The Additional Purchase You Might Need For Tiled Kitchen Floors

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Tile is both a stylish and practical choice for your kitchen. You can lean modern or vintage in theme, inject color or pattern, and be assured you have a durable floor that's easy to clean and care for. But there's one catch to tile's appeal, and you know exactly what it is if you've suffered from achy feet or even a sore back after being on your feet for a while cooking or baking: Tile is hard. But that doesn't mean you can't go all in on tile — rather, you should just also plan to buy a small rug or two.

Looking at the pros and cons of different kitchen flooring materials, tile has many more pros. They come in all different colors, patterns, and materials, like natural stone and ceramic. They're often waterproof, and if not, can be sealed. Choosing tiles in light neutrals is the secret to making a small kitchen look large and airy. However, a hard surface like tile doesn't offer your feet support. This puts pressure on your feet and creates a lack of shock absorption so there's nothing to soften the impact of your weight on the hard floor, and that can lead to joint pain in your legs. Buying an area rug for where you most often stand to prep meals is a life-saver — and a leg-saver, literally speaking. It means you can enjoy the form and function of tile without dreading your kitchen tasks.

Kitchen rugs aren't just for comfort. They're the one flooring addition that will instantly elevate your kitchen. They add unexpected texture, depth, color, and pattern. An overall cozy-fication is one of our favorite current kitchen design trends, and a kitchen carpet or two is an affordable and useful approach to achieving this.

Of course, you'll also have to consider some logistical factors. When choosing the best rug for your kitchen, start with size — where is the rug going, and what size does that entail? You might need something wider for in front of the stove or sink, and longer and narrower if it's running between your counter and island. You want a nice, plush feel so that your feet do in fact get some support and shock absorption — memory foam, for example, is ideal. Crucially, since this rug is meant to be part of the cooking or baking action, it should be easily washable, and maybe even have a stain-resistant coating. Patterns that camouflage stains are smart, too, if they match your existing kitchen motif. For safety reasons, make sure any kitchen rug is non-slip — otherwise, it's far too big a risk to take when you're using knives or handling hot pots and pans. With a pretty print, this tubeamin set of two cushioned, anti-fatigue, non-slip, waterproof rugs ticks every box, as does this black HappyTrends cushioned, waterproof mat, and these LEEVAN non-slip, cushioned, waterproof rugs in a blue pattern.