So you’re ready to revamp your kitchen. Whether you’re remodelling your kitchen as a whole, or just focusing on the floors, choosing the right kitchen flooring is essential. Kitchen floors can serve as anything from a neutral backdrop to a vivid focal point for the room. To make sure you’re choosing the right kitchen flooring, check out our guide below for how to choose the best option.

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What to Consider for New Kitchen Flooring

When you’re choosing new kitchen flooring, there are several factors you need to take into consideration including your lifestyle, your style sense, comfort, the ease of cleaning, and the cost.

Your Lifestyle

It’s likely that messy ingredients get spilled and dropped occasionally (or regularly) in your kitchen. When choosing the best flooring for a kitchen, consider options that will stand up to the regularity of wear and tear around your kitchen. If you have young children or elderly parents around the home, nonslip floors are an important pick for safety.

Your Style

What’s your kitchen style? When shopping for kitchen flooring, you’ll of course want to think about how the flooring will compliment your kitchen as a whole. No matter what the vibe of your kitchen is—whether it be rustic or contemporary—consider the kitchen’s size and colours, textures, and patters already existing in your kitchen.

Comfort

Are you in the kitchen for hours, slicing and dicing to prepare your family’s meals? Or, are you rarely spending a long amount of time on your feet in this room? Comfort is key when it comes to choosing the ideal flooring for your kitchen. If you find you’re usually on your feet for long periods of time, opt for floors with a bit of softness and resilience.

Cleaning

The kitchen is an easy place to create a mess. Between the foot traffic and tracked-in dirt, and spills from eating and drinking, kitchen floors can require a good amount of cleaning. To minimize the time you spend maintaining your floors, choose a material that’s easy to clean, and resistant to stains, HGTV recommends.

Price

Of course, cost is a big consideration when looking into types of flooring. If you’re renovating your kitchen, don’t forget to consider how the rest of your budget will be spent on things like the kitchen island, kitchen lighting, and cabinetry. After determining your budget for your flooring, you’ll want to measure the space to get an idea of the square footage. Keep in mid that in addition to the materials, other costs may apply such as underlayment, delivery, installation, etc.

Types of Kitchen Flooring

Sheet Vinyl

If you’re looking for waterproof and stain-proof kitchen flooring, sheet vinyl may be the ideal flooring for your home. This type of flooring is resilient and easy to clean. Sheet vinyl feels slightly soft under your foot, making hours of food prep a little less fatiguing.

If kitchen vinyl flooring fits your lifestyle, style sense and comfort, it’ll likely also fit in well in your home and wallet since it is durable and a breeze to clean, as well as well-priced. According to DIY Network, some sheet vinyl flooring options are downright inexpensive. 

Porcelain Tile

For durability and a beautiful appearance, look no further than porcelain kitchen tile. Porcelain tile is an upgrade over regular ceramic tile for kitchen flooring because it’s produced through a different process. This process makes it harder and less porous than ceramic tile. Materials that are harder and less porous make for ideal flooring for a kitchen, as they will hold up easier to spills and messes.

If you choose porcelain kitchen tile flooring, you’ll have two options for the finish of the tile: glazed or unglazed. The glazed porcelain tiles have a glass-like coating that can be made in a variety of colours. Unglazed porcelain flooring tiles have a naturally earthy colour that comes from the clay used to make them. Porcelain kitchen flooring can even be a safe option, as some porcelain tiles are certified by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to be slip-resistant.

Hardwood

Hardwood kitchen flooring is known for its combination of warmth and beauty. Like sheet vinyl, hardwood is also a type of flooring that is comfortable underfoot. Combining durability with low-maintenance, hardwood may be a good flooring option for your entire house. For that reason, hardwood works great if you have an open floor plan and want to extend your hardwood flooring beyond your kitchen.

While spill should be wiped up immediately, properly finished hardwood flooring is resistant to moisture. Hardwood flooring options include solid wood or engineered wood planks. Solid hardwood flooring is a homogeneous product all around. Engineered wood flooring is a layered product made of a thin slice of real hardwood that’s placed on top of a base of high-quality plywood, according to The Spruce.

Cork

Cork flooring in a kitchen is another option to consider. This is a waterproof, resilient, and moisture-resistant flooring option. It is also more comfortable than other floors! That’s especially important for a room that you spend most of your time standing up in. Cork kitchen flooring is also a safe choice, as it offers some slip resistance.

Made from tree bark that grows back, cork is a sustainable material. Cork flooring comes pre-finished, but it will need to be resealed every 3 to 4 years. Resealing helps to keep the surfaces looking fresh. It also helps prevent scratches on the surface.

Linoleum

Lastly, like cork, linoleum is another environmentally-friendly flooring option for your kitchen. Linoleum made mostly of linseed oil, which is a naturally occurring substance extracted from flax seeds, according to The Spruce. The linseed oil is mixed with other natural and renewable materials such as biodegradable cork powder.

This flooring is not only resilient and moisture-resistant, but it also comes in many patterns and colours. That means you can find the perfect pick for your kitchen.

Now that we’ve guided you through the types of kitchen flooring and how to choose the right one, head to a Kitchen & Bath Classics showroom to get the rest of the kitchen essentials you need to complete your look.

Maybe you’re a millennial living in a cramped apartment in the big city. Perhaps you’re an empty-nester who is in the process of downsizing the family house. Whatever your reason for having a smaller living space is, you’re likely struggling with a small kitchen. But just because your cooking area is on the smaller side, you don’t need to sacrifice style or practicality!

There are a number of surefire strategies that you can implement to ensure that you get the very most out of your kitchen. Check out our handy guide to making the most of a small kitchen below:

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1. Make Use of a Small Kitchen Island

While we tend to associate kitchen islands with larger kitchen layouts, you can still add an extra work station to your tiny kitchen. As Good Housekeeping advised, smaller islands with shelves and drawers can be used not only to prepare food, but also store a range of items, such as essential kitchen utensils, pots and pans, appliances, cookery books and so on. This will free up space on your countertops and allow for a more polished and put-together vibe.

4. Remove Unnecessary Items

Much like other rooms in the house, many of us will have items in our kitchens that we rarely use. Remember that panini maker you got for Christmas? What about those cans of soup you have stashed away for a rainy day? One surefire way to free up space is to spend an afternoon organizing your kitchen and removing items you no longer need.

Throw out food that has exceeded its sell-by date and donate cans of food to your local food bank. You probably also have pots, pans, and miscellaneous clutter laying around, too. Head out to the shop and pick up some stylish baskets to keep them hidden without creating an eye-sore. The boxes can be stored out of the way in the space above your cupboards.

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2. Use Hooks

One great way to save on space is to hang items on hooks, Kitchn suggested. Consider hanging some hooks above your stove and letting your frying pans and pots hang down above the area. Not only does this make great use of empty space but it also serves an aesthetic function by helping to create a more rustic look in a simple kitchen.

Whether it’s the side of your cabinets or the sides of your kitchen islands, be sure to hang hooks and make the most of empty space, while also keeping in mind that balance is key—if you hang up too many items, your kitchen will begin to feel cluttered and suffocating.

5. Incorporate Tissue Boxes

One way to save room and be environmentally friendly is to reuse old tissue boxes. How you ask? Well, according to Good Housekeeping, tissue boxes can be used to store plastic bags that may otherwise take up precious room in your cupboards. Tissue boxes can also hold an array of other small items that may get in the way. Stash away your sticky notes, birthday candles, lighters, and so on.

6. Decide on an Appropriate Colour Scheme

Certain colours can actually make rooms feel larger and more spacious. According to HGTV, bright and bold tones can best create the illusion of more space as opposed to colours that are less striking and muted. So think plenty of orange, or a bold green or a dazzling light blue.

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3. Don’t be Afraid to Put Up Shelves

Install as many shelves as you possibly can, in keeping with the overall design of your small kitchen space. Shelves are easily installed and come in a wide array of shapes, sizes and designs. They are arguably the most effective way to store items in a small space in as tidy a way as possible.

7. Consider Striking Wall Art

If you have room on your walls that hasn’t been taken over by shelf or hook space, make use of the area by hanging a large painting, print or a series of stylish family photos. This is a great move because, as Elle Decor noted, larger pictures can actually make rooms feel more sizeable.

8. Use Your Oven for More Than Baking

If you have a small kitchen and are super short on space, why not make use of all the extra room you possibly can. Consider using your oven for storage. If you have limited cabinet space, you can store things such as baking sheets, cooling racks, pans and tins in the oven. (Just don’t forget to take them all out before turning the oven on!)

If you have a small kitchen you’re looking to upgrade, head Kitchen & Bath Classics showroom for more tips and tricks on how to make the most of your space and create a small modern kitchen you’ll love.

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You spend a large part of your day in the kitchen. The average Canadian spends an average of two hours a day on meal preparation, eating, and cleaning. If you have a large family, this number is probably closer to three or four hours a day. For this reason alone, it’s worth making sure your kitchen is an enjoyable, comfortable place to be. Doesn’t a cozy kitchen sound better than a stark, medical-feeling kitchen?

By making a few small changes, you can make your kitchen even more inviting. That way, the space becomes more than a place to whip up dinner and do the dishes. Instead, it transforms into a dynamic and exciting place to spend your time.

Consider these tips to turn your regular cooking space into a cozy kitchen you’ll want to spend time in.

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1. Focus on Seating

Your kitchen won’t be truly cozy unless it has comfortable seating. After all, if you want your kitchen to be a nice place to spend time, it needs to have a pleasant spot to take the load off.

We recommend centring the seating around a central piece of furniture (like an island or dining table). If you have the space for an eat-in kitchen, this is a simple way to create a cozy kitchen.

Even if you are lacking in space, you can still give your kitchen a bit of depth. Use an island or small table to expand counter space, and select a few barstools or chairs. This way, your family can grab a healthy breakfast or catch up over a mid-afternoon snack. Adding a bit of seating also makes your kitchen a good spot for treating guests to a homemade cocktail.

There are plenty of other ways to give your kitchen some vibrance. Try adding some decorative towels or knick-knacks you’ve picked up along the way. You can also add some interesting wall art to create a focal point in your design.

2. Bring in Some Colour

Want to save money while still bringing some personality into your home? Try picking up a few gallons of paint and adding a new colour to your walls! A fresh paint job will give your kitchen a new sense of character.

To add a bit more flair, choose a bold colour for a focus wall, and paint the rest of the walls a more subdued colour.

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3. Consider Lighting

After you paint your kitchen, it’s time to consider your existing lighting fixtures. It may be time to replace the light bulbs with something brighter, or to spruce them up with more modern styles. Changing the lighting in your kitchen is a simple way to brighten up the space.

Natural lighting is also something you can take advantage of. If your windows are covered up by drapery or blinds, brightening your kitchen can be as simple as opening them up!

For a bit of privacy, consider using sheer panels as drapes. These will allow light to flow through your window while still providing you with an extra layer of protection.

4. Find Ways to Reduce Clutter

Do you find yourself avoiding your kitchen due to the mess on your countertops? You’re not alone! Research has found that clean, open spaces are appealing, while cluttered countertops are not. Luckily, this is an easy and straightforward problem to address.

First, find ways to get organized. Clean up your old junk mail and drawer, sticky notes, and other items that are piling up. Reduce the number of decorations taking up space on your counters. This will help create a calmer atmosphere in your cozy kitchen. You should also make sure your family is on board with staying organized.

Next, consider ways to increase the amount of useable space in your kitchen. Hanging pots and pans overhead can be efficient and stylish, but can look crowded. Instead, try installing a magnetic knife strip on the wall. This will give your kitchen a level of visual depth while improving accessible areas. You can have one for knives, and another for lighter pans.

And finally, don’t underestimate the power of putting utensils and appliances away when you’re finished with them. Keeping your cabinets and drawers organized will help compel you to actually use them!

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5. Go Natural

A cozy kitchen isn’t only about having a small space or the feeling of warmth. It’s also about having a sense of soul, which can come from living things like plants! A few well-places plants is a great way to make your kitchen feel alive.

There are dozens of low-maintenance plants available that will look great in your home! You can even decorate your window sill with planted herbs or other edible plants. That way, you can decorate your kitchen while filling your space with home-grown produce.

6. Keep Things Clean

Despite all the work you put into making your kitchen more inviting, it can all be for nothing if you let a mess build up. It’s important to keep everything spick and span, since you won’t want to spend time in a dirty or messy kitchen.

Try to clean up as you cook to reduce the time it takes you to clean after a meal. And set aside time each week to clean the bits of your kitchen that you can’t get to during your regular routine.

7. Bring in Something New

If you’ve gone through all the steps above and think your kitchen needs something extra, upgrade an appliance or fixture. The perfect sink or faucet may be enough to give your kitchen that extra appeal. When you upgrade your fixtures, consider trying a different finish like brass or brushed bronze.

Whatever your kitchen update needs are, one of our knowledgeable showroom consultants can help. Stop by your local Kitchen & Bath Classics showroom to get started.