engineered wood floor in open plan kitchen

[Fra81]

Apologies if this has already been discussed to death, but we're having a house refurb and I'm considering putting engineered wood floor in our open plan kitchen/dining/play/living area. I just love the look of it but I know it's not the most practical choice with 1 toddler and baby on its way. If you have it, would you recommend it? Ps we have underfloor heating

Thank you!

[DaveR]

Have a look at bamboo; v hard wearing and reasonable price

[allyfe]

We have engineered wood with underfloor heating. It is so lovely walking on a warm floor :). I love the wood too. Why don't you think it is practical? Ours is oak, but one thing that did surprise me is that our pale oak has developed an orange tinge in the sunlight. I don't know if you can find out, but it might be worth finding out what will happen when the sun hits your wood (engineered or otherwise).

[CFM]

We had it and found it stained too much in the kitchen. Now have wood throughout but tiles in the kitchen bit. I find wood is fine with kids, it's the cooking stains that are a pain.

[Fra81]

Thank you both, my concerns from a practical perspective are maintenance and care to avoid spillages, dents etc (we are careless people). But I just love the look of it. Thanks for the tip on sunlight Allyfe. May I ask where you got your floor from?

[amydown]

We have engineered wood and underfloor heating throughout downstairs. Used to have tiled floors in the kitchen years ago and the grouting got so dirty!

We have fairly dark stained oak wooden floor though so haven't had any issues with staining, etc.

[jollymummy]

We have engineered oak floorboards in our kitchen and I do love it but the section in front of the hob is very stained. I think possibly that we choose a wood finish that doesn't repel liquids very well. A drop of water immediately sinks into the wood but we had a wooden bathroom floor in our previous house and water sat on top of the wood without any sign of being absorbed. I would go with wood again but be a bit more careful about the finish. We have underfloor heating and it is lovely. We have a high gloss white kitchen and the wooden floor complements it beautifully.

[Belle]

We have it, not sure if it's engineered or not, but it's pretty dark so doesn't show dirt etc noticeably at all. the denting /marking thing is more of an issue in the sitting room area, but that's more down to us being careless and/or not using those felt pads under chair legs etc.

[amydown]

Choose oiler finish and a dark ish finish with lots of natural grain and the marks really don't show! We have the same boards throughout the house, including bathrooms and bedrooms. For bathroom floors, we did an extra layer of Danish pop for added protection (very easy to do) and love it.