Choosing Flooring for Kitchens and Bathrooms
Water, steam and dropped pans decide kitchen and bathroom floors. How sheet vinyl, LVT and safety flooring compare, plus sealing, falls and appliance detail.
Kitchens and bathrooms are the two rooms where a floor either keeps water out or gets replaced. Everything else, appearance included, is secondary to what happens at the joints and the perimeter.
They are not identical problems. A kitchen adds point loads, heat and appliances that must slide in and out. A bathroom adds standing water, condensation and a much smaller area where seams and upstands do the work.
What each room actually demands
| Requirement | Kitchen | Bathroom |
|---|---|---|
| Main water risk | Spills and appliance leaks under units | Standing water and constant condensation |
| Load | Appliances, island units, dropped pans | Light, but wet feet on a small area |
| Preferred product | Glue-down LVT or sheet vinyl | Sheet vinyl, welded, or slip-rated LVT |
| Perimeter detail | Floor under units or up to a scribed line | Coved upstand where the room is fully wet |
| Failure point | Under the dishwasher, unseen for months | The seam nearest the bath or shower |
Sheet vinyl, LVT or safety flooring
Sheet vinyl is the strongest water answer in a small room because it can be cut as one piece with no joints at all. LVT looks better in an open-plan kitchen and can be replaced tile by tile, but every joint is a potential path if the adhesive is skimped. Safety flooring, with aggregate through the wear layer, belongs in wet rooms, shower rooms and any bathroom used by someone unsteady on their feet.
Under the units or up to them
Running the floor under the kick boards costs slightly more material and saves a great deal of trouble later, because a future kitchen change does not expose a bare strip. Where the floor stops at the units, it is scribed tight and sealed, so an appliance leak cannot run behind the line.
Appliance recesses and sliding out
- Keep the floor continuous into the appliance recess so a washing machine can be pulled forward without catching an edge
- Avoid a raised bar at the recess mouth, which lifts and tears when a machine is dragged over it
- Check the finished floor height against the underside of a fitted worktop before ordering, especially with a plywood overlay
- Seal around pipe entries rather than leaving the cut open
Preparation in wet rooms
Timber floors in bathrooms are overlaid with moisture-resistant plywood, screwed at close centres, because any flex will crack a seam. On solid floors we check for damp before bonding, and where a fall to a drain is required, the screed is formed before the flooring is ordered rather than after.
Cleaning without shortening its life
Neutral pH cleaner and a damp mop for vinyl and LVT. Bleach dulls the wear layer, and strong degreasers in a kitchen can soften adhesive at the joints over time. In safety flooring, the wrong cleaner leaves a film that reduces the slip performance you paid for.
Frequently asked questions
- Is laminate ever acceptable in a kitchen?
- We would not specify it. The joints swell where water sits, and a dishwasher leak that goes unnoticed for a week ruins the run.
- Do bathroom floors need coving?
- In a full wet room or a commercial washroom, yes. In a domestic bathroom with a bath and shower screen, a well sealed perimeter is usually enough.
- Can vinyl go over existing tiles?
- Only after the grout lines are filled and the surface levelled, otherwise every joint reads through the sheet within months.
- Is slip-rated flooring worth it at home?
- It is well worth it in a shower room, a bathroom used by an older person, or a utility room that regularly gets wet.
Keep reading
Safety flooring or standard vinyl — know the difference in slip resistance, compliance and where each belongs.
Sheet vinyl or LVT — which suits a wet room, kitchen or busy hallway best? Compare seams, looks and cost.
Why plywood overlay boarding is used over timber subfloors before fitting vinyl or LVT, and how it differs from screeding.
See how we survey, prepare and fit vinyl across Kent.
See how we survey, prepare and fit LVT across Kent.
See how we survey, prepare and fit safety flooring across Kent.
Talk it through with a fitter, not a call centre
Book a free measure from our Gillingham warehouse and we will bring samples of the options discussed here, check the subfloor and leave you with a written quote.