Best Laminate Flooring for Kitchen

Installing the best laminate flooring for your kitchen is a good idea.

Before buying or selecting the laminate flooring for your kitchen, you should keep in mind the following points:

• All laminate flooring is not water-resistant.
• The kitchen is a heavy foot traffic area. So, you should select the most durable flooring for your kitchen.
• Moisture is the key enemy of the laminate flooring.

When you are thinking about remodeling your home or kitchen areas, laminate flooring is a good option for you. It is cost-effective, great-looking, and easy to install (even you can install it by yourself).

Before selecting laminate flooring, let’s see how many laminate flooring options we have.

Laminate Flooring Options:

You will become surprised to know the options you have in the laminate flooring section for your kitchen. You can divide laminate flooring by production method, surface, and thickness.

Laminating Floor Types Considering Production Methods:

The most important thing is to consider where you will install laminate flooring. You can select the laminate floor types considering production methods. Laminates are made using three principal layers; the decorative layer, core, and the backing layer. The core layer is made using wood pulp with high pressure. This core layer is the main factor of laminating floors’ durability.

Laminate floors are made in two methods.

• High Pressure Laminate (HPL)
• Direct Pressure Laminate (DPL)

High-pressure laminate is made using over 1000 pounds of pressure. Which is perfect for heavy foot traffic.

Direct pressure laminate is made using 300-500 pounds of pressure. It is also durable but best for less foot traffic like a small office or home.

Laminate Floor Types Considering Thickness:

Considering thickness laminate floors have a range of verities. You can find laminate floors from 6mm to 14mm in the market. But 7mm to 12mm is more popular with the customers. A more stable subfloor requires thinner laminates. Unstable subfloor, wood-made subfloor, or where the sound is fact requires thicker laminates.

Laminate Floor Types Considering Surface:

One of the main reasons for the advancement of laminating flooring is the verity of the surface. There may be found in many types of laminate flooring. To achieve the desired look a certain amount of texture is used. There are several types of laminate flooring considering surface and textures.

• Satin/Smooth Finish: It gives you shine floor looks.
• Matte Finish: The most popular texture. It gives your floor a natural hardwood finish.
• Hand Scraped Finish: Though it looks like hand-scraped actually it is pressed to look like an authentic scraped wood floor.
• Natural Wood Finish: It is also becoming very popular with homeowners nowadays. It looks and feels like natural wood flooring.

• Soft Scraped Finish: Its look is very subdued.
• Oiled Wood Finish: It is traditional in style but very popular with today’s buyers. It gives the look that the floors were treated with natural oils.
• High Gloss / Piano Finish: Offers a shiny, elegant look. Ideal for an upscale, modern interiors
• Oxide Surface Finish: Metallic finish giving a small dose of shine and metallic finish. It is Used often for modern, chic interiors.
• Slate / Stone Finish: Replicates look and feel of the slate or stone.

Let’s see some pros and cons of laminate flooring.

Pros of Laminate Flooring:

• Laminate flooring is very much affordable considering other floorings like wood flooring, ceramic tiles flooring, and stone flooring.
• Great Looking. Laminate flooring has many options and some have aristocrat looking, shine and smooth finish.
• Laminate flooring is very easy to install. Even you can do by yourself. Considering other floors like wood, ceramic tile or stone floor, a laminate floor is easier installation.
• Easy to clean with a dust mop or damp cloth.
• The better grade of laminate flooring can resists scratches, dents and stains.
• Pro installation is cheaper than other floorings.
• It can resist fading.
• Laminate flooring is softer than wood, ceramic tiles, and stone flooring.
• No defects as you occasionally find in the wood flooring.
• Wide range of verity than other floorings.

Cons of Laminate Flooring:

As there are many pros, laminate flooring has some cons also. Let’s look at the cons of laminate flooring.

• It doesn’t match natural beauty like a wood floor.
• Can’t resist moisture.
• Without underlay manes sounds.
• Can’t refinish as wood flooring.
• The cheaper grade may need reinstall within 10 years.
• Lower return of investment considering with wood, stone or ceramic flooring when you are going to sell your home.

Though it has many pros and cons, laminate flooring is a good choice for remodeling your home.

The kitchen is the area where water is used more than any other area in your home except for bathrooms. So, you need waterproof laminate flooring for your kitchen.

Is there any waterproof laminate flooring?

Yeah, there are some laminate flooring marked as waterproof. But it has no waterproofing capacity like the vinyl floor or ceramic tiles floor.

What you can do for waterproof when you want to install laminate flooring?

Yes, you have an option to making your laminate flooring waterproof. You can use underlay under the laminate flooring. Use thick, shine, and waterproof marked laminate flooring for your kitchen.  At the time of installation make sure that laminate flooring seamed very tightly. So, water can’t pass inside.

The above steps will help to make your laminate flooring waterproof.

How to Install Laminate Flooring in Kitchen: 

Laminate flooring is a type of engineered flooring using a span and lock system for installation. It is very easy to install. You can do it by yourself also.

It has a wide range of colors and designs. Laminate flooring is a floating floor system that installs on an underlay foam. Never attach to the subfloor directly. When there are no appliances present in the kitchen, it is easier to install laminate flooring.

The kitchen is the area where water can damage laminate flooring. You should keep the following points in your mind when you are going to install laminate flooring.

• Use the best quality underlay for laminate flooring.
• Take the best quality laminate glue and use it enough quantity. It will tight the seam areas. More tight seams make your kitchen more water-resistant.
• Especially for kitchen use square shape laminate flooring. Square shape flooring is easy to tighten the seam.
• Select the right abrasion class. It should be AC3 to AC5. It is more durable for rough uses.
• Check for the extra coating on the top of the laminate flooring. The extra coating helps to make more water-resistant.

You have more other options for selecting the best flooring for your kitchen. Selecting the best flooring for your kitchen depends on the following options:

• Design
• Waterproof capacity
• Durable
• Budget-friendly
• Great looking.

Let’s see some other options:

Ceramic tiles can be a good alternative for your kitchen. It is durable, great-looking, waterproof. Ceramic tiles have many styles. You can choose ceramic tiles from many designs.

Natural stone flooring is also alternative flooring for your kitchen. It will give your flooring an old look. This is also durable.

Nowadays solid wood flooring is very popular. You can also install solid wood in your kitchen. Solid wood flooring will give you aristocrat-looking, waterproof flooring, durable, and easy to clean. It will give you good resale value.

Cork flooring is another flooring option. It is durable, waterproof, can reduce noise, and has many colors.

When you are looking for many options, designs at a low cost, vinyl flooring is a good choice. Vinyl flooring can give you a lot of design options as well as waterproofing capacity.

Still, now confused to select the best flooring for your kitchen? Please see the below comparison: