Floorboards in kitchen. Yes or No?

[michael]

Lifting the old plastic ‘Marley’ tiles off my kitchen floor to expose the original pine floor boards and I’m considering leaving the exposed floorboards as the finished surface. Does anybody have any experience of the practicalities/impracticalities of bare floorboards in a kitchen?
The floorboards are a bit greyed with age (probably 130 years old) and my main concerns are maintaining a half decent appearance whilst dealing with the harsh kitchen conditions of food and drink spillages and potential grease/oil spills.

The rest of the property has exposed floorboards throughout and I understand from the previous owners that these were simply sealed with a Liberon floor sealer (without sanding) and then bees waxed. That finish is quite acceptable in that it’s lost its grey and has instead assumed a nice brown patina.
Would a floor sealer be sufficient to guard against the above spillages? I’m pretty sure that bees wax wouldn’t be practical in a kitchen.

Lastly is there a tried and trusted way of blocking the gaps between the boards to prevent food particles falling between them? I’ve tried Paper Mache and also thin strips of wood on other ‘non kitchen’ floors in the past but they’ve always fallen out over time due to movement of the boards.
So there you have it. Is it possible to live with floorboards in a kitchen or should I Just splash out and tile over it with ceramics?

 

[Seanie_230]

Hi there
i have wood everywhere in my house downstairs now and this has been treated with Blanchon Hard Wax oil.
i have my dog and his claws mark the floor quite easily, i think due to spillages, dog, humidity, cooking, extra floor cleaning that wood is not the best idea for a kitchen floor.
i would love to continue my wood floor in the kitchen but to much droppage with the kids (nefuee and neice).
all it would take is one dropped oven tray, plate etc and the lovely floor is dented and getting worse.
I will put tiles in my kitchen for this reason

Good luck with whatever you choose

 

[LadyArowana]

How about a nice cheap flatweave rug with rubbery underlay? Something that could go for a trip through the wash as required.

 

[Penners]

I think you have to accept that a (soft?)wood floor in a kitchen is always going to be something of a compromise. The more natural and breathable the finish that you apply to it, the less durable it is likely to be, I'm afraid.

As regards its aesthetic acceptability, that depends on how particular you are. If you want to floorboards always to look pristine and unsullied, you're in for a hard life. But if you're prepared to accept that kitchen traffic, knocks, dings and spillages will inevitably give the floor a "lived-in" appearance, then you'll probably be OK.

 

[Moo]

And dropped crockery has more chance of survival.

 

[Penners]

Indeed. The thicker the coating of nice soft crud, the fewer the breakages.

 

[Sonyaclegg]

I would not have wood in a kitchen as we have kids with the youngest at 3 so it's just not practical. I can't decide on a floor and i now have a lovely collection of samples. Here is the latest batch that arrived this morning. All Limestone. The other consideration in York stone. I just need the durability that stone offers. Wood would just need too much attention.

 

[Schoolmarm]

Are you allowed limestone in your listed building?

 

[middi]

there is nothing wrong with floorboards in a kitchen, as long as you have no dogs, cats, children and very tidy owners, with floorboards covered with two or three coats of hard wearing commercial grade finish.
let's face it you can't beat a sealed hard masonary floor for ease of maintenance.

Middi

 

[steveb]

We have floorboards in the whole of the house including kitchen - reclaimed oak. They're definitely not pristine, lots of variation in colour, knocks bumps etc. It looks "rustic" but is practical and looks very good. We've not oiled it yet as we have a lot of scraping to do, might get around to oiling one year or the next to try to protect from spillages.

And ultimately if you don't mind the old knock and wear and tear, floorboards i reckon will outlast many generations. I have hijacked the account but will see if the other half knows how to upload a photo.

(this is caviated with I really don't like carpets, plus have lived in a house with tiles in the kitchen, lovely to look at but drop something breakable on the floor and it's in a billion pieces all over it.)

 

[Essex]

we have york stone in the kitchen. Unsealed. It works well, however we have no children, but do have three large, muddy golden retrievers. Have spilt just about everything on it, including two litres of olive oil not noticed for a day. It has always cleaned up well, and a poultice cleaned out the olive oil.
Had a timber floor in kitchen in last house, quickly put covering over, not practical ail the dogs.

Jenny

 

[Sonyaclegg]

Schoolmarm, yes. Checked with CO.

 

[Schoolmarm]

8)

 

[88v8]

We have pine floorboards in our kitchen, gaps between them, and not particularly smart but then neither are the rest of the floors. OK so long as one is not clumsy or fussy.

Ivor

 

[Andrew Bodenham]

Softwood boards are always going to be problematic in a kitchen because of their inherent tendancy to taking surface impressions and their relatively large movement with changes in moisture content. I've seen painted softwood floors which have worked quite well - though the 'gappy' problem remains.

We have an oak overlay floor in our kitchem - this is 10mm thick tongue-&-groove solid oak in 65mm wide strips, pinned to the substrate. The finish is Osmo Polyx wax-oil. So far (about 5 years) it's taken everything we and the kids have thrown at it. Occasionally we give it a go with a damp mop. The joints have remained tight, so don't collect debris. It's probably about ready for a rub down and refinish, which is easily done with the Osmo finish.

We used this rather than a thicker board as we wanted to avoid too much of a level change at the thresholds.