doing layout and design for new location, we will be on a concrete slab, would love to go with engineered hardwood floor , but have reservations as to wear, water spills, knuckleheads bleaching the floor etc. now considering colored concrete,12 hour days walking on concrete does not sound appealing,what kind of floors are you FOLKS using ??? currently - carpet over plywood- good acoustics, easy on feet , pain to vacuum , rubber mats in kitchen over tile
Quarry tile is pretty much universal for a reason. It’s inexpensive, easy to maintain, durable, and provides good traction. Perfect for a kitchen.
I’d be hesitant to use any type of wood or laminate flooring in a kitchen.
Stained concrete looks great, but be careful with gloss finishes.
I’ve worked in kitchens with ceramic tiles, matte finish, that are very slippery. Not a day went by that we weren’t cursing those floors. Oil or grease present obvious issues, but flour, semolina and/or cornmeal can also be very treacherous. Slip-and-fall accidents are one of the most common safety liabilities in a food service establishment.
Shoes For Crews or other nonslip shoes are decent with oil or grease, but don’t do much at all when dealing with flour or cornmeal. I still haven’t found a better shoe than the older Danskos (they’ve changed ownership, but Sanitas makes a shoe that’s basically the original Dansko) for being on your feet 12 hours a day.
Anti-fatigue mats at work stations are great for reducing fatigue and lower back issues, as well as providing extra assurance against slip-and-fall.
In a previous life I was a union floorlayer.You don’t want hardwood floors anywhere near your restaurant. They would be a nightmare from day one. You can achieve the same look with some ceramic tiles that are designed to look wood that still contain a nonslip grit to them. Another cheaper route would be to use vinyl tiles that look like wood. They are 6 in wide by 4 ft long, very easy do it yourself install. I would not recommend that in your kitchen though, lobbby only.
when I got into our new place, the dining room was mostly carpeted, and it was trashed. I thought I would find large terrazzo tiles under the carpet like some of the floor had showing already.
Surprisingly I found Maple flooring under most of the carpet.
After 80 hours stripping the maple and sanding it, I decided to use Boiled Linseed Oil as my finish because I was concerned that a gloss or matte Poly finish would have been too slippery if wet, and chairs being slid around would have scuffed it real bad.
I got good wear out of the oil finish, the visible marks added character, and when we take a break in the next few weeks all I plan to do is use a floor buffer to strip it, and lay down another coat of oil, and generate some heat with the buffer to get more penetration.
I may even distress the surface by beating on it with a chain to get some permanent character dented into the wood