The flooring of any commercial kitchen needs serious thought and good attention to detail. However, the most important thing to remember is it must be safe for kitchen staff to go about their day-to-day business.
What should you look for in commercial kitchen flooring? Well, it has to be easy to clean and should be non-slip to minimise the number of accidents that occur. The design and appearance of the kitchen floor is secondary in commercial design.
The two materials that are often used for commercial kitchen floors are linoleum (lino) and vinyl. The main reason being that they can wiped and mopped very easily at the end of each day and because they're completely flat and thin materials, it's unlikely that people will trip or slip over.
An alternative to lino and vinyl is hardwood. It's far more traditional and offers a rustic look as apposed to ultra modern and ultra functional. However, hardwood isn't as easy to clean and takes more work to install than a simple vinyl floor (unless it's already there of course). If you do choose to use hardwood make sure you look for commercial grade hardwood as health and safety could pull you up otherwise.
Although modern lino and vinyl floors are much better, they can still become slippy if food and water is spilled on them during service. Rubber floors are another alternative and they have a far more sticky effect which has obvious health and safety benefits.
In terms of the style and pattern of a commercial kitchen floor, there are hundreds of thousands of different designs available. Some companies will even custom make a lino or vinyl floor to your own specifications. However, its always worth remembering that style is secondary in a commercial kitchen. Safety and functionality should always be your primary concerns.
We have more information on commercial kitchen design and can also divert you to some of the leading suppliers of commercial kitchen flooring.