When you think of heading to the lumber yard to buy wood you think of building a deck, or maybe a door. You think of building a coffee table or a bookshelf, but what about the wood needed for a kitchen? There are hardwood floors, wooden cabinets, butcher block counters, and you can make your own butcher block movable kitchen islands for prepping. There are many uses of wood in a kitchen so this is what we are going to talk about today.
The kitchen is my favorite room in the entire house; I can honestly say I spend most of my non-working hours in there. I have lived in many homes while traveling and had many different style kitchens, from ceramic tile floors, vinyl kitchen floors, and hardwood floors. Counters made with no wood to counters with built-in butcher block for cutting, metal and glass kitchen cabinets and wooden kitchen cabinets. I can honestly say my personal favorite and most ideal kitchen is a kitchen with hardwood floors, huge built-in butcher block tables and hardwood cabinets, but that’s just me.
Some issues I have had with vinyl kitchen flooring are peeling, cracking and bubbling, if you do not take very good care of vinyl kitchen flooring these can become problems quickly. Also, staining, vinyl stains very easy, I don’t know about you but I can’t count the amount of times I have spilled tomato sauce on the floor… Vinyl can also be an issue if you have pets, they can easily chew of the vinyl that quickly peels at the corners of the room, check your list of pet approved food, I’m pretty certain vinyl is not on the list. Now for ceramic, I will admit, ceramic floors can be beautiful, and for some people dangerous, I have young children and when I lived in a home with ceramic floors one of them was learning to walk, I was nervous everyday if they fell they would crack their heads. I’m not normally a nervous mom, but for a head to be wracked on a ceramic floor, that’s a whole other topic! Also, ceramic floors can easily crack or break, I know I am not the only person out there who has dropped a heavy pan once or twice, my pans are very durable and heavy, they will take a lot to break, but a ceramic floor can crack much easier.
The bonuses of having hardwood flooring in your kitchen are easy, they are warm to the foot and eye, and they are easily attractive weather light or dark in color. They are easy to clean, less likely to crack, peel or break, when purchasing hardwood for you kitchen you will have the ease of knowing that hardwood in general can last up to 25 years, and naturally is moisture resistant, great for your kitchen. If you do have pets you will be glad to know that woods such as Ipe and some others are also resistant to dog scratches and high heel marks, perfect for everyday families.
As for the counters, what chef doesn’t want a large butcher block counter or movable kitchen island? And for the cabinets, wood is a durable beautiful choice, it has a warmer homier feel than mental or glass does. It will not rust or break nearly as easy as other choices would, but wood is not for all, maybe you are more of a modern contemporary person, maybe you prefer metals and glass, for you I say, to each their own. But for me, for most families, with pets and children running around, wood is clean, durable, strong, warm, and just plain old inviting!
Mark Hawkins loves to design and build decks. He loves it so much he has continually been doing it for 10 years now and can’t seem to get enough of it. Through his experience he has had the opportunity to share his knowledge by being a writer for Austin Decking Supply. Timbertown Austin specializes in pergolas, arbors, decks and railings and is single outlet for outdoor living lumber and building materials in Austin, Texas and surrounding areas.