This may be a little late, but I just noticed this discussion. So I thought I'd throw in my own little bit ofexperience with cork flooring...
My parents put cork in their kitchen when they built their house, approximately 9 years ago. Since then, they have always had at least two large, active dogs in the house; most of the time three, and occassionally four. The floor hasn't shown a bit of wear...amazing stuff, really. So I wouldn't worry about it much, if that's what you love.

-carl

Check out Cortica flooring. I too like cork, but with the other wood floors in the house, i wanted something incolor. These are supposed to be quite durable and are reportedly good for use in kitchens.

Cortiça has 3 protective coats of colour and water borne polyurethane pre-applied so that when you lay the tiles, only one further coat of polyurethane needs to be added to create a lustrous, sealed floor (from their site)

http://corkconcepts.com/instant.htm

I know this is a weird idea but have you looked at truck bed liner kits? One example is Herculiner. http://www.herculiner.com/index.html

From their web site –
HERCULINER is the only polyurethane and rubber granule coating that is applied to the bed surface using the rollers and brush included with the kit. When cured, HERCULINER provides a durable skid-resistant protective coating. Because it can bond to virtually any surface or material, HERCULINER can be applied to wood, metal, concrete, aluminum, asphalt, rubber, fiberglass, and most plastics, including PVC.

It only comes in red, black, grey or white but if the color works it's cheap (looks like $140 for a gallon of grey that should cover about 60 sq ft, durable and with rubber granules it should offer some shock absorption. To me the down sides are that it may have too much texture and it uses Xylene solvent so off gassing might be a problem.

Good Luck!

I got some samples of the pulastic and it looks great, I am going to do some tests to see how it holds up to oil (and vinegar too), I suppose.

when I say active dogs, I mean 60-70 pound dogs that run full speed over this floor to access their dog door in pursuit of a cat that's stumbled into the yard. this stuff has to be as durable as a sprinter's starting blocks.

the other thing about cork is that it fades in sunlight like crazy. I know that from spending time in two houses with cork floors. color can shift as much as 50% from exposure to direct sun.

third, I really like the truck bed idea, thanks a lot, I will look into that too.

I have to recommend against the herculiner, (durabak is the same but with color) or any truck bed liner.

I have experience with herculiner personally, and while it is a nice alternative to spraypaint in a truck bed, it would not be an ideal surface in your kitchen, or anywhere else in the house for that matter.

It traps bits of dirt and grease especially, making it extremely difficult to keep clean. It is not smooth either, part of it's appeal to truck owners (we had it in our jeep) is that it is a bit rough, so it holds items a bit more securely. I dont think it is well suited to any floor in a home. Additionally, it fades with exposure to sunlight unless it is treated with something that will block UV.


Great looking kitchen dakrats! I like the floor and the wall color.