Your premise is incorrect - people put real wood in kitchens, so installing wood-look laminate in the kitchen will not mark it as fake. And chair wear on wood look laminate will be no greater than slate or ceramic look laminate.

Just make sure you buy high quality laminate.

Most of those in our area do use real wood in the kitchen. It actually stands up extremely well with a good finish on it and isn't too expensive if you buy unfinished and finish yourself or have your installer finish it. I am not a fan of the prefinished wood floors you can buy nowadays. Water is more of an issue with the laminates than it is with true hardwood. The laminates are not so good in kitchens or baths because they warp when they get wet repeatedly. I don't think you can go wrong with real hardwoods and I like the look of the same floors flowing throughout a house.

I have real wood in my kitchen, which flows into the dining room, hall way and entry.

I have real wood in my kitchen, too. It's easier on the feet and legs than anything else. I like how it looks, and it's easy to clean.

Another real wood in kitchen. Finished on site with 4 coats of poly. In fact, I have it every room in house except laundry and one bath. Hope to do a bath remodel soon and will put wood in there also. They are tougher than you think...just have to make sure you don't get water leaks. But severe water leaks will damage any flooring.

DH had an inexpensive laminated wood product in his kitchen in texas. It sucked. You had to get every drop of water off the floor immediately so it wouldn't separate the laminate from the...whatever fake stuff it's glued on. So if you do anything but wood, be sure it's a good choice for a kitchen (ie that means spend money).

And if you're spending money, why not just do cheaper wood like an oak? Real wood will always preform better than fake and you can get solid wood for less than many laminates.

Wood is a common flooring option in our areas (alaska and washington) as well. I have it in both houses everywhere, including the laundry rooms :) I'd never do anything but wood in a kitchen though. It's a very friendly floor and easy to care for.

Wow--great responses! VERY helpful! I see that some of my assumptions were incorrect. Thanks so much!

Not to be the voice of dissention here....but... if in your area wood in the kitchen is not done, then going to the expense of putting in a real wood floor would not be a wise choice. Around here, no one has wood kitchen floors, it's always tile or vinyl.

I do have original hardwood throughout my house, but in the dining area/kitchen I have high end vinyl. I don't see a flow problem. In the addition (family room) we're going to put in a new floor, but it won't be wood...we're leaning toward tile or even poured concrete.

Another all hardwood, everywhere here. I just wanted to be rid of carpet and like the look of wood on the floor. It works out fine in the kitchen. I consider my hardwoods to look like we live here too tho. If you are a perfectionist, you may want to go with a good wood laminate. I would look at the new products by better manufacturers. These products, while not actual hardwood, do withstand alot of family life. I have a friend with 5 kids, who did an Armstrong product and I like it. Down for about 2 yrs and no tears, rips, water problems, etc.

No, it isn't "real" wood, but it sure looks like it. I thought it was hardwood, but I am no expert at wood flooring, just looked very nice. i think a good knowledgable installer is very important as well.

I also have wood everywhere! My entire first floor including kitchen is all hardwood. We've moved quite a bit and I have had wood floors in my kitchen in the last 3 houses including the powder room bathrooms.

We have prefinished wood throughout our main floor, oak in the living areas and Brazilian walnut in our kitchen and dining area. It's held up great and we love it.

I'm not sure why people claim unfinished is better, from my experience it's a myth. The prefinished is less work and has held up as good if not better than any unfinished floor I've seen. For example, when our electricity was out for 4 days, the refrigerator leaked for hours onto our kitchen floors. They were soaked pretty good, but dried out perfectly in a couple of day with no damage. And the other day when a 1/2 gallon of Sure Shot bug killer leaked onto the hall floor they dried out completely with no damage as well. Two different woods/brands, both prefinished and both held up great.

There are a lot of people who will swear by the laminate flooring, both my Mother & sister have it in their homes and love it. How well they will work for you depends greatly on your lifestyle and the quality you buy. Just know that you'll always be able to tell they are fake especially when you walk on them and SOMETIMES depending on where you are, that can be a issue for resale. I'm personally not a fan because I figure if you're going to spend the money, you might as well spend a little extra to get the real deal. There are inexpensive ways to do it, so the cost wouldn't be too much more than a higher quality laminate.

As far has having two different types of flooring IMPO that's just a taste issue. Both ways look good, it just depends on what you feel is right for your home.

Hardwood everywhere except laundry and baths, in every house I've had. Properly finished, it performs wonderfully, looks lovely, and improves resale.
I don't like stone or ceramic tile floors in the kitchen, either. I cook, and my middle-aged back can't take the inflexible surface!

Pre-finished and laminate floors aren't necessarily the same thing, and cheap ones will not behave like good ones. Flooring is not a good place to cut back too much...you can be penny-wise and pound-foolish by installing something that will have to be replaced twice in the 20 years you'd get from something of quality.

In my opinion, the only "always" is this:
Things that look like what they are are always better than things that try to look like something else.

If you want vinyl in your kitchen, choose something that doesn't try to be wood or brick or natural stone. Never try to put a fake version of something next to a real one. And you are dead right that fake wood vinyl everywhere will cheapen the look of your floors. Better to replace the carpet with something attractive, like a good wool sisal pattern, or a sturdy thick cut velvet pile, or a subtle geometric flat weave.

Our former home had real wood in the kitchen...I really miss it. Never looked dirty...even when it WAS...easy on the feet and back.

" And you are dead right that fake wood vinyl everywhere will cheapen the look of your floors. Better to replace the carpet with something attractive, like a good wool sisal pattern, or a sturdy thick cut velvet pile, or a subtle geometric flat weave."

Well...I disagree. We had fake wood vinyl put in our basement because of water issues. People think it is real until I tell them otherwise. It wasn't less expensive than "real" wood...it ran $7/sq installed...but it handless the occasional wetting it has gotten (and the slightly uneven concrete subfloor) better than real wood.

Candice Olson uses it frequently in basement settings.

Mjsee,

I think you misunderstood the comment by Bronwynsmom. She's not talking about basements and hardwood flooring is not recommended for basements because of moisture issues. That's why Candice Olson and most other people use the laminate instead in a basement setting.

However the question is regarding the main living areas and I think Bronwynsmom advise is absolutely right. I'm in and out of vacant/occupied homes all the time for my work and seldom (if ever) do I run across a laminate flooring that looks, sounds and wears as well as wood. IMHO, there is just no comparison. It's great for a basement setting if that's what you want, but not as good as wood for the upper main floor.

Another all wood person here in Houston. It's the preferred floor here and for resale value. Wood in the kitchen is a delight. So easy to clean. I've used Windex on the floors for 8 years. Never fails.

lukkirish--

I didn't misunderstand, I was objecting to the use of the word "ALWAYS."

In principal, I agree with the idea that if one is using a "fake" product one should be happy with the fakeness. But we looked for a vinyl product that could handle our basement for YEARS before we found the Congoleum product we settled on. Would I use it in a main floor situation? Probably not...but I might if the circumstances were right. Incontinent pet, family member in a motorized wheelchair...I can think of all sorts of reasons one might want hard-wearing vinyl instead of carpet or porcelain tile.

But, no worries. I'm a bit of an iconoclast when it comes to stuff like this. ;^)

I would like to clarify that I am not considering laminate flooring, I am considering "luxury vinyl tile" flooring. I am strongly considering Mannington Adura Planks (Vintage Oak in the Distinctive Series--5" x 48" planks with texturing and microbevels) in a light oak color. The urethane finish contains aluminum oxide and the planks themselves contain limestone. Very durable, and the light oak version, with the microbevels, texturing, and wood graining, looks fairly realistic.

Back to the original question--I now see that it would NOT necessarily be a negative thing to run the planks from the living room into the kitchen so that it all flows together and doesn't divide up the spaces (open floor plan). I still do have some concerns that there would be too much "oakness" in the kitchen but none of the other "woods" seemed to look as good for one reason or another.

Anyway, at this point the "plan" is to take the planks from the living room into the kitchen without a change of flooring type or transition molding. Hopefully it will work out OK. And I had no idea that so many people put real wood in their kitchens! When I was growing up we had solid hardwood floors in several areas of the house (it was in Florida and my mother was always waxing them and yelling at us for "tracking in sand" on them) but they did not extend into the kitchen.

It sounds like you are considering a very attractive product, and if you are happy with it, that's the thing that matters. And I agree that you will like having the same flooring everywhere. It goes a long way toward making a smaller house look larger, and doesn't grab your attention away from the room you are in.

And mjsee, I understand your objections, and think they are perfectly reasonable...but I am sticking by my "always" when talking about real things being preferable to things that are made to look like other things. It's my opinion, of course. But that doesn't mean that the next best thing isn't perfectly good. Or that I am never wrong!

It's like sports...being the second-best tennis player in the world is pretty good!

Mannington Adura is the Mannington cousin to Congoleum's Duraplank. We have been very pleased. I'll try to get some pictures tomorrow...I don't think the "oakness" will bother you. As I said, my former home had oak everywhere but the bathrooms. We loved it. It disappeared visually. You MIGHT want to consider real hardwood in the kitchen...it really was lovely. And with the new finishes it's almost as tough as vinyl.

ozziepuppy...if I hadn't had my basement flood (through window-wells) on a couple of occasions I'd probably have put engineered hardwood down. It was actually LESS expensive than the Duraplank. But I had...and I'm glad. we've had a washer overflow...and another six-inches-in-an-hour rain...and the floor looks like it did the day it was laid. And the same would NOT be true of engineered hardwood.

I can't bear porcelain floors...they are cold and make my knees hurt to think about them. And I couldn't talk The Husband into linoleum. It was even pricier. As you say...different strokes!

I would love to see pictures, thank you.

Well...first I have to get the room picked up. The Boy is home from college and has claimed the large basement room...it's not "photo ready." I'll attempt to get pics posted today. ;^)

melanie

I decided to go ahead and take the pictures and post them. The basement wasn't TOO bad.

I haven't really "decorated" what we call the Male Room (the tv lives there and when we moved into this house my sons were still at home...we became The Hangout House and it was always full of males.) The furniture is all cast-offs from other parts of the house. (Except for the painted This End Up stuff...that was free from a friend who moved. It was a mess, so I painted it.)

ANYHOO...here you go:

Looking down natural steps (which need to be re-finished after 13 years) onto the duraplank flooring:

These are natural light photos of The Male Room:

close-up of floor in natural light:

The Computer Room:

Hall from the Computer Room back toward the stairs:

3/4 bath with original tile on the 1966 vanity (SOMEDAY I'm going to change this out, but it's WAY down the list):

So there you have it. Part of the floor in the Male Room had LOTS of water on it less than 24 hours after install. Remnants of a hurricane came through and the window-well filled up and it came down the wall. Mopped it up, ran the fans...and it was all good. And, I'm ashamed to say, the bathroom also had lots of water on it when one of my son's buddies left the sink on and it over flowed. Out into the hall.

For a basement floor...it's very serviceable. Particularly when compared to the nasty 1960's tile that was down there (you can see just a little in this picture I took during install):

Hope these helped. Go see whatever you plant to install IN PERSON. Things can look VERY different in real life.

melanie

Melanie, that looks fabulous.
And that's the Male Room? I expected a a dreadful mess...but, not! You must have very nice boys. And how wonderful that you are the house they come to.

bronwynsmom--

Well the "boy" who is home from college this summer IS almost 22...and working. It was worse when they were in HS. The other "boy" is almost 25 and away in grad school. And what you can't see in that picture (I framed it carefully!)is The Magic Laundry Mountain. It's a long table where clean laundry gets piled while waiting to be folded. Everyone does their own laundry here...and we all fold our own. (Well, sometimes I take care of The Husband's laundry as well as my own.)

The Boy doesn't care to fold...so he dumps it on the table and picks it out as needed. It's not MY public space...so I've decided not to fight about it. He's leaving again at the end of August...

Melanie, Thank you so much for posting the photos! Your planks look very similar to what we are considering. Your floor looks GREAT and I am glad to hear how it "survived" the water episodes as well. The pictures were very helpful! :) Thank you!