Mike Holmes Says To Think Twice About This Kitchen Flooring — Here's Why

Hardwood flooring is a go-to when building or renovating homes as it boosts aesthetic appeal and is among the flooring options that increase a home's resale value. However, many homeowners eventually regret choosing the popular kitchen floor material for various reasons, like how it swells, shifts, and warps over time. Given that the kitchen is a high-traffic area and a common place for accidental spills, HGTV's Mike Holmes does not recommend hardwood flooring in the kitchen. He has even cautioned homeowners about using this floor material.

"Wood is prone to moisture damage and can be marked and dented when you drop something. Wood flooring is inviting, but you should think twice about using it on the kitchen floors, where high traffic and water can damage the finish. This will lead to early failure," he shared on his Make It Right blog. While hardwood may be a superior choice in other areas of the home if you're looking for a timeless design, Holmes would rather you consider other options in the kitchen. "For years and years, we probably put porcelain tile in the kitchen. A lot of [the reason] we do this is because if you drop a can of tomatoes or a jar of something, it doesn't damage the floor," he explained in a video on Facebook.

If you asked Mike Holmes if hardwood's a worthy investment for kitchen floors a few years back, he would have definitely talked you into going with tile instead. The celebrity builder is also not a fan of hardwood for bathroom and kitchen countertops, so there's an obvious pattern here. In fact, he's made it very clear that opting for 100% natural hardwood material in the kitchen is one of those kitchen upgrades that are a total waste of cash. Nevertheless, Holmes has also spoken positively about the material on more than one occasion. In a Facebook Q&A, he admitted that evolving technology has significantly improved hardwood materials. "In today's market, there's a lot of good hardwood out there ... It's so dense right now that it doesn't normally damage," he said.

On his blog, Holmes also praised hardwood's flexibility and longevity compared to other options, noting that, unlike other materials, such as natural stone and tiles, wood can be refinished and re-stained over and over to keep it looking new and extend its lifespan. He even recommends using recycled flooring for this very reason. On the whole, Holmes is not totally against hardwood flooring in the kitchen. "You can pretty much do whatever you want, but don't buy the cheap stuff of anything because cheap doesn't work. It [will] only cost you money to replace it in the future," he said in his Facebook post.