Ditto allnewappliances. I would love to see a thread with pictures of kitchen rugs. Has anyone put one in a contemporary kitchen.

We have a rug in our kitchen, mostly to soften the hard slate floors. They look awful after a very short time. In our experience, you have to replace them every year or two. We've tried bamboo mats too, those were no better. I do like the look and feel.

I've been through this angst and had a thread on this, but I can't find it now. What I concluded was best for my situation was an outdoor polypropelene rug because of all the wear and tear. The forum answers convinced me to go this route (and I used overstock.com) rather than a nice wool Oriental rug and spent my money elsewhere.

I have an anti-fatigue mat covered by a cheap Target area rug in my current kitchen with vinyl flooring. The rug does get dirty, but since it's cheap I don't mind replacing it every couple of years. For the new kitchen, I'm thinking about one of those gelpro mats over the new wood. They come in some interesting colors so they'd be pretty as well as functional.

Here's the Gelpro website. They have long narrow ones to fit a space like yours and like mine will be.

Here is a link that might be useful: Gelpro anti-fatigue mats

I have a rug in front of my sink that overlaps to my dishwasher. I do not have a rug in front of my refrigerator which is across from my sink and I don't think I'll put one there. However, I do not have a water or ice dispenser on the door so I think I am safe. My last refrigerator constantly had a drip down the front from the water dispenser and I purposely did not get one this time around, especially after we decided to install wood floors. So far so good, but it has only been a couple of weeks. I don't know how my floor will look after a couple of years!

I currently have two mini rugs in my kitchen, but I am
constantly changing them in and out with other sizes.
Round, 5 by 8 or a runner... It depends on my mood and
what colors I feel like using.

I love rugs on wood floors. Something warm and inviting
about it. I do not use gel mats, I am not a good enough
cook to use them (smiles).

Here are some images of kitchens that might help you.

River Clay Urban Kitchen

AnnArbor Remodel

Kashmir Gold Granite

Blue Bell Tornette2

By Design Interiors

Heart Wood Designs Kitchen

Mouser Cabinets Business Weekly Magazine

Ikea Fans

I have hard wood floors and I have 2 small rugs, one in front of the sink and the other in front of the range. To me, its about having a rug where I STAND. Therefore, no rug in front of the fridge. That's one place I certainly do not need to stand for very long haha!

We actually have several rugs in the kitchen to protect the hardwood from water, splashing food while cooking, and kids/dog. We have a big rug in front of the sink area, a small rug by the stove, and small rugs by the door to the garage, basement/deck (where there is a hot tub), and living room. I am trying to avoid damage as much as possible and I don't think the look bad. Here is a picture that shows the stove and sink area:

thanks breezygirls for the info on the gel mats and thanks Boxerpups...I especially like the one titled river clay urban kitchen.
I was thinking of getting an inexpensive one so this way I don't feel guilty replacing it every so often - either when it gets too stained or when I get tired of the patter / colors.

We have two seagrass rugs on either side of our island. Here is the one by the sink (excuse the dog):

After these two rugs wear out I'm going to replace them with Dash&Albert indoor/outdoor rugs. I have three of these in our living room and they can handle anything that is dropped on them.

I have 2 rugs in my kitchen. One runner under my sink and DW and another between the range and prep sink. We used braided jute rug which goes with the style of our home.

I did not want to stress about water drips. We do not have one in from of the fridge but do not have a water/dispenser either.

I love this kitchen from Houzz.com. The rug looks fantastic.

The joke at my house is that we call it "rug mart." Where's there's empty space on the floor I have a rug (we caught some bargains at auction -- scroll down).

In our apartment we have a galley kitchen that's 12 feet long and has a 4-1/2 foot aisle with the sink at the end. Over the years I've had different rugs there -- first some from Crate & Barrel that wore out, then an Oriental I bought on ebay but it cost more to clean than I paid for it.

So after it was cleaned I switched it out and went with a faux-sisal runner which is an indoor-outdoor Capel carpet.

The Capel was a bit of an investment but it is incredibly cushy with latex backing, it stays down and because it's poly (though it looks like sisal) it can literally be hosed down. Spills just wipe up with a miracle cloth. This is my fave kitchen rug yet for function and durability.

Some thoughts:

A few small/medium rugs are easier to move around and swap in and out to replace or wash if they get dirty. But smaller rugs can be a tripping/slipping hazard, so choose them carefully. Or you can get a long one, then put a smaller mat on top of an area that's going to get very dirty, like in front of the sink, or a traffic pattern.

Darkish colored rugs with a lot of pattern hide a lot of dirt. Rugs with nap, like knotted rugs, actually can repel a whole lot of dropped food, even some spills, and wave them off the surface, up to a point.

Rugs are often washable! At home! Even knotted ones.(I have written this in detail several times. Short version: Check for colorfastness. Then hose, dish soap, shrubbery. And I live in the damp, chilly northeast.)

Anyone with wooden floors really needs rugs. It's so much better and easier to protect what you have than to try to repair it once it gets damaged.

We use Chilewich, some are 5 years old and still look great. Protect the floor, can hose them off, thin and do not curl or move. Generally for modern designs, but can be used anywhere.

Here is a link that might be useful: Chilewich

No hose in our apartment -- we're on 12. So other considerations IYKWIM.

Just be careful if you place a rug in front of the fridge. Most fridges vent through the bottom front and if a rug slides over too close to the vent it will make your ice melt or worse. Ask me how I know........

abananie,
That sounds terrible. I love my rugs but my son likes
his ice better.
I will keep an eye out. Thanks.
~boxerpups

zinnah - are you using the utility mats or the woven mats from Chilewich?

Yes,

We have flat weave, reversible, wool Kilim type rugs - One on the sink, DW, counter run, one by the range.

Wool naturally resists water, stains - easy to care for & hold up extremely well

Old pic but you get the idea

We use the woven mats. We probably went through 5 or 6 other rugs or mats that got dirty, were ugly, bunched up, or wetripped over until we got these mats. Besides their function, they look great with many color and texture choices.

Love hearing and seeing everyone's rugs...I think next week, I will be rug shopping - something fun and not too expensive, so I can switch when I either get bored of it or when they get too stained.

I've heard/read that you shouldn't use latex-backed rugs on hardwood because the chemical makeup in the latex will permanantly discolor wood (I've seen that happen to linoleum where a rug sat). Anyone hear of this?

Problem is 95% of the rugs out there have a backing that looks latex-y, but they don't tell you on the label what the material actually is.

So I am looking for rugs that have no backing at all - just the normal weave like a reversible, or the normal course, rough, stiff, non-rubbery back like an actual carpet has...and only very large rugs, which are too big, have that backing.

Another problem is the rug pad to go underneath to keep it from slipping and sliding since it has no backing. They all look latex-y too yet all the hardware pros say you need something.

What are you all using for backing - and where are you finding rugs without a built in latex back?

My floor guys insisted I use a backing safe for wood
floors. My rugs do not have backings. They are placed
on top of a wood floor with the safe backing.
I believe you can buy these pads at a lowes, homedepot or
ace hardware store.

A great place to shop online for rugs is HomeDecorators.
Of course you need to see these in person. I order a
small rug 3 by 5 so I don't have to pay big bucks for
shipping. If I love the look, I order a size I like.

I ordered my rugs and rugpads from Overstock. I didn't want any latex backing on my Travertine floors either. The price was very reasonable.

Some latex-backed rugs mark things and some don't. The latex isn't meant to be a pad, it's a backing to keep the thing together.

Capel suggests a rug pad under the latex. But rug pads can be tricky. I've had the color side of a supposedly "good" rug pad mark my wood floors -- it had to be oiled off. I've had the sticky stuff from the pads I prefer -- the Teebaud leave some residue on a stone floor but not bother the wood-finished ones.

The absolute worst IME is the cheapo rubber mesh pads as I found they skid and the petroleum in them has permanently marked a stone floor.

The purpose of pads is to save rugs from excessive wear and to keep them from skidding (especially important in a kitchen). So on the basis of safety, I've pretty much converted things to the Teebaud. On poly-finished floors I don't find the rubber mesh ones mark. But it also can depend on which poly.

The best rug pads of all were from Crate & Barrel -- sticky on both sides but they don't mark or leave any residue. Of course, you know they no longer sell them.

Don't find any hard and fast rules here. It's been trial and error for me.

This is a timely thread for me as my little monkey managed to drop a bottle of syrup (which then exploded)on my kitchen rug just this morning. We put a rug down our main prep area, from in front of sink to down the aisle with range to refrigerator. The floors are fir and are very soft and we felt we needed to protect them from shoes, dropping items etc. Well, we hadn't anticipated dropping syrup. Fortunately it is wool and I managed to blot and clean until all stickiness and stain were gone. It is nice to have something soft underfoot though. Hope we don't spill spaghetti sauce. ;0)

Glad to see a photo with a big rug in the kitchen. I have a wool rug from Homeplace that works very well. It wasn't too expensive and it warms up the room. I live alone and don't cook much, so there's little fear about major spills. (Excuse the cat behind in the first photo!)
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