ceramic coating the oven racks

[pete244874]

Robert, WOW...and thanks. Our dream is to update our 1950s, knotty pine kitchen centered around our restored "Dottie". Your suggestions and ideas got Laura's and my wheels turning. Again, thank you very much. PS: I'm sure we'll have plenty of more questions as time goes on. Pete

[ha_asfan]

Any question any time. I can't ween myself from this forum anyway so just ask away !

[treatmaker]

HA,

I was thinking about cork flooring for my kitchen. How does it hold up between kids and dogs?

Treatmaker

[berlyn]

Look through magazines and get idea's. Color schemes, styles you want, etc....
We went with tile due to easy clean up and cool during our hot hot hot summers. Our german shepard loves it!! We have a small galley kitchen and I tried to take advantage of every inch. There was no option of enlarging it. We did have a sleeping porch, framed in the windows and widen the door opening, so it would "flow" together. My house was built in the 1880's before kitchens and cr*ppers. You never know what might be behind a wall!! You can see how "choppy" the kitchen is;i.e ceiling and wall. Nothing is straight.
Quite a challenge for hubby!!

[ha_asfan]

Without question, cork flooring is one of the most durable, comfortable, maintenance free, good looking, hypo allergenic, easy to install, moderate priced and forgiving floor coverings around. Cork is harvested from trees once every eight years. The harvest does not damage the tree. Cork is cool in the summer and warm in the winter, it has beautiful acoustic properties, is soft under foot, forgiving for any fragile items that may fall upon it and also for sharp knives that may cut it. The cellular structure of the cork is billions of tiny gas filled bubbles that provide all of previous mentioned benefits. A knife may pierce it but it will immediately heal itself with the expansion of it's cells. There are many types, varieties and systems available ranging from simple unfinished 12" x 12" squares to finished sqaures and onto the more modern tech snap and lock glueless systems. There is a wide color range as well as a wide range of patterns. When planning a kitchen, the first floor I suggest is either a natural cork floor or a Linoleum [not vinly] floor. Linoleum is far more flexible for colors and any custom designs one may want to do. For cork flooring, try looking at: Nova Cork, Duro-Design & Natural Cork. Nova Cork is what I use the most. For Linoleum, look at Forbo.

[ha_asfan]

I forgot to add: Cork floors I installed over 20 years ago in HEAVY USE kitchens with big dogs and kids look as good today as they did when first installed. The modern engineered floors need no maintenance what so ever and only the most slightly damp mop to clean them. Linoleum, in a residential setting has a 50yr life expectancy but requires periodic maintenance and polishing. Depending upon your region, expect to pay between $7.50 and $10.00 per square foot for cork, installed.

[lowracer]

We have hardwood floors in our 84-year old house. When the kitchen floor needed redoing, there was a layer of sheet vinyl over 1940's linoleum, over the original hardwood. Some walls had been pulled over the years and so it would have looked bad to patch in all the changes with hardwood. So they ripped out the whole floor and laid down new hardwood and blended it to match the old. We have to be a little bit careful around the sink area not to spill gallons of coffee and grape juice, but we love the look and feel of hardwood floors and wouldn't have anything else. Mrs. Adams will sit on a section of the original hardwood floor, but she'll cover it with her great bulk.

[ha_asfan]

Mark, if your wood floors have a water based polyurethane finish or a natural wax or an oil [not oil based poly] finish, you don't need to be too careful. All those finishes can handle "spot" refinishing. One thing I know for sure, your feet, legs and backs don't suffer from working on an overly hard floor ! Enjoy your hardwood floors, they'll last forever !

[lowracer]

We have what is called a 'Glitsa' finish. I'm not sure if it's urethane or what, but we had tile floors in Austin and it took me hours of scrubbing to clean the coffee stains out of the grout in prep for showing the house. So we're being extra careful not to spill stuff on the new floor.

[ha_asfan]

If you've got a GLITSA finish, you're in GREAT SHAPE ! Glitsa in a Swedish product, very very very durable and lone wearing, easy to maintain and easy to refinish. Grout is a cleaning nightmare, I know, it is the mistake I made in this house ! Bleach will clean grout but only to a degree and it has a nasty tendency to decay the grout.....you'll love your Glitsa !