That's some messy kids LOL (J/K!) I understand - we raised 4. Found a thread related to your question - I'll link below

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen floor drains

Mark,

Found another site for you - linked below. HTH!

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen floor drains

IMHO the reason floor drains are not often used in residential kitchens is that unless the floor is adequately sloped to the drain it can be more difficult to get water into it than to put it into a bucket by wringing out a mop and few people want their kitchen floor to be sloped or pay for the cost of it.

Also, it is not easy or cheap to recess a drain into a conventional wood framed floor structure and to waterproof it. The detail works best with quarry tile in a mortar bed or over a concrete topping which is how it is normally done in commercial kitchens and toilet rooms where it is needed for spills and overflows more than for cleaning.

" prevent a dangerous level of bacteria building up because food and liquids were allowed to pool up and remain stagnant within your kitchen."

And I thought we had a messy kitchen! :) Haven't seen any stagnant water pooling in our kitchen for quite some time :)

Anyway.. our kitchen would be on a slab so sealing it would not really be an issue. I though we may have a very small sloped area around the drain (maybe 1'x1' or so).

Maybe it is not worth it.

Macv,

Thanks for the clarification - never thought of that. Thank you...I really appreciate yours & others input in Gardenweb. I'm a newbie and learning so much by reading all the wisdom & knowledge on here.

I can see how funny that is now that I can see 'the other side' LOL You are welcome, Macv :)

I love this thread! I threatened to do this when our kids were little. When we were renovating and people asked what floor I was putting in the kitchen, I would answer: "either vinyl or concrete with a drain in the middle -- just like the monkey house at the zoo "(only most zoos don't have monkey houses any more). There have been days when it would have been so great. In fact this week with our uncharacteristic snow and ice and all the dripping feet and mittens, it would have been fantastic.

We have them in both of our bathrooms (1 down, 1 up), and the downstairs one is great for drying wet boots, snowpants, mittens, beach towels, etc., and also for washing dogs, potting plants and other very messy activities. Just pop the shower hose out of the bracket and wash the excess dog hair and potting soil right down the drain.

They are both "full mud jobs" (not sure if that is the correct technical term, it's what the old school tile guy called it), also called "wet room" I'm told, and while they were supposed to be set even with the flooring in the adjacent rooms, someone made a mistake and didn't do the framing or something right, so both of them have a 3-4" step to get into the bathrooms from the den and bedrooms (it's a family bath positoned between the 2 bedrooms upstairs). We were bummed, but learned to live with it.

Our SIL is in a chair, so when she comes to visit mr. sandyponder built a little ramp, she can get in and out by herself, which was the point, so all worked out in the end.

We also considered one in the kitchen, but we don't like tile in kitchens, and having one in the wood floor didn't seem like a very practical idea, so we nixed it.

Good luck-

sandyponder

Dumping a bucket of soapy water on the floor could really mess up your cabinet toe kicks, door frames, any trim, etc. if you weren't careful!

Anne