Hardwood floors are classic, timeless and durable and offer a variety of colors and finishes to fit any room in your house including your kitchen. For many years title was the flooring of choice for kitchens but now hardwood flooring is become even more popular in kitchens.

The look of hardwood flooring throughout your home and into your kitchen can help open up the look of your home and increase the open concept feel. But is hardwood in the kitchen a good idea?
Hardwood floors usually tend to avoid places that are considered highly moist environments this often includes places like bathrooms and damp basements but where does the kitchen stack up. Occasionally a kitchen may experience spills but these won’t affect wood flooring the issues arise when things like sink and dishwater spring a leak creating a very moist environment for your hardwood floors.
But if you have your heart set on hardwood floors in your kitchen there are ways to make it work

Opt for a Site Finish Hardwood

As long as your hardwood floors sealant has an impermeable barrier it will stand up to moisture. One trick to improve this barrier is to opt for a site-finish rather than a pre-finish on your kitchen hardwood. Site-finish is when you install unfinished hardwood flooring and once the raw wood is installed it is then stained and sealed. With pre-finished wood there is no top layer of sealant to help bridge the seams between the boards like there is with a site finish.

Install Engineered Hardwood Flooring

Another way to help protect against moisture it to install engineered hardwood over solid wood. With engineered wood flooring there is a veneer of hardwood on top of dimensionally stable plywood. This way if water does get below the surface the ply core will resist water better than if it were solid hardwood.

Installing hardwood flooring into your kitchen give the space an instant classic and traditional look it is just important to take precautions about spills and moisture that can occur in a kitchen.