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Does anyone have concrete floors in kitchen ?

16 years ago

Could you please post pics as well as pros and cons ??

TIA!

V

Comments (7)

debbie_2008
16 years ago
I don't but I love them. There are so many paint effects for concrete.
caligirl_cottage
16 years ago
I did years back and I don't like how hard they are on my feet and back. I don't like tile either for the same reason, but at least tile is set on a subfloor with a little "give" to it. Concrete is, well, concrete. They also require sealing on a regular basis because they get wear areas around the sink and traffic areas. Fine if you like that kind of look.
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cork2win - Thanks for the response. I was wondering specifically about dyed floors, as I haven't heard any first-hand testimonials from anyone who has one. It's far less expensive and more efficient for us to have the floor dyed. My general contractor and the concrete contractor are working together to make sure the timing is right for the concrete to be able to be poured and left undisturbed for the time it takes the concrete guy to do the work. This requires the space to be left undisturbed for a far shorter time than it would if we were going to have it stained. If we were going with stain, the concrete would have to cure for at least one month's time before that could be done. In that time, it would have to remain free of anything that might damage the surface (glue, paint, drywall materials, etc.) Since the plumber has already put down the tubing for the radiant heat, we want to get the concrete down ASAP. We are not being super fussy about the color of the finish. We are aware we can get a more artistic, real stone look by staining later, but for our purpose of a casual entertaining space, the dyed look sounded fine. I still would love to hear from anyone who owns, or has seen a dyed concrete floor. I've only seen photos.
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We had Caesarstone Buttermilk, then Pental Botticino--long story and can't really recommend either company, but I love the look. Cambria has several colors that would have worked too, but it was $1000 more. We have the same restriction where everything else in the house is warm. You can't go white or gray, but the greige color does work. I just picked up the Cambria magazine and they have an article on gray neutrals. The decorator picked BM Bar Harbor Beige as his favorite beigey-gray with warm undertones. You could get a chip of that. Your travertine looks much golder than my tile, and I would be afraid of the gold dominating. I think that chipped edge might be a little too Tuscan. Have you looked at porcelain tile? There's so many to chose from and it's bullet-proof.
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Comments (16)
We've lived with our concrete for several months now. Drawbacks, I'm trying to think....I guess if it's an area that you will be doing a lot of standing in it might not be the most comfortable surface for that without a rug, or something soft, underfoot. Ours is a living/bar area, so that's not really an issue for us. I have area rugs on mine, and I know some people find it inconvenient to vacuum around area rugs rather than having wall-to-wall carpet to vacuum, that's not a big deal to me, but I've seen it mentioned by others. If it is an area where people, especially kids, might tend to sit or play on the floor often, I probably wouldn't recommend it without some sort of soft padded rug. We have a 1 & 3 year old, and they've done fine with it with a rug. That said, they also have a playroom with wall-to-wall carpet just adjacent to the area with concrete, so perhaps that would be a bigger issue to me if we didn't have that room?? I guess concrete always has the potential (i have no idea how great) to crack, so I guess that's something to consider. That's all I can think of, and in my situation at least, those are pretty minor things. The pros...So far they seem really easy to keep clean. I think there are 2 things about my floor that really help keep it from looking dirty as quickly. First the color has some variation to it, and second, the floor has a little bit of a texture to it. Some of the floors that are in that link above look very smooth and shiny and I wonder if those would tend to show dirt more, but I don't know for sure. The finish seems to be very durable. I think unless you went at it with a hammer and chisel to chip away at the concrete, it would be very difficult to mar the finish. If you ever were to have water issues in your basement, your floor wouldn't get damaged. We have an entry from a patio, where there will eventually be a hot tub, so that was another consideration for us - the potential for tracking in from that door, and down the road dripping wet bodies walking through that door. As mentioned by the poster above, our floor down there was a complete mess before they started on it. In addition to the usual construction mess, we have a stone fireplace there, and the masons did all of their work right on the concrete, so there was lots of mortar residue and what-not from that. We also had a few divots in ours that had to be patched. I can't remember how those got there, but apparently it's not uncommon to have to do some of that before the staining is done. Anyway, it can be done on a floor that was a complete mess, but how much work the clean-up is I can't say for certain, because luckily we did not do the cleaning. Sorry this was so long, but hope it helps.
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I work for a builder so I have seen it many many times. I am with you about the texture, it looks too much like a wall for my taste. However, most of our customers that have it done have it stamped and stained with two different colors. The stamped spray deck we typically do looks more like rock. As far as chipping goes, we don't really have an issure with it except for springtime hail. Customers will call us over the tiniest imperfections about decks, but they paid good money for it so it's expected to last. I've noticed hail that is baseball size or larger will chip it. Here is a link that might be useful: stamped and stained spray deck pics
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debbie_2008
16 years ago
I'll agree it would be hard on the feet
perel
16 years ago
Anti-fatigue mats at the main workstation/standing areas (sink,cooktop,etc) will take care of the hard-on-your-feet issue. Personally, I can't feel the difference between "non-resilient" and "resilient" flooring - it's all uncomfortable - so I went with mats and ceramic tile. Concrete is a really nifty material; if my kitchen was slab on grade I would have seriously considered using it.

I'd recommend having in-floor radiant heating installed when the slab is poured, if possible - it's cheap to put PEX in during construction, not too expensive to put electric heat cable in, but impossible to add later. You can always put the pipe/cable in and only hook it up later if you decide you want heat - but concrete does tend to get cold easily, just like tile or stone.
biner
16 years ago
LUV concrete- we are currently building our countertops and then plan to do fireplace hearth and concrete floor for our entrance foyer. The floor will have an integral pigment and then sealed. For floor sealer check out Pentrasil 244+ at Convergent Concrete - no resealing and tough. i have been documenting our progress at the Ikeafans site if you are interested - search "bought the cement mixer". I'll warn you though that it's alot of work but well worth it if you like the look and enjoy doing it yourself.
User
16 years ago
I currently have a concrete kitchen floor--the slab. We're in the deconstruction phase.

I had considered porcelain tile but living with just the bare concrete these past 2 months taught me something--it hurts! My feet, legs, hips and back ache when I'm in the kitchen too long. Granted, I'm usually barefoot.

My grandson has taken a few falls on it (because he's 21 months old). The sound was sickening and he really hurt himself each time.

If I were you, I'd try walking and standing on cement before seriously considering it for your kitchen. It's personal preference, but I'll be going with hardwood.
plllog
16 years ago
It's true about the possibilities for paint on the concrete, but for a kitchen, get it colored in the mix (integral pigment per Biner above). I had gorgeous painted concrete years back and it was a real pain to clean. The paint (sealer?) seems to grip spots and dirt and there's a lot more hand cleaning than other surfaces.

'Course in my kitchen it doesn't matter what I get because there's concrete underneath :)

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