PrintIn Design: Rubber Flooring
Tile, linoleum, hardwood, and laminate—these are the options that immediately come to mind for kitchen flooring. But what about rubber?
Rubber flooring already has a presence in residential kitchens in the UK and Australia, but in the States, the material is probably most familiar in a public or commercial context: on stairs and in gyms, bank vestibules and bus aisles. Rubber is used in those instances for its durability, slip-resistance, and ease of care, all of which are key characteristics for kitchen flooring. Also, because it is less rigid than other options, rubber flooring is more shock absorbent, a benefit to your feet and, perhaps, the occasional dropped drinking glass.
Rubber floors are also relatively inexpensive and uncomplicated to install. While other materials crack, gap, and loosen when installed on sub-flooring that is anything but perfectly even and level, rubber, with its flexibility, is much more forgiving. In many cases, it is necessary to do little more than remove the existing flooring—no leveling or floating required. Then it is just a matter of cutting the rubber tiles (rubber flooring comes in rolls or tiles, but tile is generally better suited to use on a residential scale) to fit and sticking them in place with an adhesive. And though manufacturers' instructions stipulate that the whole floor should be rolled over with a massively heavy professional roller after installation, in order to ensure adhesion, in my experience, thoroughly rubbing the tiles into place and then rolling the corners and seams with a wooden wallpaper-seam roller has been sufficient.
But what about appearance? Available in a broad range of colors and surface textures, from smooth, warm browns to geometrically patterned primary colors, rubber floors can be integrated into just about any type of kitchen decor.
Practical, functional, and attractive, rubber flooring deserves wider appreciation. Check out rubberfloors.com and norarubber.com for more information.
About the author: Amanda Clarke is a recovering restaurant pastry chef with a background in architecture. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, where she writes, tests, and develops recipes and works on freelance food-styling gigs between walkings and feedings of her two dogs and husband.
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6 Comments:
In my experience, those rubber floors are the hardest to clean and keep clean, and buying a buffer for small kitchen is impractical, thus you usually only see them in an industrial/commercial setting.
If you're looking to be cheap, a rubber floor is your man. I'll stick with ceramic tile for my kitchen.
jayfallon at 2:36PM on 09/06/07
That's too bad, jayfallon. I actually like the look of the rubber flooring pictured here. It's unexpected, different, and looks like you mean business in the kitchen.
Adam Kuban at 2:40PM on 09/06/07
I appreciate the comment, jayfallon. It's curious to me that you've had such a negative experience with rubber floors. The kitchen floor pictured is my own, which I installed myself and have enjoyed for more than five years. It gets a ton of use and has taken all sorts of drops, drips and spills. To keep it looking great, I've never had to do much more than sweep or mop it as I would any other floor. About once a year I get fancy and apply a simple coat of MopNGlo to punch up the shine - no buffer, no fuss. The flooring was inexpensive, to be sure, but it has proven itself to be anything but cheap. I would not have recommended it if I felt otherwise.
Amanda Clarke at 4:03PM on 09/06/07
In our school setting this type of flooring is used in several different areas, stairs, ramps and some entryways. Being a physical plant operator and facility coordinator I have found this product durable, easy to maintain and clean. It does have a comercial or industrial look to it but that might be just the thing for a no nonsence kitchen. Right on Amanda!
Colorado Jim at 4:30PM on 09/06/07
I should have prefaced with using rubber flooring in a professional setting vs. in the home.
The experience I had with that same, raised rivets floor was rather brutal, but admittedly, it was a somewhat high-traffic area and would be filthy literally minutes after spending hours cleaning it. And the person charged with inspecting the cleanliness and making recommendations as to how improve my work was a jerk. Thus my automatic revulsion to use said flooring in a kitchen.
And I'm not a fan of vinyl tile, either. Because of leaks.
If it works for you in the home, then I can't argue with that. But in a professional kitchen, grouted ceramic tile or polished concrete is pretty much de riguer. I haven't built a professional kitchen in some time, but I do recall that it was mandatory to have a grouted tile floor. It's non-porous, you can't catch fire to it, leakage will be confined to the seems against the wall or absorbed by the grout, which will preserve the wood underneath your floor better than non-absorbent rubber and vinyl.
Ceramic tile is more expensive, but I think the benefits far outweigh those of rubber.
jayfallon at 4:31PM on 09/06/07
I live in Brooklyn and would love to use rubber flooring in our kitchen. Amanda, did you use the Pirelli brand? And where did you purchase it? It seems that a lot of the places I've found online don't do residential. I don't need them to install; I just want to be able to buy the tiles somewhere. Thanks!
fanwinston at 12:11PM on 04/21/08