While food preparation, cooking and cleaning take place in kitchens, there are also rooms for dining, socialising and relaxing. As a result, they need to not only offer room for functional tasks, but also provide warmth and comfort, and underfloor heating can answer all these requirements.
Kitchen underfloor heating can use an electric or waterbased system.
Electric underfloor heating involves heating wire installed beneath flooring, while a wet system has warm water circulating through a network of durable pipes.
Which system is best for your kitchen plans will depend on the project. Typically, electric is ideal for retrofits, while wet underfloor heating is used mostly during construction of new builds and major restoration projects.
The cost of adding underfloor heating to a kitchen will always depend on the size of the room, the brand of equipment bought and how much of the installation is performed by professionals.
Kitchens can be difficult to heat due to the lack of space for radiators. Fitted units and appliances require considerable room on the walls, leaving little real estate free for heating equipment. This makes underfloor heating ideal, as all components are installed under the flooring to maximise available space.
Rooms most often frequented, like kitchens, require heating more regularly. Underfloor heating is more energy efficient than traditional heating, making it more cost-effective to run.
To manage hygiene, water use, cooking and dining spills, kitchen needs easy to care for flooring. This mostly rules out warmer floor finishes like wood and carpet, leaving kitchen floors colder. Underfloor heating solves this issue by turning the entire floor into a comfortably warm radiator to walk on.
Underfloor heating works with all types of flooring, giving homeowners plenty of choice, but some are more effective than others.
The best flooring partners for underfloor heating are naturalstone and tiles made from ceramics or porcelain, as they heatup faster and stay warmer for longer.
However, underfloor heating also works well with more affordable kitchen floor finishes, like laminate and vinyl.
The multi-layered design of laminate allows it to cope with changes in temperature and high heats, while the minimal thickness of vinyl allows excellent heat transfer.
Both high quality vinyl and laminate can be purchased that resemble natural stone or timber, allowing homeowners to create a high-end look for less in their kitchen.
What do I do next?
If you need more help, our highly experienced team are available to answer your questions.
You can contact us via the options below:
