Making decisions about what to put in your home can be overwhelming, especially when it comes to the big purchases. They’re often expensive and as such need to last a long time, so you want to know that you’re making the right decision. In my opinion, there are always certain things that are worth the investment when you’re re-designing your home and up there at number one? Vinyl flooring! It may surprise you to know that for a long time I was dead set against having anything other than wood or carpet in our home and I was adamant I wanted wooden floors in our kitchen. Now, I wouldn’t dream of it. Here’s why, in my opinion, vinyl flooring is almost always a better option for your kitchen and dining space…
1. You Wouldn’t Notice The Difference
Let’s start with the most important thing – what it looks like. Vinyl flooring has come a long way since the days of our parents, to the point that it can be really tricky to tell the difference between wooden floors and vinyl floors. It does vary from one to another but investing in a luxury vinyl like the Bentley flooring range gives you those little touches that make all the difference to how your new floor feels. With bevelled edges to enhance the plank like feel and individual knots and sapwood in each design, you get all the design features of real wooden floors with all the benefits of vinyl.
2. It’s More Cost Effective
As with anything, there are different levels of flooring available and different price points within it. However, on the whole, vinyl flooring is a far more affordable floor coating that wooden floors. This makes it the perfect choice to run through larger areas of your home in order to improve the feeling of flow throughout the house, without having to find a mega budget to do so.
3. It’s Harder Wearing
Over time wooden floors will pick up all sorts of scratches, marks and dents from general wear and tear. Whilst this can add to the beauty of them, if you’ve got a young family, a dog or are looking to use it in a high traffic area then vinyl could be a better option for keeping your floor in the same condition as when you bought it. Look for vinyls with a PU coating to help ensure future durability.
4. It Stands Up To Spills Better
When we were planning our kitchen, one of the big things we discovered was that wooden flooring isn’t really recommended for areas that may get wet. Whilst no-one plans a wet floor, we knew that with young kids around (and a splashy dog) there was a high chance of spillages. Should these go under the cupboard plinths, they can easily sit on the point where the floor covering meets your concrete (or other) floor and seep under them, causing issues. With a dishwasher, washing machine, freezers and goodness knows how many other possibilities for water leaks to spring up in our kitchen we knew we’d prefer a vinyl coating which is water resistant and can withstand a mop every week or so.
5. It’s Better With Underfloor Heating
Ahhh underfloor heating, one of my favourite investments we made for our home. If you’re pulling up floors then I’d always recommend researching if you can switch to underfloor heating at the same time for heat efficiency and a far nicer ambient warmth! You’ll need to be careful with wooden floors and underfloor heating – if you use the incorrect woods you can end up with twisting and warping of floor boards. Additionally wood is a natural insulator, meaning it’s not the best at getting that warmth from the underfloor heating to your toes! A vinyl floor is far more forgiving, and from experience I can tell you that it’s great with underfloor heating1
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