Lvt kitchen floor
5 Reasons to Use Luxury Vinyl Tile in Your Kitchen
5 Reasons to Use Luxury Vinyl Tile in Your Kitchen
Vinyl flooring has come a long way from its mid-century days. Many people associate vinyl with sheets or peel-and-stick tiles in retro patterns and colors. Believe it or not, modern versions of the synthetic flooring material are nothing like old-school vinyl.
Luxury vinyl tile (commonly known as LVT) is an exceptionally durable, high-quality floor covering material with a stunning appearance. Due to a broad range of benefits, it’s a go-to for both residential and commercial spaces.
Is luxury vinyl tile good for kitchens? As a matter of fact, it is! In recent years, LVT has become one of the most popular kitchen flooring options on the market. Get all the details here.
Why Luxury Vinyl Tile is the Best Flooring for Kitchens
LVT is a 100% plastic product consisting of a fiberglass or felt layer, a printed design, a clear protective vinyl coat, and a UV-cured urethane finish. Here are the top five reasons to consider LVT kitchen flooring.
1. LVT Mimics the Look of Natural Flooring
Unlike laminate and sheet vinyl of decades past, LVT is virtually indistinguishable from natural flooring products. With sophisticated photo-imaging technology and realistic textures, it can be made to mimic the look and feel of real hardwoods, natural stone, porcelain, ceramic, and marble. Not only that, but luxury vinyl is more affordable than natural materials, making it a great alternative to the real thing.
2. LVT Is Exceptionally Durable
Luxury vinyl may be the most durable floor covering product available today. It’s resistant to denting, scratching, and cracking and the material is fade resistant. It’s an ideal option for households with pets, kids, or just a lot of foot traffic. In many instances, LVT can last up to 50 years.
3. LVT Is a Low-Maintenance Material
Kitchen floors tend to need more frequent cleaning than any other room of a home.
For this reason, a low-maintenance material is essential. LVT is extremely easy to clean and maintain. It never needs to be refinished — regular sweeping or vacuuming and occasional mopping are enough to keep luxury vinyl looking fresh.
4. LVT Is Easy to Install
Luxury vinyl is notably easy to install compared to other materials, and it can be installed directly over existing floors. The tiles or planks are glued down or clicked together on a special underlayment. Floating LVT flooring is a great solution for covering your current kitchen floors because you won’t need to remove the existing material.
5. LVT Is Moisture-Proof
Water-resistant floors are crucial for kitchens, bathrooms, and other areas susceptible to splashing, spills, leaks, and humidity. LVT is a moisture-resistant material — even more so than laminate. In many cases, it’s also moisture-proof.
This is one of the most critical benefits of luxury vinyl tile, as it makes the material highly versatile.
Some floor materials don’t hold up in moist environments. As a result, many homeowners opt for different materials throughout each room. With that said, if you’re looking to achieve a cohesive look, LVT is the way to go. You can install luxury vinyl in every room of your home.
Visit Our Flooring Store in Portland to Get Started with Your Kitchen Remodel
When it comes to finding the best kitchen flooring and remodeling materials in Portland, Floor Factors has everything you need. In addition to LVT, we carry other kitchen flooring options, including laminate, linoleum, porcelain, ceramic, natural stone, and hardwood. As a one-stop home renovation resource, Floor Factors also has high-quality window coverings, cabinets, and countertops at affordable prices.
Allow us to assist you with your next kitchen or bathroom remodel. In addition to renovation materials, Floor Factors offers in-house design consulting and demolition and installation. We welcome you to stop by our showroom in Portland’s Pearl District to see and feel our products for yourself.
Contact us or request a quote on LVT kitchen flooring to get started.
Is LVT Flooring the Right Choice for Your Kitchen or Bath Remodel?
Is LVT Flooring the Right Choice for Your Kitchen or Bath Remodel?
Kitchens and bathrooms are usually the first to be renovated after homes are sold. We spend a substantial amount of time in these spaces, and they’re the rooms buyers tend to care about most. Though cabinets, countertops, and wall paint go a long way, new flooring is usually at the top of the list for remodeling kitchens and bathrooms.
When it comes to floor covering materials, you’ve got lots of options. Laminate, stone, porcelain, and ceramic have been go-to’s for decades, but LVT (luxury vinyl tile) has become a popular choice for homes in recent years.
So, is LVT good for kitchens and bathrooms? Here’s everything you need to know about this gorgeous, modern flooring material.
Today’s LVT: What You Need to Know
Unlike laminate and sheet vinyl of decade’s past, today’s LVT is a high-quality flooring product that mimics the appearance of any natural material.
With photo-imaging and realistic textures, you can get luxury vinyl planks or tiles that look and feel exactly like real hardwood, natural stone, ceramic, porcelain, slate, or marble — as well as virtually any other pattern or color.
LVT is a 100% plastic floor covering material made up of multiple layers, including fiberglass or felt backing, a printed design, and clear protective vinyl. The versatile and visually stunning synthetic product is finished with a UV-cured urethane. Due to a wide range of benefits, luxury vinyl is quickly becoming a top choice for kitchens and bathrooms.
What Are the Benefits of Luxury Vinyl Tile?
The unmatched durability and impenetrable qualities of LVT are what set it apart from other flooring products. There are tons of advantages to installing the material in your kitchen or bathroom.
Luxury vinyl tile is:
- Highly resilient, lasting up to 50 years
- Resistant to dents and scratches
- Nonporous and antimicrobial
- Resistant to fading
- Warmer than ceramic, porcelain, and stone
- An excellent alternative to hardwood or natural stone
- Exceptionally easy to clean and maintain
- A versatile and economical choice
It’s crucial for kitchens and bathrooms that flooring can stand up to moisture, as these spaces are prone to spills, leaks, splashing water, and humidity.
One of the main reasons LVT is an ideal choice is that it’s moisture-proof.
Also, natural stone, ceramic, and porcelain tile can get notably cold, especially during the winter. Luxury vinyl, on the other hand, absorbs some heat, making it more comfortable to walk on.
While LVT is typically more expensive than laminate and sheet vinyl, it’s more affordable than hardwood, stone, and other natural flooring materials. That said, it’s a smart, economical choice because it lasts for up to 50 years. In many instances, LVT can be even more durable than engineered prefinished hardwood.
Where to Get Luxury Vinyl Tile Flooring in Portland
Whether you plan to live in your house for several years, or are thinking about putting it on the market, the beauty and durable performance of LVT floors will hold up.
Visit our showroom in Portland’s Pearl District. When you browse our luxury vinyl tile, you’ll find a vast range of styles. We’re confident you’ll see something that matches your unique vision.
To get started, contact us or stop by today!
Kitchen Flooring, Which Floor to Choose for the Kitchen
Kitchen flooring can cause a lot of trouble during operation or quietly serve faithfully for many years. It all depends on the chosen material and the quality of laying the floor. A bad example of is laminate on HDF board without waterproof treatment: after 1-2 years of regular changes in humidity levels, the fiberboard will begin to dry out, the floorboards will creak, and the parted seams will quickly fill with dirt, blacken, and become moldy.
As for the design value, almost all modern coatings - porcelain stoneware, PVC tiles, cork flooring, parquet boards, waterproof laminate, linoleum - are represented by a wide variety of collections with decors for wood, natural stone, matting, with patterns and classic ornaments, and also with thematic drawings. Thanks to this, there is always a suitable decor, it remains only to figure out which floor is better to choose for the kitchen according to technical characteristics and cost.
Basic requirements for kitchen flooring
- Moisture resistance. The kitchen is an area with constant changes in temperature and humidity. Therefore, it is very important that the material is 100% moisture resistant, as well as water resistant (without deformation of the floorboards in direct prolonged contact with water). In addition, the joints of tiles or planks should not let liquids into the screed.
- Easy maintenance. The flooring in the kitchen is constantly exposed to specific influences: spilled coffee, wine, stains from dyes, household chemicals. Difficult pollution should be removed effortlessly, not penetrate into the structure.
- Abrasion resistance, impact resistance. Falling heavy objects - typical kitchen floor damage, the coating must be impact resistant. In addition, it is necessary to choose the right wear resistance class with sufficient protection against abrasion.
- Antibacterial, odor resistant. Bacteriostatic - the ability of a material to stop the development of bacteria. The kitchen is a breeding ground for all kinds of microbes, bacteria and fungi, so the hygiene of the flooring will ensure the cleanliness and sterility of the room.
- Fire safety. For an area with an increased risk of fire, it is important to choose a fireproof finish.
- Durability. Unlike living rooms, the interior of the kitchen is updated less frequently, so the forced replacement of the flooring after 1-2 years of operation is undesirable.
- Compatibility with floor heating systems. Floor coverings come in warm and cold surfaces, but it's always nice to be able to control the heating temperature.
Best Choice: Kitchen Floor Coverings
Quartz Vinyl Tile
Quartz Vinyl or PVC Tile - not perfect, but probably the closest floor covering: absorption of dyes, compatibility with underfloor heating (effective heat transfer, but there is also a limitation on surface heating - 26-28 ° C).
Under the vinyl floor you will need a perfectly even base, especially under adhesive PVC tiles, the thickness of which is only 2-3 mm, and all screed defects will be displayed on the finish surface.
✔ Details about the pros and cons of quartz vinyl tiles.
The Polov catalog presents a chic assortment of lock and adhesive vinyl tiles with wood and natural stone decors. In addition, we offer the latest SPC laminate, "pressed stone": flooring on a rigid PVC composite board and a mineral filler, usually calcium carbonate. Due to the rigid base (not inferior in density to porcelain stoneware), base defects are allowed, as well as the use of a warm floor with increased heating - up to 40 ° C. The shortcomings of quartz vinyl tiles have been eliminated without increasing the cost.
Porcelain stoneware
Ceramic tiles are a classic for kitchen floors. With all the obvious advantages - water resistance, strength, wear resistance, a variety of decors, practicality - porcelain stoneware has a number of significant disadvantages: expensive and complex installation (with the involvement of a tiler), difficult cutting, slippery and cold surface, blackening of seams.
However, all the flaws are offset by the low cost of porcelain stoneware.
Cork floor
Cork is the choice for connoisseurs of natural finishing materials. Cork flooring is quite expensive (the price is comparable to a solid board or oak parquet), but very practical flooring for the kitchen: elastic, but durable structure, 100% natural material, wear-resistant varnish, a variety of decors (natural veneer or wood or stone photo printing) ), moisture resistance and water resistance, additional sound and heat insulation. At the same time, the floor surface is warm without heating due to the very low thermal conductivity.
All of the above advantages apply only to a glued cork floor: the interlocking variant with HDF in the structure does not tolerate moisture changes and does not blend well with the operating conditions in the kitchen. For laying the adhesive cork, as well as for PVC tiles, a perfectly even screed is required.
Natural wood flooring
Wood flooring is not the best, but it is possible for the kitchen.
Three-layer parquet board is resistant to moisture, but only with moderate drops. As for massive parquet, the water resistance is even less due to the natural property of wood to absorb and give off excess moisture. Wood is a pleasure to walk barefoot on: a chic choice for a bedroom or living room, but a more practical material is needed for the kitchen.
Laminate on HDF board
Unless waterproof treatment of HDF base is provided, the laminate is not suitable for the kitchen. Fibreboard is stable only in rooms with moderate humidity: with regular drops, ordinary laminate slowly delaminates, the edges swell, blacken, mold. Even a waterproof laminate, for all its practicality, will not last more than 3-5 years in the kitchen.
Linoleum
PVC linoleum is a budget choice for kitchen flooring. Rolled floor covering is durable, wear-resistant, water-resistant, unpretentious in maintenance, unbeatable in price.
However, linoleum is too popular and competitive material: there are many cheap and dangerous fakes on the market. Choosing a more expensive option, it is appropriate to consider quartz vinyl tiles.
We invite you to Polov showrooms in Moscow and Odintsovo: look at samples of kitchen floor coverings, ask related questions to managers, order inexpensive delivery!
Kitchen flooring
The kitchen is a multi-functional space that simultaneously serves as a place for cooking, a dining room, and a room for gatherings in a small company over a cup of tea or coffee. Such a wide range of functions is the reason for the increased requirements for finishing materials for the kitchen. The floor in the kitchen must be absolutely moisture resistant, resistant to wear, practical, environmentally friendly and, of course, beautiful.
Taking a little time to choose the flooring for your kitchen will result in a sophisticated design of the kitchen space and absolute comfort during its operation.
And this article will help you make the right choice.
The ideal kitchen floor: what should it be?
The process of cooking is fraught with a number of dangers for kitchen flooring: splashes of hot fat and hot water, sauces and juices, high humidity and chemically aggressive substances (vinegar, alcohols, household chemicals). In addition, one cannot exclude such small force majeure as falling dishes, cutlery and kitchen utensils on the floor. It is possible to protect the floor in the kitchen from such influences only if you do not cook at all and do not eat at home. Therefore, it is necessary to strive to choose a floor covering for the kitchen that will meet the following requirements:
- 100% moisture resistant. The flooring material should not absorb moisture, since water gets on the kitchen floor quite regularly: in the process of cooking and eating, washing dishes or wet cleaning.
- Chemical resistance. The material must not contain unstable or reactive components that can react with acids and other reactive substances.
- Resistant to staining, staining or odor absorption. Stains left by drinks, sauces or fat droplets on the floor can adversely affect the decorative properties of the floor. A coating that absorbs kitchen odors will very quickly reduce the comfort of the kitchen space, so that the floor material meets these requirements is extremely important.
- Biological stability. High humidity and food grains make the kitchen the most "seductive" room for mold, arthropods and microorganisms, so it is very important that the flooring cannot serve as a habitat for them.
- High and low temperature resistance. The floor in the kitchen must withstand a wide range of temperatures, because boiling water, ice, and hot oil can get on it.
- Impact resistant. A sharp knife, heavy cast iron skillet, fragile glassware - all this can damage the finish of the floor in the kitchen if it does not have sufficient strength characteristics.
- Fire resistance. The floor covering for the floor in the kitchen must have a sufficiently high fire safety class.
In addition, the floor in the kitchen is exposed to a number of regular influences, which can also adversely affect its decorative and functional characteristics. Therefore, a kitchen flooring material must also have the following properties:
- Abrasion resistance. The legs of chairs and stools, slippers - all this eventually leads to abrasion of floor coverings.
- Static load resistant. Household appliances, cabinet furniture, kitchen sofas - all this puts pressure on the flooring, which can lead to its deformation.
- Resistant to frequent wet cleaning with disinfectants. The hygiene of the kitchen space is extremely important, especially in the current epidemic situation.
- Resistant to high atmospheric moisture. Even if it turns out not to spill water on the floor in the kitchen at all, the coating can still absorb moisture from the air, which is formed during the process of frying, boiling and stewing.
There are also a number of performance requirements that kitchen floors must meet to ensure maximum satisfaction and safety for users: .
This list may seem unnecessarily large, but in fact, each of the above requirements is extremely important.
Exploring the modern kitchen flooring market
Natural stone or porcelain stoneware flooring is considered a special chic for the kitchen. If the budget does not allow, many choose ceramic tiles for the kitchen. This type of coating has an undeniable advantage in the kitchen: they not only have a stylish and modern look, but are also very easy to clean, being cleaned of a variety of contaminants without the use of expensive household chemicals. Among the important advantages of such coatings is absolute moisture resistance.
The highest level of fire safety, complete biological stability, as well as resistance to temperature extremes. Tiles, stone and porcelain stoneware can be laid on top of a warm floor, such coatings are resistant to wear and are durable.
It would seem an ideal option. But such coatings have disadvantages associated with the presence of significant health risks, which completely negate the above arguments. Materials of this type are both slippery and hard at the same time. The risk of slipping on a wet floor due to tile or stone is very high, and if you fall, you can easily get a fracture or concussion. Such a coating is also unsafe for expensive kitchen utensils, which, if dropped, will break or get chipped.
A hard tiled floor can itself be affected by impact loads. Such coatings are both hard and brittle at the same time, so a crack can form on the tile or a fragment can break off. Your acoustic comfort will also suffer. In addition, if you do not install a "warm floor", then such a coating will feel like cold.
Not suitable for kitchen floors and linoleum. Even if we forget that this coating is far from safe for health and is obsolete in terms of interior design, its performance leaves much to be desired. The low resistance to abrasive loads inherent in linoleum will very quickly lead to abrasion of the top layer of the coating, as well as to scratches that will leave the legs of chairs and stools. And the damaged top coating significantly reduces the moisture resistance of linoleum. Drops of hot fat leave hard-to-remove marks on linoleum, and the fire safety class (KM4) is clearly insufficient for use in a kitchen.
Laminate one class up. This is a fairly beautiful and modern coating that imitates a natural wood board. It will look great in the kitchen, it is easy to clean, it has a thermal conductivity almost the same as that of natural wood. But this coating remains moisture resistant only as long as water does not get into the joints. Spilled water on the floor causes swelling, swelling and deformation.
And replacing damaged laminate boards will be extremely difficult, for this you will have to involve specialists. But the main problem is that the laminate is made from wood chips, which are plasticized using carcinogenic formaldehyde resins.
Wood is a material that looks great in most kitchen interiors. This is a natural eco-friendly material that does not create the effect of a "cold floor" due to its thermal conductivity. But its moisture resistance, biological stability and fire safety class are quite low. Therefore, it is best to replace a natural board in a kitchen with a high-quality imitation.
The material that conveys in detail both the pattern and the texture of an oak board is a quartz-vinyl laminate produced by the VINYLAM company. Under this brand, an imitation of brushed and varnished wooden boards of different shades is made, as well as an artificial parquet plank. Such a variety of solutions and decors allows literally any design idea to be translated into reality.
