The kitchen in our apartments is traditionally the most inhabited place. Therefore, everyone is trying to make this room more comfortable, more functional and more spacious, at least visually. Kitchen flooring occupies a special place in the overall design and requires the most careful attention. After all, it is the kitchen floor that serves as a path to the very heart of the hearth, where in the evenings all household members gather in the family circle, friendly gatherings are arranged, a whole range of dizzying aromas is born and delicious dishes are prepared.
Due to the special nature of this room, kitchen flooring must meet several important requirements. They are primarily due to the operational features of this epicenter of family comfort and, of course, aesthetic considerations. The floor covering for the kitchen must be resistant to dynamic loads and mechanical damage, have good moisture-resistant qualities and inertness to aggressive chemicals that modern detergents are full of. Besidesthe kitchen floor must be non-slip, resistant to abrasion, various fumes and splashes.
With all the variety of modern finishing and facing materials, not every option is suitable for the kitchen floor. As a rule, either ceramic tiles, or laminate or linoleum are used as flooring for the kitchen. Of course, you can resort to a more economical option, which is the scraping of the old parquet. Especially given the high environmental friendliness of wood.
Under the term "sanding of the floorboard" lies a complex and rather laborious complex of restoration work to give the floor covering (parquet) a clean, aesthetically attractive and even surface. But in terms of performance and durability, this option is significantly inferior to the three above.
Such flooring for the kitchen as linoleum is now on the market represented by a huge mass of all kinds of materials: fabric, synthetic, natural, combined, single and multilayer, containing various pigments and plasticizers, having a special protective coating and without it. This list can go on and on, and new materials and combinations are constantly being added.
Some expensive types of linoleum are made from natural oils, waxes, wood flour and limestones. This type of coating, having absolute environmental cleanliness and extremely high resistance to various types of pollution (including grease), is able to maintain itsquality for decades. Possessing unique bactericidal properties, natural linoleum is even recommended for use in medical and children's institutions. True, this option is not cheap.
A synthetic linoleum made from fiberglass can serve as a more democratic type of kitchen floor. Although it is a completely chemical product, but, according to the requirements of GOST, its negative effect on the body is absolutely excluded. The palette of various colors of synthetic linoleum is so diverse that choosing the right tones for any style is not the slightest difficulty.
The thickness of this type of flooring should be chosen in accordance with the individual operating conditions of the kitchen and the type of furniture installed in it. For example, the more mechanisms that damage the surface (furniture wheels, etc.) are used, the thicker the linoleum should be. For standard use, a synthetic coating of an average level of resistance that can withstand distributed mechanical loads is quite suitable. However, dents may remain on it, for example, from heels. To exclude the very possibility of such troubles, it is still advisable to choose a coating of increased resistance.
Laminate is the most modern, beautiful and practical type of kitchen flooring. But he is too picky about the degree of evenness of the surface. Therefore, laminate flooring requires the presence of a concrete screed, which gives perfect evenness.floor planes. Other than that, it's pretty comfortable. The assembly of laminate flooring is extremely easy. For all its environmental safety, this type of coating is subject to some degree of deformation, which requires some caution in its operation.
But the undisputed universally recognized leader among materials for the kitchen floor is ceramic tiles, which have phenomenal performance, excellent aesthetics and durability. Its advantages can be listed for a very long time. It has only one drawback - it is almost impossible to change the tile, since it is mounted on a special glue, after which the surface is a solid monolith after drying. But there is also a positive side to this. By using ceramic flooring, you can get rid of the headache of changing your kitchen floor for a long time.
