What rooms are you installing this flooring in? Just the kitchen, or also in adjoining rooms? Are you on a slab?

Either just the kitchen (many options), or possibly the kitchen and LR/DR (engineered wood). We have meant to replace our hardwood floors for ages but have been putting it off due to cost. I went into this kitchen planning thing intending to only do the kitchen floor, but now that I am reconsidering flooring choices, I wonder if this is a good time to just do it all. And no slab.

I had 50 year old linoleum in my last kitchen. I wouldn't say it isn't durable.

But is today's linoleum the same product?

Do you have a budget for the flooring per square foot? Will you have your contractor install the flooring? Is the wood flooring in the adjacent rooms in bad condition?

No budget as of yet. Right now I am mainly concerned about quality. Most likely the contractor will install, unless it's super easy. Flooring in adjacent rooms is not great. It's pretty scratched up in the DR, although a rug helps hide that. There are gaps in between some of the planks, which makes it hard to clean. It's pretty old and beat up, and it can't be refinished at this point. I also don't care for the finish. However, we have been prepared to live with all that for a while yet bc of the rugs. My main question is for the kitchen, as that will most certainly be done.

Other than issues with a not-great install (subfloor was not prepped properly), we LOVE our Marmoleum Click pattern in our kitchen. We have kids and dog and our door to backyard is off this area so there is lots of traffic and dirt and spills and such but it cleans up like a dream. For us, the appeal was the colors and the ability to do a funky pattern. Not everyone's cup of tea, I know.

Yes today's marmoleum is the same product. I think it will probably be your best choice.

I'm pretty sure sheet marmoleum is repairable, which sets it apart from vinyl.

Another vote for Marmoleum (or Armstrong's natural lino product). I saw Artemis had trouble with her tiles, which is too bad and surprised me.

We are kid- and dog-free but have cats and projects and kitchen floor takes a fair beating. 15+ years of sheet lino and the only thing that's really got us is the water dishes (light discoloration; I'd use a mat underneath).

I think the Click came out after my kitchen but I'd use it for sure; currently they're on v2 of it so you might be able to find v1 at a discount (however, labor might eat that as v2 is supposed to be easier to install...check out Youtube videos on both).

Good luck -- I'm a huge lino fan (also have it in 2 baths).

We're installing Marmoleum click in the very near future. You can find it at a discount at greenbuildingsupply.com. We got it for $4.49/sqft I think, when cinch lock first came out (original price had been $6) We had the option of waiting a bit longer for the price to go down more, but our color choice was discontinued and in low numbers. You can now get it for $3.49/sqft I believe. Even the price on the cinch lock is lower now. I sure wish they'd had my color. I'm not looking forward to installing it.

Well we have young destructive kids, and a low budget. So what we did was install inexpensive floating laminate flooring in our entire main level. I know, this is not a recommended choice. We installed the flooring around the new cabinets. It was cheap ($1000 for the entire main level), and we easily installed ourselves. We know its not waterproof, etc. But it was so cheap that we don't care if it gets destroyed because we know we can quickly take it up and replace with something nice when the kids are older and we have more money. They've come a long way with laminate and it looks surprisingly really nice, and seems pretty scratch/dent proof. We bought a few extra boxes of the flooring in case there's a kitchen appliance flood or something. Fingers crossed it holds up.

Just ordered a bunch of marmoleum samples!!

Not so sure about the durability of marmoleum ( brand name of linoleum ) - there are definite pros and cons - a Google search will tell you all those... I happen to have a vinyl floor in my kitchen from Armstrong. I love it! Looks exactly as it did they day I had it installed 10 years ago. I drop stuff all the time and only had one dish break - shatter actually - and that didn't damage the floor. I also have a lot of my customers buy Coretek - an engineered floor - nice product! You may also want to consider cork! Very durable as well!

Good luck!

When I was looking into engineered floors yesterday, I was a bit uncertain about putting them in a kitchen b/c of moisture. I did find some I liked but overall my takeaway was "probably not in a kitchen." Cork looks viable for sure.

Silken, I've been reading about linoleum and LVT, and I came away with it pretty uncertain about both, mainly in terms of scratching. If, say, 75% of people rave about a product and 25% slam it, it makes me hesitate. I think I will just order a ton of samples and do my own tests. Sometimes I forget that that is the best way.

What do you people say about engineered wood as a kitchen floor? Because I have a bunch more ideas after looking at that yesterday.

LVT can take a tremendous amount of abuse. The kennel where we take our dogs has wood-look LVT in their entry. You can imagine the abuse it takes, and other than being dirty/furry, it still looks great after a couple of years. I think theirs is the glue down kind. Our neighbors put down Mannington Adura about 10 years ago on a slab and it has held up to multiple rounds of dachshunds' pointy nails and still looks great, too.

stillpitpat I don't think you can generalize about the durability of LVP/LVT. There are so many different brands and levels of quality. Before I chose mine, I had many samples. One I took from our HD was the right color but I could actually scratch it with my fingernail! The EZLay I chose has ceramic beads in the top wear layer which is one thing to look for. You need to check the specs. A thick wear layer is very important. My planks are 5mm thick which is thicker than many. I did scratch tests with a key and couldn't scratch it until I dug in quite hard and used a very sharp part of the key. You can scratch pretty much anything if you try hard enough. We have 3 cats, one being a 10 pounder who tears thru the place like a freight train! At the base of the stairs (which we also just finished putting the LVP on) he skids and scrambles before flying up the stairs. He has been doing this for the month we spent at the lake and I see no sign of claw marks anywhere. They have already puked up hairballs on it and what a dream to wipe up compared to the old carpet that was in the living room. It is also nice to walk on and fairly warm underfoot. It was THE answer for the cabin and I would probably consider it in a home if I was re-doing flooring. People who have seen it say it looks like hardwood but feels better. Some brands have a sheen that people don't like, but I am very happy with how ours looks. It has a slight sheen but does not look hazy or plasticy. You just need to do a lot of homework and looking at samples.

Silken, that makes sense, thanks. I will just start ordering samples and trying them out. I am getting overwhelmed at this point b/c I thought I had the design all set but something completely different occurred to me last night, and now I have almost too many options. Options are good, but choice paralysis is not. Sigh.

Hi again --

Circling back to flooring in other rooms -- you're in a vintage home, right?

You say it can't be refinished, but have you had a couple of flooring experts out to weigh in on that? Some have more skills than others. I have seen many a trashed wood floor return to life using pros who are mid-tier in terms of bid.

Even if it's a thinner 5/16" floor on top that's seen its last refinish, underneath is probably great old-growth "subfloor."

If it's possible to repair/refinish, it's quite possible that's the most low-cost solution that will also meet your other needs.

Good luck; I know the juggling of budget/reno chaos/decision making is not easy!

Speaking to the durability of Marmoleum, on my last visit to ikea a few weeks ago, I noticed for the first time that the flooring in their cafeteria is Marmoleum. If you look closely at it, you *can* see scratches, but they're not particularly noticeable because the color is all the way through instead of just printed on the top.

Also, a lot of people put engineered hardwood in their kitchens. I considered it, but I wanted a wire brush finish and I just couldn't see cleaning kitchen guck out of the tiny grooves. No thank you.

You may want to look into doing a painted plywood floor. There are a couple of great blogs online about it... You use porch paint and top with a satin varethane for protection.... Then you could layout a pattern like you were going to do with the marmoleum and select whatever colors you want!