Hardwood Flooring or Tile for Your Kitchen Floors
A hardwood floor installation in the kitchen is one option that many homeowners are very hesitant to do. Recently, though, hardwood flooring in the kitchen has become very popular, which is very exciting.
It has really taken over in the Northeast with hardwood flooring becoming the preferred option over tiles in the kitchen. It’s quite understandable, as tiles are extremely durable but often have a hard feel that is unforgiving on the feet. In an active home kitchen, where dishes circulate constantly, the need for a softer floor is essential, and hardwood flooring is perfect for that.
Tile is still the most popular choice for a kitchen in Chicago. During the summer, the Chicago heat is easier to bear on tiles, which keeps the home cooler. But tiles tend to become outdated much faster than hardwood flooring, which offers a timeless, classic look. As stains and color trends weave in and out of style, hardwood floor refinishing can help you maintain the latest styles in your home. On the other hand, once tiles are outdated, they are much more difficult to update, so they may be left making your home feel older than it should.
If you choose to go with a hardwood floor installation in your kitchen, consider a site-finished floor. This is when professional flooring contractors apply the finish after the hardwood floor installation and after it has been sanded. A site-finished floor is better in this case than the prefinished hardwood flooring variety because the finishing product can better seep into all wood, including between the seams.
A damaged hardwood floor is also much easier to fix than tiles. That’s because tile styles can change from year to year, often leading manufacturers to discontinue certain varieties. Tiles may be out of stock, or even if you can find the right style to match what you have, it may still be off in color or an exact match on style. When tiles may be able to get a patch fix, sometimes most of the floor, if not all of it, must be replaced. Hardwood flooring is easy to repair, even just a section of it, using a weave-in process. Even if the coloring is a little bit off from the existing hardwood flooring, it can be sanded down and stained appropriately. Then, as time passes, the new hardwood floor color will oxidize and match with the rest of the floor coloring.
As you can see, hardwood flooring offers a few more great advantages than tile, especially when considering that hardwood flooring is so timeless. That’s why so many homeowners are now taking advantage of getting a hardwood floor installation in the kitchen over tiles.
