The Week of the Floor

Thanks for joining me on my great kitchen caper.  We started this adventure on February 4^th, so if this is your first visit, you may want to check back to see what things looked like from the beginning.

This has been the week of the floor, the second largest space in the kitchen—only the ceiling is bigger.  The decision to replace the vinyl flooring was a no brainer.  After 24 years it is showing wear, along with many gouges and (my favorite) nail pops. Here is the process I went through in decision making about flooring.

Old Vinyl Floor

First, I checked out Consumer Reports magazine.  That’s almost always where I go before making a large purchase.  But, this time CR really didn’t rate all the kinds of floors possible for the kitchen:  wood, cork, bamboo, stone, slate, vinyl, linoleum, and tile.  So, I went to step two.  Using some of the information from CR I started a list of the characteristics I wanted in a kitchen floor.  In the end I chose porcelain tile from Florida Tile’s Renaissance collection and the color is Noce .  Here’s why.

Florida Tile--Renaissance-Noce (Color) 

Tiles in Place

Durablility.  This will be my “forever floor.”  In all likelihood, we will live with these floors as long as we live in this house.  I want something that will not show wear.  The kitchen is the high traffic area of the house. It’s almost the first place we land after entering the house. I don’t want to see paths worn in a few years. Porcelain is stain resistant, thank goodness.  I tend to spill grape and cranberry juice, so the very hard surface will not absorb stains or hold them on the surface. Porcelain is hard. When I drop knives (a frequent happening,) it will not gouge or cut.  It’s more likely that knives will bend, unless they hit my foot. Porcelain is easy to clean with a Swiffer mop or even a steam mop.  It doesn’t fade.

Attractive. With lots of choices in colors and textures, choosing the color and texture I wanted was the most difficult part of making the flooring selection.  In the end I chose a color (noce) very similar to the cabinets but with variation which looks like marble or even leather.  I worried that the kitchen would be too monochromatic so I chose a contrasting grout color (expresso).  The result will be a warm looking floor with contrasting gout and neither will show dirt.  (That is the real bonus of my color choice.) I chose a smooth glazed finish because I did not want a chalky matte or rough texture that might hold soil.

Porcelain does have some disadvantages.  It is so hard that when you drop a glass or a dish, it will probably break. (I may have to add to my dish collections.)  It is slippery when wet.  (I may need to add some rugs in areas likely to get spills and wipe up spills quickly.)  Porcelain also tends to be cold to the touch, an important issue for a mountain girl who likes to go barefoot in the house.  The remedy for the cold floor is to install heating under the tile.  This will not only warm the floors, but it will make the breakfast room with floor to ceiling windows much warmer in the winter. In the summer, when a cool floor is a bonus, the heat is turned off.

Electric Heating Grid

So here is what happened last week:  the subfloor was secured to eliminate all the squeaks, an underlayment put in place for stability, the wiring for the floor heating was laid down and attached, the tile was mortared in place, and the grout lines were cleaned. The tile cured over the weekend.  This week the grout will be applied. 

The space for the refrigerator was grouted Friday so the refrigerator can be moved from the dining room and attached into the water line today--I hope.  I’m glad.  I really miss being able to get ice and water anytime I want.  I’m becoming dehydrated and my wrinkles are showing.  Also,  I can’t wait to walk on my new tile floor.