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Wood Flooring for Kitchens

A kitchen is the hardest room in a house for a wood floor, and also the room where a wood floor makes the biggest difference. Spills, dropped pans, oven heat, a dishwasher that will one day leak — it is all there at once.

It works, and it works well, but only with the right construction and the right finish. Of our 134 floors, 131 are engineered, and for a kitchen that is not a detail. Here is what to choose and what to avoid.

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Engineered, Not Solid

A solid board is one piece of timber, and timber moves across the grain when humidity changes. A kitchen swings from steamy to dry several times a day, and over a year that movement shows up as gaps in winter and tight, cupped boards in summer.

HerringboneChevron
Block shapePlain rectangle, cut squareCut at an angle at both ends
How it meetsEnd to side, steppedPoint to point, continuous V
FeelTraditional, informal, forgivingFormal, directional, more modern
Waste10–15%More — the angled cuts throw away more
CostHigher than plankHighest of the three
Best inAlmost any room; the safe choiceLong rooms and hallways, where the V has somewhere to go

An engineered board is a layer of oak bonded to a plywood core with the grain running crosswise, which cancels most of that movement out. This is the whole reason engineered construction exists, and it is why we would not sell you one of our 3 solid floors for a kitchen without talking you out of it first.

Lacquered or Oiled: The Real Trade-Off

A lacquer is a sealed film on the surface. Water sits on top of it rather than reaching the wood, which is the obvious virtue in a kitchen — and the reason it is the only finish we would put in a bathroom or cloakroom, and a wipe with a damp cloth is the whole maintenance routine. The weakness is repair: when the film is scratched through or worn at the sink, you cannot patch it invisibly — the fix is sanding the floor.

An oil soaks in and leaves the surface breathable. It is less immediately waterproof, so a puddle left overnight can mark it, but a mark can be cleaned and re-oiled in place, by you, in an afternoon. We hold 48 lacquered and 82 oiled floors, and for most kitchens we lean lacquered — unless you would rather maintain a floor than replace a section of it.

Water: What Actually Causes Damage

Splashes are not the problem. A wet patch wiped up within a few minutes will not harm either finish, and anyone who has had a wood floor in a kitchen for ten years has wiped up hundreds of them.

What causes damage is water that stays: a dishwasher weeping behind the kickboard for a fortnight, a slow leak under the sink cupboard, a washing machine hose. The water gets into the board edges, the core swells and the boards lift, and by the time it shows on the surface the damage is done.

So the sensible precautions are not about the floor at all. Check under the sink occasionally, use a tray in the cupboard, and if a machine is plumbed in, make sure you can see the floor behind it. A mat at the sink does more good than any upgrade in specification.

Underfloor Heating and Kitchen Layouts

Kitchens are the most common room for underfloor heating, because wall space is taken by units and there is nowhere sensible for a radiator. 64 of our floors are rated for use over heating, and those are the only ones we will supply for it.

The constraint is the surface temperature: at or below 27 °C, no exceptions. Above that the board dries unevenly and will eventually cup or split. A properly commissioned system holds that comfortably; a system run hot to compensate for poor insulation will ruin a wood floor.

One layout point worth raising early: a floor laid before the units goes under them, which looks better at the kickboard and means the floor is continuous. A floor laid after the units butts against them and needs a scribe or a bead. Decide which before the kitchen fitter arrives, not after.

Shop Floors Suited to Kitchens

Engineered oak in lacquered and oiled finishes from £22.00 per m² excluding VAT, including 64 floors rated for underfloor heating. Three samples free.

Showing 1–48 of 130 results

Kitchens We Have Floored

Lacquered engineered oak through a Sydenham kitchen-diner, laid before the units so the floor runs unbroken under the island. Brushed oak over heating in a Beckenham extension.

More of these, with photographs, are on our recent work page.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is wood flooring a bad idea in a kitchen?

No, provided it is engineered rather than solid and the finish suits how you live. The kitchens where wood floors fail are almost always ones with a slow leak nobody noticed, not ones with a lot of cooking in them.

Should I choose lacquered or oiled for a kitchen?

Lacquered for most people: the sealed surface shrugs off spills and needs only wiping. Oiled if you would rather be able to repair a worn patch yourself than face sanding the whole floor in a decade. Both work; they fail differently.

Can I put a wood floor over kitchen underfloor heating?

On the 64 floors rated for it, yes, and kitchens are where heating makes most sense. Keep the surface at or below 27 °C and have the screed commissioned before the floor goes down.

What happens if the dishwasher leaks?

If it is caught quickly, usually nothing. If it has been weeping for weeks the boards in that area will swell and need replacing — which on an engineered floor means lifting a section rather than the room, so keep a few spare boards from the original order.

Does a wood floor stain from cooking oil?

An oiled floor can mark if a greasy spill sits; it cleans with the manufacturer’s cleaner and a re-oil of the spot. A lacquered floor will not stain, because nothing reaches the wood through the film.

Should the floor go under the kitchen units?

If the sequence allows it, yes. The floor is continuous, the kickboards sit on it neatly, and a future unit change does not expose bare subfloor. It uses slightly more material, which is the only argument against.

What Our Customers Say

★★★★★

“We had some herringbone flooring fitted recently. It was a great experience from start to finish and we couldn't be more happy with the result. Ruslan is a…”

— Dave Thompson

★★★★★

“Beautiful job, I’m so pleased. Ruslan is very knowledgable, flagged any potential issues early and advised me on what I could preserve from the existing f…”

— Rosa O'Mara

★★★★★

“I went to visit Wood4Floors to see some samples, and had a super helpful man show me some things and gave me a few full sized samples of herringbone flooring.…”

— Drew Theunissen

See all 101 reviews on Google →

How do we help you choose?

Tell us how the kitchen is used, whether there is heating in the floor and when the units are going in. We will narrow it to a handful of floors and send samples free, or you can see full boards at the Forest Hill showroom.

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