Next Project: Kitchen

[Jay H]

Since all of you were pretty good help for my bathroom project, I have started thinking about the kitchen, have some general questions:

1)Do you use the same underlayment for the kitchen as well as the bathroom? I used that Sluter-Ditra orange stuff under the bathroom tile, I have some leftover but not enough for the entire kitchen. Wood floor underneath....

2) Do not tile under the stove (which I want to replace) but do tile under the refridgerator (inline with my cabinets on one side of my galley kitchen)?

Jay

 

[mayhem]

I would say use the same underlayment.

If the stove is removable you should pull it out and tile under it.

 

[Highbeam]

I would even tile under the dishwasher. It stinks to have a leak under the DW and have the dam caused by the tile force the water back into your wall and rot out your house. On the fridge and oven, do tile under them. Reason being that when you slide them out you would need to lift them up onto the tile. Also mop water would run under the oven. Also, the bottom drawer on most ovens slides out and you want clearance to the floor.

The only thing without tile under it is the cabinets. Tile is cheap.

I'm about to tile a bathroom myself and will tile under the cabinet in there too.

 

[Corey]

By wood - I hope you mean plywood, not hardwood - tiling over hardwood would be a shame - but to each, his own if that is the case. I concur with the other posts - tile everywhere except under the cabinets. Easier to move appliances in/out, water protection, maintains proper height, and easier to clean especially around stove and refrigerator where bits of food may tend to accumulate.

 

[Jay H]

OK, I spec'ed out the tile to tile under the stove and refridge, I was definitely going to do the fridge. I hope that my current stove has the levelers up. I think with the Ditra Shluter stuff, thinset and 3/8" tile, we're almost talking a half inch in thickness. My stove is currently pretty flush with my countertop and would like it to remain so.

As far as hardwood goes.. I do have hardwood flooring under the kitchen, however do you think it is wise for hardwood in the kitchen? On the other hand, I do live in a log sided ranch and most of my furniture/accents fall under the "rustic" catagory.

Jay

 

[gzecc]

I am a carpenter. I even like hardwood floors in bathrooms, but thats me! I have random width white oak planks in my kitchen.

 

[Gooserider]

I agree with the tile under everything crowd, especially stuff with water going to it - otherwise the tile could keep a slow leak from coming out onto the floor where you can see it until a lot of damage was done.

As to what to put on the floor, I don't see any real problem with wood, though I would be inclined to make sure it was very well sealed, and maybe to use poly or other highly water resistant / non-porous finish as opposed to some of the more "traditional" finishes...

The other big thing to look at is what the "deflection" values for the floor are, or how much "give" does it have when subjected to heavy loading - This is a very important value because floors with excessive deflection are likely to have tile failures. The John Bridge "Tile your World" website has a calculator on it for figuring the deflection, but it basically has to do with the size / number of joists and the span of the floor. The greater the span, the worse the deflection tends to be. Since bathrooms tend to be small, they usually aren't a problem, but kitchens are often big enough that it can be an issue.

Gooserider

 

[gpcollen1]

As far as tiling under everything goes...

I have worked for cheap builders and lazy workers and they all agree that you do not need to tile under the items mentioned.

I would always tile under everything if I have the time and materials...why would you not?

 

[Jay H]

I'm going to tile under the stove and fridge, but the dishwasher is not being replaced so I probably wont tile under that. (I will have enough tiles left over to do such though). One reason I'm updating the kitchen is I'm considering moving and relocating to a new job. So frankly, I could go real cheap but I wont.

Jay

 

[meathead]

Hey post some pics of the current floors. What kind of wood are they? Nothing wrong with wood in the kitchen as long as it's sealed well, and like someone said - shame to tile over a good hardwood floor.

 

[Bobbin]

If I were looking at home with a newly tiled floor and discovered the areas under major appliances weren't tiled (and I would look!) I'd instantly deduct the price of ripping out a crummy job and having redone properly from the price of the house! And you may rest assured I'd be hauling out the microscope to inspect every other "recent upgrade" to the home in question. (Lots of tradesmen in my family).

Don't cheap out. If it's worth doing it's worth doing properly.

And having just redone a bathroom myself I know well just how much work is involved in tiling, grouting, not to mention all the planning required to have it all come together easily and relatively painlessly.

 

[Russ in Chicagoland]

If Bobbin is buying your house, definitely tile under everything. However, most home buyers, and even most home inspectors are not going to be pulling appliances out to check for tile underneath. My houses get turned into rentals, not sold, so I'm much less anal than others. Be careful adding mortar and tile under dishwashers and refrigerators to be sure you will have room to put the appliances back in their alcove. Dishwashers in particular have pretty tight tolerances. Hardwood in the kitchen is great, until the ice maker line or DW supply line bursts and those floors look like a washboard.

 

[jebatty]

My wife wants tile no-where: cold to the feet and unforgiving if you drop anything breakable on it. I did our kitchen floor in re-sawn old fir, 9" widths, with water stains, nail holes, etc. from its prior life as warehouse beams. Very dramatic in appearance, looks old right from the start, and we get many comments from others wanting to get the same thing. And who cares about a water stain? - it came pre-water stained!

 

[firefighterjake]

Not to derail this thread . . . since this is kind of related . . . but has anyone here used the floating tile (Avaire, SnapStone, etc.)

 

[mayhem]

My wife's uncle used it in a fmaily room where his pellet stove is located. Looks nice and he said ti was easy to install. I haven't messed with it myself though. His room is a very basic rectangle, so he had no weird angle cuts or circular doodads to go around.

 

[sculptor]

Not to derail this thread . . . since this is kind of related . . . but has anyone here used the floating tile (Avaire, SnapStone, etc.)

I just replaced my floating floor with a real wood floor. The floating floor was ok, the only complaint I had was that the small cracks in between tile will catch dirt over time.

I'm just putting the finishing touches on my kitchen. I did it the wrong way. I paid for it as I went ;-) but it's fully paid for and only went 5 months without a kitchen. :shut: