The floor of a restaurant has to go through a lot on a daily basis. From a high volume of foot traffic and high temperature to heavy-duty cooking equipment, the restaurant kitchen floor is required to fulfill multiple harsh demands. If you run a restaurant or commercial kitchen, you should always choose the most ideal flooring option to ensure hassle-free operation.
When it comes to restaurant kitchen flooring, there are multiple options available out there. However, each one of the options has its own pros and cons. You should select a flooring material based on the size of your kitchen, the volume of cooking, and other demands of daily use. Most of all, you should keep in mind the security and safety of your kitchen staff. Installation of the right type of kitchen flooring is crucial to run your business in a smooth manner and increasing your bottom line as well. It is a good idea to seek expert advice to find out what kind of flooring options are available and how you should select the most ideal one.
At Minuteman Floors, we offer a free consultation for restaurant owners or managers to help them choose and install the right type of flooring material in their facility in terms of strength, longevity, look and cost.
Everyday Demands of Commercial Kitchen Flooring
You are not ready to make the best decision until you have understood the exact day-to-day needs of your kitchen. If you choose a material without considering the demands of your facility, you will end up choosing the wrong type of flooring and wasting a lot of your hard-earned money in the process.
Given below are the key factors that you should consider in order to select the most ideal flooring material for your kitchen.
Slip-Resistant
Safety is an important concern both in the visitor area and the kitchen. If your restaurant receives a high volume of traffic on a daily basis, you should focus on the safety factor even more. Most of all, you should select a restaurant kitchen flooring that is resistant to slips and falls. Constant spills and slippery surfaces can lead to serious injuries for kitchen workers. If you plan to avoid such accidents, you should go for a flooring material that enhances traction and limits falls.
Sanitation
Every restaurant manager needs to abide by strict hygienic standards. The floor you install in the kitchen should not succumb to the use of cleaning agents. You should go for a product that is easy to clean on a daily basis. A busy kitchen requires cleaning multiple times during operation hours. If the floor is hard to clean, it will definitely hamper the overall efficiency of work. Commercial grade kitchen flooring is designed to withstand a wide range of heavy-duty cleaning agents as well as make cleaning faster and easier on a day-to-day basis.
For more details, feel free to talk to one of our kitchen floor installation experts at Minuteman Floors in Manchester, NH.
Anti-Microbial
The kitchen is a place where the chances of mold and bacteria growth remain high. As a restaurant manager, it is your foremost duty to keep the kitchen and the entire workspace free from the growth of mold and mildew. When it comes to kitchen floor installation, you should always keep this factor in mind and look for a product that offers anti-microbial features.
Comfort
The environment inside a kitchen is quite fast-paced. The chef, assistants, and other kitchen workers stand on their toes for hours on end. So, you should always keep the comfort of the workers in mind. Install a flooring material that provides comfort to all those who spend hours in the kitchen.
Aesthetics
The flooring product that you install should complement the overall decor of your restaurant. If the floor design does not match the interior design, it will ruin all the visual appeal of the facility. Therefore, go for a style and design that is a great match and supports your branding.
Ideal Options for Kitchen Floor Installation
If you are in search of the most ideal flooring materials for installation in your large commercial kitchen, you should definitely consider the following. Each of these products carries the key characteristics required by restaurant kitchen floors on a day-to-day basis in a busy environment.
Ceramic Tiles
One of the most popular and suitable options for restaurant kitchen flooring is ceramic tiles. Most restaurant owners choose to install this product because of its high resistance to stain and high durability. Though they are hard underfoot, they will last for a very long time even in fast-paced environments. You just need to get the material installed in a proper manner by experts. Also, you should go for only glazed times because they are non-porous. In case one or more tiles break, you will not have to shut down the entire restaurant. You can easily have installers work on one side and replace the broken tiles with new ones.
Installation by trained professionals will eliminate the risk of grout failure. For high-quality ceramic tiles and top-quality installation, reach out to one of our specialists at Minuteman Floors in Manchester, NH.
Vinyl Flooring
Commercial vinyl flooring is specially designed for installation in places like large kitchens and restaurants. The product is manufactured using a mix of natural and synthetic polymers. As a result of this, commercial vinyl gets a lot of resilience to fit the harsh demands of a large kitchen.
Based on your specific needs, you can plan to install any of three types of vinyl flooring available in the market: vinyl composition tile (VCT), luxury vinyl tile (LVT) and vinyl sheet flooring. Each of these products come along with its own pros and cons, which you should know in detail. If you are in search of premium quality vinyl flooring material, you should always head over to a trusted dealer or flooring installer that deals in these products. Minuteman Floors deals in all these products as well as provides expert installation for restaurant kitchens.
Resin Flooring
One of the most ideal flooring for food production facilities is resin flooring. The product offers a number of key characteristics such as strength, durability, ease of cleaning etc. Most importantly, the material fulfills the high sanitation needs of commercial kitchens and restaurants. When you plan to follow the strictest standards of hygiene and want a highly slip-resistant material, resin flooring is the option to go for. These products are available in three types including polyurethane, PMMA and epoxy. You can get the product installation done in a way that matches the overall style and look of your kitchen and the restaurant.
Commercial Kitchen Floor Installation Tips
Installation is as important as the selection of the kitchen flooring material. Considering the busy environment inside a large kitchen, you need to make sure the installation is done in an accurate manner. High quality installation means you will not face any kind of issues in the future.
Ensure There are No Seams and Cracks
During installation, it must be ensured that there are no gaps or cracks anywhere in the kitchen floor. If there are gaps or cracks, it can easily become the perfect breeding hideout for bacteria, mold and pathogens.
If pathogens grow and develop, it can jeopardize the health and safety of both the kitchen staff and guests. The problem is these bacteria and pathogens will not go away even after regular cleaning. So, you should have a detailed discussion with the flooring contractor or the installer in order to know how exactly the installation procedure will be carried out. You should only work with highly experienced contractors to get the job done in a proper and correct manner.
Ask the Contractor to Install a Test Patch
Getting a test patch installed before the real installation is a great idea. This will help the flooring contractor get a fair amount of clarity on how exactly the entire system should be installed for the best results. Since slips and falls are a serious issue in all large commercial kitchens, the contractor should definitely conduct a small test to find out the exact requirements for skid resistance.
Select Thermal Shock Resistant Flooring
The temperature inside a commercial kitchen varies significantly from one area to another. For example, the cooking areas remain hot whereas the temperature around the freezer areas stays too low. So, the installation of the kitchen floor, as well as its bonding to concrete, should be done correctly.
Talk to a Commercial Kitchen Floor Specialist
When it comes to the installation of flooring in commercial kitchens, the selected product should deliver top performance in terms of safety, hygiene, resilience, and durability. Whether you operate a restaurant or want to set up a new one soon, feel free to reach out to one of our specialists to find out about the most ideal product for laying down in the kitchen. At Minuteman Floors in Manchester, NH, we deal in a wide range of premium flooring products for commercial establishments as well as specialize in the installation of these products.
For your free consultation, you can dial our phone number or send us an email using the contact form on our website.