dif wood in kitchen than rest of house

The upstairs of my house has 3/4" x 2-1/4" oak flooring throughout - except my kitchen which is linoleum. I am installing a 3/8" thick engineered oak floor in the lower level of my house. If that goes well I am considering installing an engineered floor in my kitchen. Rather than trying to match my 2-1/4" wide boards upstairs (which would be next to impossible given that they are 37 years old) I thought of going with a 4-5" wide board, perhaps in a different wood species, and running the boards perpendicular to the existing oak. I thought it would give the kitchen its own look. Also, my kitchen is unusually long, so by running 5" wide boards width-wise, it would make the room seem shorter. Will this be a problem? The linoleum is obviously not providing any support to the plywood subfloor. The floor appears flat within spec.

 

i understand why you want to replace the linoleum, but i don't think it will look right to have a completely different wood in the kitchen than what's in the rest of the space. it would be better, imo, both aesthetically and functionally, to use some sort of tile in your kitchen, as kitchen floors are high traffic & tend to get wet often & need more agressive cleaning than other areas (food spills, grease splatters, sticky stuff, etc - not just dust, like in a living room, for example). and with all the other wood in that space, plus now your lower level, something different will be a nice change, for interest. and you could turn the tiles on the diagonal so the room appears wider.

 

I don't like tile. It is cold and hard. I think wood looks much better than tile.

 

I am on this website to get more feedback on wood/laminate in kitchen also. I've been told by many to do ceramic also. I agree though it is very hard, cold, etc. BUT, I know a few people already that have had a water dispenser in fridge leak, dishwasher leak, and one was the dog made a big mess with water (and they didn't get it wiped up due to not noticing it) and all of them had floor damage. That would be a BIG bummer!!

 

That's exactly why I want to do an engineered wood instead of a hardwood. I have friends who have 3/4" hardwood in their kitchen and they have been fine. Now if you have a dog that makes a mess or kids who are going to splash water everywhere or you are a messy cook, it is probably not a good idea. Fwiw, I am seeing more houses around here (New England) with hardwood in the kitchen. One realtor I spoke with noticed the same thing.

I think the choice also depends on your expectations. Wood does not do well with moisture. A wood floor in a wet environment is going to wear faster than one in a dry environment. You will probably have to refinish a kitchen floor more often. Also, it depends on what type of surface finish you deem acceptable. Some people demand absolute perfection w/ no scratches, discoloration, or warped boards. Other people have some pretty beat up wood floors and it doesn't seem to bother them. As an example, I used to be very particular about my floor finish...until I got a dog. After a few scratches here and there I quickly realized that having a dog in the home was going to wear my floors quicker. Yes, I trim her nails and wipe her paws and all that, but every now and then she does a Scooby Doo scrub out when she hears a noise outside and leaves a mark. To me, it is not the end of the world.

 

I just laid some laminate oak flooring in my kitchen/dining room (20x 11) and it worked great. I laid it right over my linoleum which was in pretty good shape. I'm really happy with the results and it cost me around $500.00 for some middle-of-the-road-priced flooring. If you do it I recommend buying a good hard rubber tapping block (not the one that comes in a kit with spacers). Also you will make your own spacers out of the material that you cut (you have to have a 1/4" gap around the edges to allow for the floor to float and you cover that with quarter-round). I used a radial-arm saw for the whole project that worked good for both crosscut and ripping. I recommend buying a really good blade (for whatever saw you use) and you will thank yourself later, believe me...Good luck...

 

Let me know how you like your kitchen floor after a few months. I am 90% sure I am going to do an Appalachian Merced maple shell engineered floor in my kitchen. I think the light color would contrast well with the sand colored oak flooring I have throughout the rest of my house. Upstairs I have 2-1/4" solid and downstairs I have 3" x 3/8" engineered. I have a lot of maple trees on my land, so I thought it would be cool to reflect some maple within the house.