tops.
However, concrete is just awesome when used to make a kitchen floor. Don’t worry, your kitchen won’t look as if you’ve entered a construction site, it can be finished to fit the most modern kitchens out there.
Concrete is amazingly durable, but I guess that’s no surprise – it can handle building equipment, so an average kitchen is no match for its durability. Also, the maintenance of the concrete kitchen floor is very easy, because after you seal it, it’s not afraid of anything – all you will need is a simple mop and a bucket of water.
The only problem I can think of when talking about using concrete for your kitchen floor is the fact that concrete doesn’t absorb heat very well, and because of that if you don’t have a heated floor system, it’s quite cold for bare feet. But other than that, it’s really a high-end, modern solution for kitchen flooring.
Keep in mind that it might need to be resealed after four years or so, depending on the quality of concrete and the producer. The price is very appealing, as the concrete floor costs around $5 per square foot, but that will get higher if you decide to install the heating system I’ve mentioned before.
That’s it dear readers – I hope you liked at least one of these alternative kitchen flooring solutions. Personally, I think every each and one of them is way more interesting than the boring, used-up popular kitchen floors.
If you are still not happy with this, you may contact affordable interior designers like DYDSpace. Not only the kitchen, but they are also an affordable living room interior designer decorator in Kolkata.
