Is Pergo and other laminate or engineered flooring okay for use in a kitchen?

It looks to me as if the material is a fine particle board which, when wetted, will swell and self-destruct in no time at all.  There are millions of seams for water to infiltrate when a spill happens (such as, in front of the kitchen sink or around a washing machine).  

We found one we liked but now I'm completely reconsidering the material due to the above concern.

Anyone ever used this material in a kitchen?  How did it work out (over the long haul)?

I have read it should not be used in bathrooms and kitchens, because of moisture.

FYI there is ceramic tile that looks like laminate flooring.

I have laminate in my kitchen and dining room that I installed about 5 years ago and its held up really well, even to spills and the bonus is that it will not scratch like wood will or crack like tile. You can take a chair with metal feet and drag it on the floor without leaving a scratch.  The salesman showed me a little demo where he took a piece of the laminate floor, held it upside down and then proceeded to take his lighter and burn it till it was black.  Then he took some goof off on a paper towel, and it wiped right off.  I forgot what brand mine is but installed properly, it should last a loooooong time.  Unless you frequently take baths in your kitchen sink and dry yourself off by shaking like a dog in your kitchen......

Laminate can be used in kitchens and bathrooms.  Fairly sure it calls to use silicone around the perimeter in bathrooms, as well as around the toilet flange.  It will be ok with spilled water, as long as the water doesn't sit for a long time, or get underneath the laminate.  They make laminate that looks like tile.  You might just want to price out ceramic tile also.  For the price per sq ft of laminate, I would (and did) go with tile.  I install myself though, so don't know how big the labor difference would be.

I'm concerned about dropping pots and pans on tile and cracking it.  Also, our earthquakes are not tile-friendly.

I wanted to do laminate because we found one we liked.  It is a Pergo product, looks like tile and is called "linen travertine".  I was looking at a sample and noticed the particle board-ish interior, so I am concerned.

I bought a small sample and have it sitting in water right now.  Yes, it is absorbing water.

I pulled the Pergo sample out of the water to measured the swelling.  The material was originally 0.378" thick.  After soaking one end in water for a few hours, it has swollen to 0.407" thick.  That is 0.029" of swelling or 8% of its original thickness.

The swelling has caused the previously flat plank to bulge on its end taking on a "bugle shape".  It is not uniformly thickened; the thickening is most prominent at the very edge and tapers to zero as you move away from the edge.

Now, the question is whether or not sitting in water for a few hours is realistic.

We had bamboo in the living room of a previous house. Due to poor installation, it sat on damp concrete for who knows how long, and it eventually swelled up, got moldy, and had to be replaced. I don't know if engineered flooring would do something similar, but if it has particle-board interior, it might be problematic if it stays wet? Make sure your installer puts in the right membrane to prevent moisture...

I am the installer, hence the DIY Forum.  


I have 2X6 Douglas fir floor boards over a dry crawl space.  The only moisture or water spills might come from the kitchen sink, dishwasher or clothes washer.  Still, this whole thing got started because of water spilled from the clothes washer.

havnt had an issue in the 5years its been in my kitchen.

Thank you, everyone, for the input.  So far, it is encouraging.  

I removed the test sample from the water and allowed it to dry overnight.  The swelling is gone.

I've heard Engineer and Laminate are good to go in kitchen and half baths. The idea being any spill should be cleaned up relatively quickly. Full baths on the other hand tend to have high humidity and smaller amount of water that sit, therefore they are not recommended  and would void the warranty. This was from a manager from Lumber Liquidators in regards to my questions on a specific product so YMMV

I have laminate in my kitchen.  We spill water occasionally but never had a problem with it.  Having said that, I'd prefer tile.  It's a lot more impervious to most things.  

If you install the tile with a Ditra decoupling membrane you shouldn't have any cracks in the tile.

Last night, my wife found Marmoleum "Click".  It is linoleum (real, true linoleum) laminated to high density fiber board.  It's like Pergo flooring but the outer layer is linoleum.

Anyone ever used this?

Forbo Marmoleum "Click"



Any other laminate flooring experiences in kitchens?

Our new house has Dupont Real Touch, we've been in for 2  weeks and no complaints so far.

We installed Pergo laminate throughout the house including kitchen and family room (had carpeting before). Bathrooms all have tile. Basement has laminate also.

The kitchen has had Pergo for about 6 years now with no problem. We had a bad rain storm a couple of years ago and lost power and so we went to my sons place for a couple of days. Did not check out the house for 3 days or so.

When I returned (it was summer) the ice in the fridge melted and one of the coolers I had transferred food into also leaked. I noticed a little bulging near the connections on a couple of sections near the fridge that are not visible unless one looks closely. So, for spills or anything that one can clean up fairly quick there would be no problem. If you leave the water on for 2-3 days then you will probably have some damage and swelling of the laminate. The price to replace and the labor is minimal small that replacing it is not a big deal.

Tile can be cold to the feet and is also prone to cracking and labor more expensive to install.
I installed the best quality under layment in the basement (mold proof). We also have a sump pump down there with a battery back up and some Honda generators if all else fails...

We installed Witex laminate flooring in our kitchen and dining room 10 years ago. We chose it at the time because it has a very dense core material and was advertised as being very water resistant. It has survived foot traffic, being played on, things dropped on it, table/chairs/stolls slid around on it, even the dishwasher overflowing and flooding it. The area in front of the sink and dishwasher is constantly getting water dripped on it:



We liked it so much that we installed the same product in our basement rec room but with a tile pattern instead of the woodgrain. Not problems there, either.

To say that we have been very pleased with it's performance would be an understatement. Sadly, I don't think the company ever got much of a foothold in this country and it appears that it may no longer be sold here.